Returning to work schedule after Ligament injury - advice needed please!!

sarahhowen

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25 August 2007
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Hi Peeps,

So I havent posted in a while as sadly in January Indi damaged his Lateral Collateral Ligament of the coffin joint and badly bruised his pedal bone, just to give you the full background this was diagnosed via MRI and the damage to the Ligament was purely enlarged, no holes or tears showing just inflamation,

We completed 12 weeks of box rest initially with two ten minute hand walks daily which over the 12 weeks increased to 2 x 20 minute walks, after the 12 weeks we had an U/S done which showed that the ligament was back to its normal size and there was no distortions in the fibres (Woohoo!) Bruising is still coming out of the hoof but it was a bad one and the heat has now gone so think we are just dealing with the residual bruising that will grow out in time.

Vet gave us approval to start bringing him back into work and to faze in some turnout in a small flat paddock, over the last 7 weeks we have gradually introduced T/O and he is now out between 7.00am and 5.00pm and we are now hacking him out, spent the first month just walking and over the last 3 weeks have introduced trot work, can now hack out for an hour, mainly in walk but with about 15 mins of trot work with no adverse signs, trot feels good and Very powerful, in terms of his way of going I have been asking him to carry himself more over the last few weeks and working on stretches of "long and low" out hacking interspersed with phases of "on the buckle" work to try and start building him back up.

We are allowed back in the school in just over a weeks time and I havent got a clue what I can or cant do, Im thinking initially that any circle should be a minimum of 20m with no lateral work involved but really havent got a clue - does anyone have any suggestions?? We will be keeping the hacking work up and initially just doing 5 mins in the school after a hack - moving forward we are going to aim to hack 3 times a week minimum to keep those tendons and ligaments strong
 
My mare injured her DDFT 3yrs ago, I know its not a ligament but its soft tissue damage. We stayed out of the school and did loads of hacking out until canter was introduced. Vet more or less said a lot of tendon/ligament damage is caused by the schools and surfaces not being what they ought to be. If I were you and after the obvious care you have taken with rehabilitation, I wouldnt stick to the "time" you are allowed to do whatever, I would personally carry on with the hacking out a bit longer. Is the surface in your school a good one? Not deep?

My mare had compensated on the other leg due to her DDFT tear and therefore the SDFT on that leg was injured later on. She was box rested and turned away for a year. This year she has been brought back into work and now lives out completely, better for her. We just hack out now, I dont do schooling with her anymore - my choice. Just wanted to make you aware that they can and do use their other limbs to take the strain. The last thing you need is to have a problem elsewhere, also bear in mind that some Insurance companies are now not covering opposite limbs where compensation has taken place!

Take it steady, you have all the time in the world. My mare is 17 now and sound. I want her to stay that way and fingers crossed she will..
 
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