Possible Suspensory Damage experiences

[SGElse]

Hi,

My horse started bucking in canter which was very unlike him. I had a lameness assessment and vet says his hind suspensory & SI are sore (although he is not visibly lame).

I have booked him into the clinic for steroids into SI & hock X-Rays to see if there is any damage to the suspensorys. The vet is suggesting to steroid the hock to improve the suspensorys depending on what the X-Rays show.

I just wanted to know if anyone has experienced anything similar? I am very reluctant to use steroid injections but this seems to be most commonly used? It would also be handy to know other peoples recovery time/aftercare and when they returned back to full work?

Thanks!!

 

[IrishMilo]

It depends what they find as to your treatment options and recovery time. If you scan the suspensories and X ray the hocks then you'll have a better idea of what's going on. They may suggest nerve blocks to locate the exact source of pain. If you find changes in the hocks then steroids are usually the best and common option, but the suspensories are different as there's a lot of variables (acute/chronic/holes in ligament vs. swelling vs. tear etc.)

Surgery to repair for chronic PSD is considered to have the highest success rate but a lot of vets if you ask them honestly are against the procedure as it involves de-nerving. Rest doesn't have a good success rate nor does shockwave. What you want to do with the horse really depends on the best treatment - what do you consider full work? For some people that's riding 6 days a week, jumping 1.10 and going out for gallops and for others that's plodding round the lanes twice a week. You'll have a much happier time if you fall into the latter. Apologies for the downer post but suspensories are arseholes to fix.

 

[Flowerofthefen]

I bought a 4 yo tb ex racer. Bred in the purple, had won a ton of money. After about 6 months of gentle schooling and trying to hack ( he wasn't a great hack!!) he went ' stiff' in his back end. Scans showed both hind suspensories were shot. He had ages off to recoup , took him back to vet and no improvement. He was pts as even if he had come back into low level work he could only school which would have done his legs no good as he wouldn't hack. Wishing you all the best.

 

[w1bbler]

If the suspensory scan shows damage then I highly recommend taking him to someone that uses indiba. I know a couple of horses with damaged suspensories that are now back in full work after being sent to a rehab yard that uses indiba
No experience with si issues, but I know the two are often connected,

 

[sbloom]

I'd also be looking seriously at proper postural rehab, most rehab doesn't look to change the horse's balance, and how you were training before. Ultimately, unless there was a massive trauma causing the injury then it's down to weakened tissue and we need to address why the tissue was weakened, and change our approach. Equitopia Center has some good stuff on topline, movement patterns, in hand work etc, looking deeper than fittening/strengthening, simply lunging and poles (which so often reinforce and strengthen the compensatory movement patterns) and there are more and more trainers, in person and online, who can help.

So often one issue - suspensories, hocks, SI, KS and even front feet problems - are all related and if you don't get to the root of the problem then "secondary" issues (I don't think it's helpful to always look at primary/secondary) can show up sooner or later.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

Depends on the damage mine had a hole in one of his when he was 12 and had prp and 6 months box rest and was sound hole fixed, his 19 now and was lame last year he had some suspensory damage to both and hock arthritis, he had shock wave on the suspensories and steroid and gel in the hocks, vet also put steroid in his si joint as hind leg issues often affect the si function.

 

[misst]

I would get a full work up and look at feet front and back as well. Poor front balance can make them move badly leading to problems elsewhere. I believe my lads SI joint problems were secondary to his hind suspensory problems but later he went lame in front. Looking back (it was a long time ago) he had poor foot balance from the beginning and I am sure that the root of all his issues was this. He had shockwave and steroid injections which worked really well with careful rehab for his suspensories. He was sound for a few more years but then had intermittent front lameness and SI joint problems. If I had my time again I would be looking at the whole horse, its posture, its front and back feet and it's movement in general. Ours was only ever subtle in his lameness but when nerve blocked moved in a totally different way.

 

[lynz88]

Been there done that. I would seriously be looking at foot alignment because that can cause these issues. Mine has NPA which has led to hock arthritis, issues in the SI (resolved thankfully with a partial injection- the vet wasn't able to see or get to the full joint but what she was able to get to worked!), and suspensory issues. For mine, he absolutely refused to want to move and on ultrasound, could see boney growth in the hock - what we couldn't tell was whether the growths were on the hock itself and interfering with the suspensories or if this was the beginning of DSLD.

Tried wedges, bar shoes, and lateral support but he was absolutely miserable. Removed shoes and went barefoot and was much happier. Also got a new farrier/trimmer who has been fab with working on properly fixing the NPA and put him on a daily bute as well as monthly cartrophen and he's a happy horse. I also did have the hocks injected before starting the cartrophen which helped significantly. That was I think just over 2 years ago now.

(He also has significant arthritis in the LF around the navicular due to bad farriery as well and putting that foot at extreme NPA. I did fire that farrier a few years ago and moved to a new one who was able to only get so far in fixing the NPA. The one that I have now has significantly helped in changing his feet in 2 trims)

 

[sbloom]

From time spent with all sorts of pros, including long chats with a superb farrier/trimmer, I think feet are not often the primary cause. They will become a block to making progress, sure, but current thinking is that they are seldom at the root of the issues.

When one theory is that birth trauma is really significant, and that most foals, if not seen and corrected by day 3, will have compensated in their movement...then we load then without undoing that compensation and often after not even enough movement as youngsters, then we only compound the problem. We then micromanage our horses (more bend, do this exercise, more flexion yadda yadda) rather than truly enabling them to balance under a rider, and that micromanagement takes away their own compensation rather than improving what is causing the compensation. This is set from the very top and NOT something to beat ourselves up over, but I do think it's very prevalent and we've got used to seeing the results (posture, musculature, way of going) and the eventual outcomes (routine injections etc).

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

My horse that has suspensory issues and hock and si problems is a bit comprised with his posture I do quite alot of stretches and thoracic sling work with him his also barefoot again now.

 

[SGElse]

My horse that has suspensory issues and hock and si problems is a bit comprised with his posture I do quite alot of stretches and thoracic sling work with him his also barefoot again now.

Depends on the damage mine had a hole in one of his when he was 12 and had prp and 6 months box rest and was sound hole fixed, his 19 now and was lame last year he had some suspensory damage to both and hock arthritis, he had shock wave on the suspensories and steroid and gel in the hocks, vet also put steroid in his si joint as hind leg issues often affect the si function.

Was your horse sound and back in full work after the hock/SI steroids???

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

Was your horse sound and back in full work after the hock/SI steroids???

Yes he was sound after treatment but the canter was poor so vet said medicate the si joint and after 10 days rest his canter was so much better.

 

[misst]

From time spent with all sorts of pros, including long chats with a superb farrier/trimmer, I think feet are not often the primary cause. They will become a block to making progress, sure, but current thinking is that they are seldom at the root of the issues.

When one theory is that birth trauma is really significant, and that most foals, if not seen and corrected by day 3, will have compensated in their movement...then we load then without undoing that compensation and often after not even enough movement as youngsters, then we only compound the problem. We then micromanage our horses (more bend, do this exercise, more flexion yadda yadda) rather than truly enabling them to balance under a rider, and that micromanagement takes away their own compensation rather than improving what is causing the compensation. This is set from the very top and NOT something to beat ourselves up over, but I do think it's very prevalent and we've got used to seeing the results (posture, musculature, way of going) and the eventual outcomes (routine injections etc).

Wow that is really interesting and I can see the sense in that. Thinking has come a long way in the last 20 years or so.