Severe (90%) Laceration of Superficial Digital Flexor Tendon

[HopeForHarry]

Hello,

My daughter's best friend Harry whom she competed on 1.15 m cut his right hind leg and almost fully ruptured his SDFT. We are 55 days into the injury. He has had full stall rest with wrapping both back legs. Our vet wants will do an ultrasound tomorrow and then do PRP. A month after PRP, Stem Cells. She doesn't think he will ever jump again and is hopeful she can get him to where he can be ridden again but says she might only be able to get him pasture sound and comfortable.

My question is-Have any of you had such a severe injury with a much better outcome than we are being promised? If so, what did you do? We desperately want this horse to not only be sound but be able to be ridden. I can't imagine him never jumping again. He would run around the pasture and jump our jumps by himself just because. He absolutely loved jumping. It just breaks my heart every time I see him stuck in his stall looking outside where he wants to be and knowing he might be there for a really long time.

Please give me some hope and some ideas on anything else we can do to help Harry.

 

[FestiveFuzz]

Not completely the same, but my 5yo mare suffered an acute tear to her DDFT back in July. We box rested for several weeks and then treated with lipogems (http://www.lipogemsequine.com/what-is-lipogems---.html). She responded well, so we began in-hand/horsewalker walk work until she was up to 2 hours of walk per day. By September we were in a position to begin ridden walk work, but unfortunately after her first time under saddle again she went lame and the decision was made to start working towards her being in a position to be turned away for a year. This involved gradual turnout in a small paddock before introducing her slowly to the herd and then finally in December she went out full time again.

Whilst on box rest she wore magnetic stable boots to help encourage recovery and has been treated daily throughout with the activo-med laser (http://www.fmbs.co.uk/product/activo-med-laser-systems/) both of which our vet feels has really helped her.

Unfortunately on Monday I got a call to say she was now showing some signs of splitting in her SDFT and has re-stretched her DDFT so things aren't looking too great for her, but we suspect that their might be something genetic at play which has resulted in her tendons not behaving the way they should.

My best advice is to take every day as it comes. As cliche as it sounds, time is the biggest healer when it comes to tendon injuries and trying to rush rehab will only result in further setbacks along the way. Speaking of setbacks, these will most likely occur no matter what. Allow yourself to be upset and then pick yourself up again. Try not to dwell on what your horse may or may not do again.

 

[conniegirl]

My connie put a hole the size of a 2p coin in his suspensory, with the added complication of also putting a couple of small ones in his check ligament! He was 18 yrs old at the time. We tried stem cells, it failed! Vet said he would never be ridden again and he wasnt sure if he would even be field sound.
So we went with 6 months box rest (including icing several times a day, 6 months paddock rest (starting small but getting bigger) at the end of that he was sound in his field and cavorting all over the place at the gallop, jumping fences etc. so vet said we may as well try bringing him back into work and see how he coped

I took 6 months to get him super fit. lots and lots of road work inhand and on the long reins.

18 months after injuring himself he was back in the show ring and doing medium level dressage. I never jumped him again under saddle but he certainly liked jumping paddock fences!

 

[scats]

My horse had a severe lesion in his DDFT 3 years ago. Leahurst said his prognosis was extremely guarded as the lesion was one of the biggest they had seen. I was prepared to retire him (in the hope he stayed field sound).

I made the decision that if he came sound I would not jump again, which slightly created a problem in my event horse plan, but I believed in the horse so much I just wanted him rideable. He is now still sound, 3 years on, and I have plans to do dressage (various other health issues have hindered us so far)

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

If the tendon is cut and the tendon sheath has a hole in it you can't do stem cells as there would be nothing there to hold them in!

I know of a horse who struck into a front leg severing 50% of the tendon. In theory he should have been put down. In reality 2 years on he is back sound and racing over hurdles and chase fences.

My own lad out a 50% hole in his hind SDFT round the fetlock. He took out the tendon sheath too. He bashed it in the field and I am glad he had boots on or it would have been a whole lot worse! He didn't break the skin. He couldn't have stem cell because there was no sheath to hold it in. 8 months box rest, then walking. His tendon filled in with 95% tendon fibre and only 5% scar tissue, pretty impressive for a 14yo horse. He popped a hole in it again 2 years later, came through box rest and walking sound. The tendon had filled in completely with tendon fibre at the age of 16! I have never really ridden him again since as I have too many to ride and I don't have a lorry to travel him in. But he has stayed field sound and would probably be hacking/showing/dressage sound if I had the time to work him.

It's not the end of the world and miracles do happen. But I highly doubt your horse will ever jump again and any work he does will need to be very well thought through, planned and looked after.

 

[maddielove]

Sorry to bump a really old thread but just wondered if there was any update on your boy? My mare has just done similar, large laceration to her left hind and partial sever to her medial suspensory ligament, unsure of the percentage as the wound is so mangled. She's weight bearing (very well..popped a few little rears at the vets) which is our main hope for her. Was your boy weight bearing from early on?

Our main concern is the wound right now as its very open, 2 vets have differing opinions on her prospects of returning to work. Our main vet says 50/50, he liaised with a surgeon at the Glasgow university vet hospital and he was much more optimistic thinking it was more like 80 or 90% she would return to full work.

Going to be a very long road, still early days and PTS is still very much an option, not sure how she is going to handle box rest.

 

[Birker2020]

My story isn't the happy ending you are hoping for but I know of an old livery horse who in 1997 fell down a ditch and a tree root or an old brick ripped open his fetlock.He had a strong venous bleed and on the advice of vets was torniqued to get him back home but due to weather took over an hour and a half.It was never actually said but it was later supposed that the delay with the tourniquet on may have caused irreparable damage to the leg. The vet was there when he arrived at the yard, he was xrayed and given antibiotics.He was taken to the equine hospital the following day.He had lacerated his fetlock joint from one side to the other and severed two tendons one of which was an lateral digital extensor if memory serves me right.They said if he made it it would not affect his ridden career.He had the joint flushed under a GA and was given massive antibiotics and thejoint fluid replaced.and kept in the hospital.His major problem was the plastcast which covered his foot up to below his hock and he kept getting sores underneath when he stood up or moved in the stable ..He had another op under GA and a third op under GA to rectify the problem each time being harder and harder to bring him round afterwards as he was mid to late teens.They only kept him going because they thought he had a chance and because his owner was so dedicated in her care and approach.But he was still incredibly sore with the cast which was considered the only option at the time.After three weeks he was put in stocks, given sedation and they took the cast off and he flexed his leg and what little healing there had been was ruined as the joint opened up again and sadly he was PTS after his owner was phoned.They said after that if they ever encountered a similar injury they would pts on the spot but they were prepared to give it a go. However OP that was in 1997 and things have moved on since them.PRP was never around int hose days and his injury was made worse because the joint had opened up, not just the tendons that were severed. Maddielove I hope I have not upset you your horses injury sounds similar to this horses.I think it was the plaster cast, the fact the joint had opened up, and tourniquet that sealed this boys fate,.

 

[maddielove]

Gosh that does sound traumatic - I think maybe the one difference could be the injury is mid cannon height which the vet said was in our favour. It's not a million miles away from the hock but should be far enough for movement to not cause any issues. A cast was mentioned but the way she is moving/weight bearing now I think it would possibly cause more hindrance than help.

The vets are going to partially stitch the wound tomorrow, which I hope will be the start of the healing process. She exposed her extensor tendon last summer which filled in within 2 weeks and she was back out, I just don't know when to expect to see any progress.