Potential Loan horse with old injury?

[PucciNPoni]

Help please!

There's a potential horse for loan that I'm considering going to see. He's not done much in the past few years (like 3 or 4) who has recovered from a hind suspensory ligament injury that was operated on. The owner reckons he was injured in a former life as a show jumper, but would be fine for dressage or even jumping a cross pole.

I've not had to recuperate a horse from this type of injury, and have retired my own mare due to osteoarthritis/OCD at the age of 11 (spent the last five months box resting her and recovering after keyhole etc). So the last thing I want is to take on something that's going to be a recurring injury.

Sooooo....as a loan would you leave it alone? Would you think about it? I'm looking for a horse to do RC level type stuff, some unaffiliated dressage - and hopefully progress along that route. I'm not hugely ambitious, but certainly want something that I can learn on!

Thanks

 

[Thistle]

When was the op, did he have the proper rehab at the time.

If so then he is likely to be ok. A friend has a horse who had this op done 3 years ago and it's back jumping 3'6" or so now. It also does BD.

If the injury was just given rest and no op then it's likely to recur. I know of 3 horses locally that tried the rest option. They all came back to work but broke again within a year.

 

[angela_l_b]

The recovery rate for hind suspenories is meant to be 70-80% after the op. That means recovery to full work as they were doing before rather than just flatwork. It is thought that the 20-30% that don't heal were mis-diagnosed in the first place, as it's hard to see on the scan. So he probably has a good chance of coming and staying right if the original diagnosis was correct.

My horse damaged his hind suspensory in December 2008 and we went down the 'conservative management' route. What I would say is be prepared to put the work in to bring him back slowly and correctly. We found that my boy needed a lot of osteopathic treatment as well as slow steady fitness work, as the leg injury caused a lot of muscular stiffness elsewhere. He has felt right, finally, for about the last 3 months - I'd say it took a year's work to get him back properly.

I wouldn't buy the horse but if you don't mind being patient and putting the work in I don't see a reason not to loan him.

Good luck!

 

[PucciNPoni]

Thank you both for the information. It gives me a better idea of what to expect, and maybe some follow up questions to ask.

 

[KingCharles]

I think a lot would depend on the loan terms. The risk is minamised with a loan, as if he did break down again you could hand him back to the owner. although this may be a hard thing to do i know.

Another thing to bare in mind..
You may end up rehabilitating the horse, getting him fit and out and about. Then the owners may turn round one day and say "thankyou very much" and take him back.

When i took charles on permanant loan, there was a question mark over his soundess. The owners where rather vauge about what it actually was. They said he would go footy on harder uneven ground. However he was currently sound with them. I have to say though, that since having charles i have had both my vet and farrier look at him. His feet where a mess and the farrier was nto surprised that he was going footy on uneven ground. He has thin soles and his heels where collapsed. Ive spent a lot of money and time getting his feet rebalanced , and he is very sound now. Even on uneven ground. I have no concerns over his soundess. In fact he is so sound and healthy i recon he would pass a 5 stage vetting and he is 18 this year. i took a chance with him. His owners are pleased that he can do more than they thought he could. It is still work in process and i am still taking things steady with him, but in time the farrier is optermistic that his feet will get better and better. Although he will always have thin soles. In fact the farrier was out last thursday and said that he would struggle with otu fronts if he was retired, but may just about manage with out his hinds. he was out of work when i took him on, but not due to soundess issues.

There was always the risk that as he became fitter he could of gone lame. He is fit now though after almost 5 months of work and he is better than ever. I have a permanant loan, the owners dont want him back. However i can terminate the loan at any time giving 2 months notice.

 

[E_Lister]

I have the other side of the story.
I loaned a mare who had had a similar operation done but in her front fore. That was 5 years before I got her and she was fully rehabilitated. However to be safe in my contract it said I couldn't jump or hunt her. This didn't bother me as she was the perfect hack and I hoped to learn something from her as she was the perfect schoolmistress.

Unfortunately after only a week of LIGHT hacking and 1 walk and trot lesson her tendon went again and she was back to square one.

Now the lady I loaned her off knew that I had been very careful with her as she went out hacking with me every time and because of this she offered to take the horse back, saying that it wasn't my fault and that as she had experience of this happening the first time it might be easier for her to deal with, besides, the damage hadn't been done by me but she had done 4 pleasure rides with her in the precedeing months.

I accepted her offer as I felt that the horse would be in better hands with her however I do go see the two af them when I get chance and thankfully horsey is fully recovered again! However it was heartbreaking for me because I had bonded very well with the horse and had looked after her for about 4 weeks before I took her back to my yard. I was once again left with an empty stable and a feeling of guilt that I can't quite shake even though everyone has assured me it wasn't my fault.