prevention of recurring tendon injury

noblesteed

noblesteed

Well-Known Member
Joined
3 August 2009
Messages
1,872
Location
Up North
Visit site
My friend's horse had last year out due to a foreleg tendon injury. His fitness has been slowly built up with lots of long, slow, hilly hacks. He is back in work now and up to fitness ready for regular riding club events - flatwork, sj, xc.
She is worried about him reinjuring himself, as concussive trot work on the roads is causing slight heat in the tendon area.
Obviously she will be cutting out the trotting on the roads, but is there anything she can do to help prevent him reinjuring himself jumping?
She has bought some supportive tendon boots for now, and some cooling gel for after work.
Any other ideas?
 
I'm in the same boat but mine did hers originally in the field, so am worried about turning her out. Having said that she is a horse and they do things to themselves and as owners we have to accept it to some degree, I have sports medicine boots and am careful with the leg, ice is good too am sure there will be thread about ice boots. I'm also pro magnets but they aren't everybody's cup of tea
hope that helps
 
Sorry, I think she needs another scan done. It doesn't sound like that tendon is fully healed and ready for jumping work if roadword puts heat into it. It could be adhesions but they should cause heat no matter what the surface. No boots protect a tendon from a pull along its length, only from a strike injury. If it scans as fit to work, then MSM works well on a friends horse with tendon adhesions. It's competition legal.
 
Have to agree, if there is still heat in the leg then IMV (and I've looked after tendon problems many times for vets) the horse is not ready for any work at all and it would be turned away again. Disappointing I know but some horses do take longer than others; I've known some to be up to two years, you've almost given up and it comes right to have a future career and never a problem again as long as you are careful. When they're ready, they're ready but if not, then you're wasting your time and you'll go back to square one.
 
I would be worried if there was still heat in the leg, I would be going back to the vet before I continued with the fittness plan.

My horse had a year off with a tendon injury and is now in full work but I have decided against jumping him to decrease the chance of reinjury.
 
I agree with the others, my pony tore her DDFT in Spetember, she had surgery on it & the prognosis was good. We followed the plan the vet gave us, but in Janaury she went intermittently very lame, then came sound within a few days. Leg was rescanned & the tendon has healed well, but an adhesion has formed despite all my care & attention. She is now turned away with Danilon & daily icing to try & persuade the adhesion to stretch & to draw the heat out, the vet now expects her to come maybe hacking sound. If there is heat in that tendon after work, then there is tendon damage & I would certainly not do anything further without a tendon scan.

CP Trayes, that interests me about the MSM helping your friends horse with adhesions as I have taken Kizzy off everything except the Danilon, could you let me have some more info, thanks xx
 
Would totally agree with the others - if there is any heat at all the horse should not be worked and re - scanned asap.
My lad had a tendon injury 2 1/2 yrs ago - I took 18 mnths to slowly build him back to full work and he now hunts/sj's and has his life back to normal, but even now I still check for heat after any strenous excercise.
Everyone I spoke to at the time of my lads injury stressed that time was really the best healer, and however frustrating that is, it is the only way.
Good luck!
 
Sorry, meant to add that mine was on MSM for the whole recovery period and felt it was beneficial.I also used an ice pack daily until the heat had gone and felt that was more effective than cold hosing.
In terms of preventing re-injury, I am careful of the ground condtions so won't hunt in heavy ground, and wherever possible SJ on a surface. I also do not see how any boot can be supportive enough to prevent re-injury, unless traumatic, so wouldn't waste money there.
 
My horse was intermediate/advanced 2 years ago, did his LF, and we got him back and he went advanced so progressed, at this time we were told 70%chance of return to same level. At end of last season, we pulled him from last two CCI2* as tendon flairing occassionaly but always sound.
Got him through this and just had a "extra check" as now in fast work about to enter events, and done his other leg!!!!!!!!!! He hasnt been easy on walk/trot work needed ACP, he is a workhorse..

So out for the season yet again.. What do now do with an 11 yr old, at this level, not a horse that could be a JRN/dropped down to Novice... This time giving him more time as dont like the idea of blistering the legs, which is an option. Always done a treatment of adequan.

Take it carefully and you can return the horse to the level he was at and beyond, but be prepared to pull the horse on dodgy ground. Had to do this at Chatsworth, and could have afforded 40+timefaults to finish in top 7 places, but thought of his leg and saved him for another day.

