Possible Check Ligament - Lovely Horse PLS Help! - V Long

[Eccles]

Please your advice would be so appreicated.

My 5yo ISH is a lovely lovely horse and I think the world of him. I actually had a week of from the yard (due to hospital treatment) on 13th october. My horse was living out and being looked after by a friend. When I got back he was def unlevel on his near fore, it was slight (and my friend has noticed it whilst I was away) and I thought I saw it when I got back. However, the next day when I called him in he was pretty lame. Due to this, and the time of year, I thought it was an abscess.

I got a vet out (unfortunately a clueless one) who thought the same, told me to poultice and gave him a pointless antibotic shot and then left. The next day, there was still no swelling and no heat. I put him out thinking that the abscess needed a bit more time to come to the fore. He became sound and i got the blacksmith out who found nothing in his feet but a large abscess in the near hind, which I duly treated by poulticing until the poultice was clear.

I turned him out today and he was totally sound. I went up around 4 to bring Winston in and he was hopping on his near fore. I suspect when I called him he probably tweaked something again as whenever I call him in, he comes in squealing at 100 mph. He was hopping lame on his near fore. Again no obvious heat but i was a bit alarmed by a thickening of the ligament just below the knee on the inside i think at the back of the tendon. Is this check ligament? Am I right to think he needs a complete lameness work up now? Is 3 months box rest on the cards?

If this was the initial problem when I was away and he has now tweaked it again do you think the situation has worsened? Any advice, so gratefully received

 

[jillianc]

hello, my horse ruptured her check ligament a few years ago. Its a fairly long recovery and box rest is not advisable - turn out in a wee paddock is best. PM me if you want masses of info!

 

[Dottie]

Hi, sorry to hear about your problem.
It sounds like it might be the check from where the swelling is.

My pony strained her check ligament a few years ago in the field when she was 19. My vet came out to scan it the following day and said she had a 8/10 strain.

I *think* she was on box rest for 3 months, but i can't remember now! She had a course of Adequan injections and controlled handwalking after her boxrest and eventually playpen turnout gradually building up to a 'normal' workload. She had a scan before she started handwalking and one about 6 months after the injury- which had healed fine.

She is quite a harsh moving pony and i was suprised that she hadn't injured anything sooner or worse tbh!
I used to do a lot of s/j with her but after the injury i got a bit paranoid about her re-injuring it so cut a lot of her workload down. There were other reasons for this as well, such as work etc. But i wished now that i had carried on as we were as i know she would have been absolutly fine!

The check never caused any other problems for her after that but unfortunatly now due to getting older she has other aliments which has forced her to be retired. She still has a slight thickening there but it is not painful.

I shouldn't think your lad will need a full lameness work up if there is a obvious site of pain. It is proberly best if he stays in and for your vet (perhaps someone else!) to have another look and maybe bring the scanner with him.
Try not to worry untill you know more. Good luck and let us know how you get on.

 

[Britestar]

Get it scanned. Until they look 'inside' you will never know for sure.

One of ours recently had something similar, and was scanned. They thought it was probably fluid. He was given 3 weeks off with Danilon and Tensolvet, re scanned and is perfectly OK now, and back in full work.

 

[Eccles]

Hi, Thanks for all your lovely replies! Really appreciated as always.

I got another vet out this morning from a different practice who dug around for ages and found a mahoosive abscess. I am so grateful that is all it is. He thought it had been moving round his foot making his lameness variable until yesterday where it moved into the white line. We all thought it was check ligament damage, but it just goes to show that most lameness is in the foot.

Thanks for your help, am so relieved my lovely ponio will make a full and fairly speedy recovery.

 

[Dottie]

That is good news!