re bad luck - hes done a tendon

[only_me]

gaahh!!

little welshie appears to have done a tendon

and to be more specific its the deep digital flexon? tendon...

does anyone know how long it will take to heal if it does?

hes only 12.2hh...

heres a piccy

poor boy...

 

[lastresort]

My mare did She had 5 months off but she competes. Poor your its very frustrating

 

[RachelB]

How long does it take? A very long time. Sorry. Deep digital flexor tendons are worse than superficial flexor tendons apparently. SDFT injuries are fairly common, whereas DDFT are less common, and can occur at the bottom of the DDFT in the hoof too which is far worse.
My mare has torn her DDFT right down in her hoof. Took 3 months to diagnose, in total she had 4.5 months on box rest, and she's now almost half way through her 9 months field rest. She also has cartilage damage too though, and the prognosis is that she won't be able to do much more than hack again, and certainly won't jump. I'm pretty certain she had the injury before I bought her though which makes things worse too.
If you've managed to catch it early, and if you have time and space, just do all you can to help the pony and keep your fingers crossed. My vet told me to get rid of Maiden and move on, but I can't afford to (both financially and emotionally) so I'm keeping trying with her. *touch wood* she's field sound (huge improvement) now so we'll see in April whether she has recovered enough to be ridden again. If not, more field rest.
All I can say is get yourself a good vet and listen to their advice. Good luck!

 

[pinkcatkin]

My mare did her DDFT straight after having healed from distal sesamoidean ligament injury. She had to have surgery to remove fibres from the navicular bursar and she did come back into work nicely, took probably 5 months in total after box rest, building up etc. She seemed fine and then did another injury but it was something else and the DDFT seems to have healed nicely. It is very depressing having these injuries - I have had more than my fair share in the last two years with my mare and I have now turned her away for a year to see if she wil come right. Good luck! Don't mean to sound pessimistic at all, you will probably be fine, just takes loads of time and you need to be really patient.

 

[cellie]

How bad is his tear ,my horse got the all clear yesterday .He had a 10% tear and it took 13 weeks.Have you had a scan to find out the extent of damage.Good luck know how your feeling!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[only_me]

YO had scan done today, and also the laser therapy woman gave him go with her lasers. will find out how much tear is - although it starts at the back of the knee and the leg is hugely swollen - you cant tell the difference from the knee and the cannon bone from the back!

 

[cellie]

I had a lot of swelling too,keep cold hosing half hour a day at least twice a day more if possible .Most of my horses swelling had gone within a week .I think the joint supplements can help repair damage if you dont mind expense.I bought a special ice pack for tendon damage but be careful they can give freeze burns (which they dont warn you of on pack).Unfortunately they gave my poor horse burns so I had extra problem but if you wrap them in a tea towel or something to keep them clear of skin they help.Hope its not to bad let us know how you get on with results.