not sure what to do ?

debsflo

debsflo

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my 19 yr old warmblood tore her ddft in august last year. she has been on the equivalent of box rest in the field and has now been scanned 3 times .on the second scan she trotted up sound but the tendon had not healed ,3rd scan tendon looked virtually healed but was lame prob 2/10 on same leg .vet advised few more weeks then if still unsound back out for more checks . today she looks quite lame and i really have to decide what to do . she is a lovley horse,kind temperament but as i said 19 a light hack .dont know if i want to put her through any more or pts .on the other hand dont want to feel i havent done my best . i have 2 others a mini and daughters horse who is due to go in for a lameness work up poss bone spavins so i am also aware of finances . just frustrated that 7 months on still no end in sight . any thoughts on what you would do .i think i will speak to vet and oh once ive thought through the options.hope this doesnt sound selfish as i am not the sort to get rid or pts on a whim i just want to do whats right.
 
My mare did her ddft a few years ago. I was initially told it would take about 3 months, but after over a year she was still lame, at which point I decided to retire her and chucked her out in the field. Another year on and she was as sound as a pound and brought back into full work with no issues.

I think given the same situation again I would turn away, and see what happens. When they are older they take longer to heal anyway, so I suppose it will depend on how you feel about having a pasture ornament for a protracted length of time. I'm not a huge fan of box rest anyway and feel it can cause more problems than it solves in some cases and prefer gentle movement for them. Of course there is no way of knowing if your horse will come sound afterwards, but personally that is what I would try.
 
You don't sound at all selfish.
You've been trying to get her sound for the last 7 months, that's a lot longer than a lot of people would try for.
Its a horrible position to be in. I guess talk to your vet and see what they suggest / think about future improvements.
If she isn't going recover, and will remain lame, maybe it is better to pts ?
I do hope it works out well for her and you though
Kx
 
touchstone said:
My mare did her ddft a few years ago. I was initially told it would take about 3 months, but after over a year she was still lame, at which point I decided to retire her and chucked her out in the field. Another year on and she was as sound as a pound and brought back into full work with no issues.

I think given the same situation again I would turn away, and see what happens. When they are older they take longer to heal anyway, so I suppose it will depend on how you feel about having a pasture ornament for a protracted length of time. I'm not a huge fan of box rest anyway and feel it can cause more problems than it solves in some cases and prefer gentle movement for them. Of course there is no way of knowing if your horse will come sound afterwards, but personally that is what I would try.
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I agree with this. Turn her away for the summer, and see what happens. Put her in a level (as much as possible) field without deep mud and let nature take over - thats what they did in the old days. You've very little to lose, and can make the difficult decision in the autumn if need be...
 
Echo what everyone else said - turn her away if you can. It's what I would be doing right now, too.
Whats happened with your daughters pony? Hope everythings OK? x
 
think i will until august when insurance runs out ,then i can see how she goes . i think i have almost resigned myself to not putting her through next winter if shes not right but thats worse case scenario.

lady la la daughters horse was going better than ever and had been placed well at dressage but 2 days later was not quite right at a training session .some lower back pain and unlevel 1/10 on hind leg .she is 15 and i suspect as does mctimony some poss hock spavin so getting her looked at before we do any more .

bloody horses ,its one worry after another and my vet knows me before i say my name.
 
my horse did the same last year, he's got a history of other problems as well which meant to sort one out would affect another problem.

in the end we (vet and myself) decided to turn him out in a small field 24/7, he came in the stable for a few hours just to rest up and have his tea etc. he was out alone in a smallish paddock and if there was a chance of him hooning around then he would be brought in. i told myself that if he hadn't improved by the end of summer then i would call it a day, luckily he did improve although wasn't 100% all the time, however the vet suggested that i just crack on with gentle riding and see if it helps him. he is now sound and now being ridden a few times a week. as soon as i started to ride him he perked up and sorted himself out. he likes to work and likes to feel like he is contributing to his upkeep!

i also took his shoes off him, few reasons for doing that and it did help him. (just for the record i'm not for or against barefoot, it's just something i did for my lad).

so maybe if you have a small paddock that he can graze for the summer without any pressure and see how he goes. good luck.
 
