Prognosis: Companion Symptoms: None

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Blackhawk

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My 6 year old gelding was diagnosed by a vet as having:

"Chronic swelling with severe tenosynovitis and chronic scarring on the annular ligament."

Prognosis: Companion for life, possibly a light hack if lucky

Now, horse is 100% sound and the same vet has said this. After a flexion test, horse is sound. He has swelling on one leg which is not hot or hard and he takes no notice of pressure being applied and is in no pain whatsoever.

I'm booking another vet for a second opinion but to me it just seems so odd to have such a dire prognosis when he is sound.
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yes... but sound enough to do what? if at the moment he's sound mooching around the field, and perhaps for lightly hacking out, fantastic. but if he stays sound after being put into work, with chronic problems such as those, i would be a bit surprised.
if he's had enough time off, sometimes good old Dr Green can do a lot of mending and the horse can be functionally sound enough for very light work, and even for the odd charge around the field on his own, but if you put the horse into harder/faster work then those compromised areas would be more likely to break down again, imho.
 
How was the original diagnosis reached - scans, MRI? How long has he been off work?
My horse was diagnosed with chronic long term wear to his medial collateral ligament with associated swelling etc. He had six months off and is now 100% however I am fully aware that he is only sound because he is only lightly hacked. The nature of his injury means that continual hard work would cause the ligament to break down further and the problems to resurface.
If the diagnosis was definite and made through MRI/scans I would be following your vets advice. Simply because he is sound whilst out of work doesn't mean the ligament will be ok if stressed. Sorry.
 
Sorry, but I agree with the above.
I have a horse who injured his fetlock at 6 months old but appeared to make a full recovery. However, when he was being broken he started to go slightly lame on the lunge and after x-rays/nerve blocks etc, it was found he had both bone and tissue damage and working him, especially circles, would exacerbate the problem. He is now 10 years old and we have never been able to ride him. Over the years his fetlock has swollen and now you can see where the damage is, however, he still 'looks' sound. Occasionally he will go lame for a few days, if the ground is very muddy or he's been running about a bit too much.
 
Hi,

I sort of agree with the comments made but I Know if the horse was mine I would be looking for a second opinion too and trying all the options and it does depend greatly on how the horse was diagnosed.

If it was by scan, is it worth doing again to see the level of repair ?

If the horse has had optimum rest is it not worth very slowly bringing back into work and seeing how you get on ? As long as the horse has had the correct amount of rest to ensure it has healed to the best of its ability.

You obviously cant just think that the horse is fixed and get on with things. But I would be giving things a go slowly, along with vets advice of course.

I have to say though that I dont have any actual experience of this type of injury just common sense which says that as long as you take it very very slowly and stop if you have any problems, you dont actually seem to have much to loose

Oh and good luck !!
 
I've got very different lameness problems with a mare but she's been on devil's claw for a while and I've recently added horsetails to her diet. It's another anti inflammatory herb which is supposed to be excellent for bones, joints, tendons ligaments and skin. The two together are working fantastically well and her lameness is markedly reduced. I'm also feeding mustard powder which is an MSM replacement and full of sulphur.

Pm me and I'll tell you where you can buy it if you want to try. It's about £10 a kilo.
 
Thanks for the replies everyone.

This is a recent diagnosis (1 week ago) by scan. While he was in hospital the vet said he was fully sound, and he passed a flexion test. The reason why he went initially was swelling on his fetlock.

My thoughts right now are to get a second opinion, and see if I can get any treatment. If not, then turn away for the summer and then re-scan before winter.

MacTara, thanks for the herbal suggestions. I've also been looking at global herbs:

http://www.globalherbs.co.uk/horse/2004_pages/jointmusclehoof.htm
 
Second opinion has come back and it's not looking good.
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Looks like my gelding is off for surgery on the ligament as this is what both vets have recommended. I'm waiting for my vet to get back to me after he's spoken to the equine hospital and made a referral.

Really gutted
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I am so sorry to hear that the results were not good. Really hope the operation is a sucess and will keep my fingers crossed for you.

Good luck XX
 
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