Good luck...,
 
My mare tore her DDFT last year and was only diagnosed via MRI last Sept. Shes on NAF MSM and will be for the forseeable future. Shes now back in ridden work and has been for the last 7wks hacking out just in walk, then on March 14th vet came to check her and said to do some uphill trot work to strengthen her tendon. Still on box confinement and vet is back to check her out at the beginning of May, summer turnout starts towards end of May so she may be able to go out then. Time is a healer and I am doubtful that I will ever jump her again though vet seems to think she would be ok to do so. Its a worrying thing and I think I will need Sedalin when she goes out. Will have to watch her for laminitis then but thats another story!!
 
kizzywiz said:
I agree with the others, my pony tore her DDFT in Spetember, she had surgery on it & the prognosis was good. We followed the plan the vet gave us, but in Janaury she went intermittently very lame, then came sound within a few days. Leg was rescanned & the tendon has healed well, but an adhesion has formed despite all my care & attention. She is now turned away with Danilon & daily icing to try & persuade the adhesion to stretch & to draw the heat out, the vet now expects her to come maybe hacking sound. If there is heat in that tendon after work, then there is tendon damage & I would certainly not do anything further without a tendon scan.

CP Trayes, that interests me about the MSM helping your friends horse with adhesions as I have taken Kizzy off everything except the Danilon, could you let me have some more info, thanks xx
Click to expand...

Her horse's scans showed a complete healing of the DDFT that was torn, but there was continued swelling and heat on working, with a short stride. Ultrasound showed there were adhesions and there were two options - cut the tendon sheath to release the restriction or ultrasound therapy. She chose the latter, which did help a lot, but was not a complete cure and the leg continued to swell after work. She now has the horse permanently on MSM and it is placed every time out with her trainer at Elementary and there is no more swelling unless she lays off the MSM.

MSM is pretty cheap compared to other meds and competition legal so it seems to be a bit of a no-brainer if a horse is at all suspect in terms of inflammatory responses to old injuries.

Hope that helps
 
Thanks, yes thats really helpful. Will start it again tomorrow. Thats given me some hope to see that your friends horse is doing so well with adhesions, Kizzy too still has some heat & swelling, though some days it doesn't. They didn't suggest ultrasound to me, just the 24/7 turnout, icing & Danilon, & if she's sound in a couple of months to begin ridden walking. David Lloyd at Liphook who did the surgery thought she was unlikely to go eventing again, but would be nice if we could go to some dressage parties perhaps next summer. Thanks again.
 
My friend's problem is that it's only a tiny bit of swelling and only when really hammering a trot on the roads. It's only been warm when she's ridden him out with my sharer - who apparently has been trotting MY horse like a train (!) (and will be dealt with... grrrrrr !!!!!) and she's been trying to keep up! He's fine when she goes out with me on my horse, walking, hillwork, bit of trot and cantering on the verges. Doesn't come in injured from turnout and has been jumping/schooling many times now with no probs.

Personally I would get him a scan to check the healing, but his leg is no longer insured, he's getting old and my friend will not be able to afford any sort of op on him. He has a home for life with her I hasten to add and he is no competition horse.

I will suggest a scan and MSM to her tho. I went through hell with my last horse over a tendon 'niggle' which ended up as an op.
 
Sounds harsh, but if she can't afford another scan then the best option would be to turn him away for a year and start again. Time is the best healer for tendons, and you can NOT rush a horse back into work. They don't have to be lame to have badly torn a tendon - heat is a good indicator. My horse badly tore her DDFT three years ago and was only lame (8-9 tenths) on the first day after the injury. After that she was intermittently half a tenth lame. She took 18 months to come sound at all, and even now the slightest slip in the field can make her niggly again. She is a hacking horse now - not worth the risk of doing anything more, and if she ever goes lame she is cold hosed, on Bute, and most importantly she is rested.

Another point - boots won't support the tendon. Heating it up isn't a good idea, so steer clear of SMB-type boots. The best she can do is give him more time and build things up again very slowly, and never expect too much.

I also agree with the MSM - I can't prove it worked, but it may well have helped her repair any small amounts of damage done by slipping in the field/ bringing her back into work.
 
I would agree with all the above. My horse did his DDFT in May 08, and came back into gentle work in October; he did a limited and careful endurance season in 09 and will hopefully be back on track this year. His tendon is 90% healed and the prognosis is it will never heal completely; one of the warning signs I've been told to look for is any heat in the leg. So far, touch wood, he's been absolutely fine. He's been on Superflex for years, I use a magnetic wrap daily, and am careful to use ice boots etc afer hard work.
 
definitly rest, rest & more rest, and echo feeding MSM, and nucleotides as well, also agree on avoiding boots, esp the thick wrap around ones, (although my old pointer with glass legs wears thin wrap boots, as his suspensory ligaments are very suspect these days) i avoid boots on anything with tendon issues for general work/hacking, as heating the leg up can have longer term consequences.

also in the future, once the horse is back in work, i can highly recommend the airborne cool sport boots, for quickly cooling the legs down,

time is the greatest healer when in comes to tendon problems, if you can, turn them away & forget them.
 
As said before no support boot or bandage will protect the tendon from anything other than a direct blow.

I would be doubly careful using a so called support boot because of the increased temperature caused by the boot material. This can cause even nore damage.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top