i do have a small flat area and she is kept seperate to my other 2 to help keep her calm but can see them .
she too has had other problems ie both hind suspensories have been done and she has 2 very different front feet.
i would be happy if she was sound enough to tootle round the village. luckily she has coped incredibly well and will meander out to her square patch and back in at night and is the horse equivalent of a labrador but i do feel sorry for her,its not much of a life when daughters pony is off out and about having all the fun.
will continue as we are for a bit longer and hope time is the key.
 
just to add that my lad was 17yrs old when he did his DDFT. he's had a very hard life until a few years ago as well.

i think if your horse enjoys getting attention and is happily munching grass all day then i wouldn't worry about her (sorry i said he in previous post!), i always felt bad when others went out for a hack and my lad couldn't, i used to think he would be better off pts BUT once i was able to ride him he changed for the better and is really enjoying life again. he has proved that i did the right thing. like i said i was going to make a decision at the end of summer last year one way or another but he pulled through.
 
If you can keep her field sound, would retiring her out to grass not be an option? My vet advised it might be a year or two before Starla came fully sound after doing her hers and even then light hacking might have been our only option. Obviously it differs from horse to horse and no injury is the same. Fingers crossed for her & your daughters horse. I know what you mean, sometimes it feels like everything that possibley can go wrong does :(
 
debsflo said:
i do have a small flat area and she is kept seperate to my other 2 to help keep her calm but can see them .
she too has had other problems ie both hind suspensories have been done and she has 2 very different front feet.
i would be happy if she was sound enough to tootle round the village. luckily she has coped incredibly well and will meander out to her square patch and back in at night and is the horse equivalent of a labrador but i do feel sorry for her,its not much of a life when daughters pony is off out and about having all the fun.
will continue as we are for a bit longer and hope time is the key.
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TBH, I doubt that the horse is standing in your small paddock, thinking, 'I wish I could go off to a competition'. IME if horses have plenty to eat and drink are warm enough but not too warm and (this could be where your horse has a problem) appropriate company, they are usually happy. I'm another who would give her the summer and make your decision later. Would you keep her if she was field sound but unable to be ridden?
 
debsflo said:
my dilemma is partly is this the tendon or something else to uncover.
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If it's the same leg she's lame on my money would be on it still being the tendon. I wouldn't bother looking for anything else while her tendon still isn't right. I had lots of sleepless nights wondering what else might be going on due to horse coming right and then going off again. I'd managed to think up practically every issue related to soundness by the time I'd finished!

I'd honestly just try to forget about diagnosing or fixing anything for a while and see where you stand after a good measure of time has passed. Seven months is really nothing for tendons to heal, although it seems an eternity I know!
Once I'd mentally 'retired' my mare I was much less uptight about the whole thing and whether she came sound again, and time is a great healer.
After a good length of time if she still isn't right then maybe consider your options, but I honestly think forgetting about them (not literally of course!) for a good long while is the best action.
 
My old warmblood did her ddft
... Was advised boxrestm blah blah. Still lame, bad scans. Seemed happy in herself though, so pulled off shoes and turned her away on bute for the summer. Summer turned into 11 Months!! *gasp* BUT she was off bute within 6 weeks and sound as pound from about month 4 onwards and then remained sound ever since. Was many years ago now. I never had new scans done as she was back to work sound and happy.

PS - never had shoes put back on, either!
 
in racing, when a horse injures a tendon, it often either called 'doing a leg' or a '365'.....meaning 365 days off. Give it time, they often get worse before better as the movement after a period of box rest 'unsticks' the fibres from each other and this causes a bit of pain and therefore the lameness. You have to go through it to get it better.

At least this is what ive been told anyhoo......
 
i would be inclined to pop her to the vets again for a check nothing else is going on. If nothing else is going on, turn her out (if she is field sound) in the flat area and so long as she seems mentally happy let her pootle around. If she isn't riding sound by the end of that I would turf her out with the rest. If she can't hack that without going lame, I would be considering PTS.
However with all her problems I don't think you would be wrong in considering euthanasia if she is not field sound.
 
Thank you for all your replies.
i suppose because she had appeared sound at 2nd scan then not right since i thought the worst.
At least the better weather is coming so will be nicer for her and obviously my time scale is a bit unrealistic given peoples experiences.
i will try and relax and leave things for the next few months.
i have had her back shoes off but farrier thinks her feet are better shod (feet crumble) so am keeping them on for now .
She is a lovley easy mare,motivated by food and i am amazed she has coped so well with restricted turnout.
Fingers crossed.
 
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