Severe SDFT injury

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Vintagehacker

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Hi,
My 18 year old mare tore her superficial digital flexor tendon, charging around the field playing, racing down hill and then skidding to a stop. How I wish my paddocks were on level ground! That was 11 weeks ago. She had Platelet Rich Plasma treatment 8 days later and was cold hosed within an hour of injuring herself and for three weeks following.
She is still on box rest with daily 5 mins in-hand walking for the past couple of weeks. The vet is coming back in 2 weeks for second scan following PRP therapy. My concern is that yes, the tendon is very bowed, which I expected, but the knee and back of the knee is still so swollen, although less hot these days.
Has anyone else experienced this following the tendon injury, and if so is it like to subside? I doubt I’ll be able to ride her again, and we only hack, but I wonder if she will be able to be turned out and retired. :(
 
Are you sure it's not the bandage causing the knee to swell?

Never lose hope! My Gray lad tore his sdft in 2. Literally! There wasn't a single strand of fibre left connected! He did it racing. I gave him MSM 10000 for 9 months. Box rested for 3 months, walked in hand for 3 months, turned out for 3 months and at 11 months 16 days he went to his first show and stood 2nd in hand ad 4th ridden. No one noticed his banana leg -it helps he is grey and still had silver legs. He is 100% sound and has been from the moment I started walking him. That was 7? Years ago. He has never taken a lame step on it and has won a lot in the show ring!

He couldn't have prp as there was no tendon or sheath to hold the stuff in with!

I took him home from work knowing that I could be putting him down 6 months later if he never came sound. Anything else is a bonus!
 
Thank you so much for that, it has given me hope. No it’s defo not the bandages, the vet said she had done muscle damage, but I thought it would have gone down a bit by now. She too had virtually torn the tendon through, the vet said it was such a mess that he didn’t think he would find anything to inject the PRP into, but found a small ‘reasonable area’ to try. He said on the last scan that there was some healing and a ‘lot of fibrotic matter’, just hope it looks more promising on the next scan. Today she had obviously tweeked it when getting up, and I could tell she was uncomfortable, so we walked less and I hosed it again. I hope the magnetic bands are doing something too, she too is on MSM 1000.
I am 67 and dont really want to give up riding yet, but if she can’t be ridden ever again, I shall be happy just to have her pain free (not playing silly b*****s in the field) and retired.
 
Mine went down the cold salt water spa route/box rest after 3 months started in hand straight line walking and did a very slow steady rehab eventually got turned out with lots of sedation. Tendon is bowed but has "remodelled" as time has gone on. He was 20 when he did it vet recommended PTS I wanted to give him a chance, we were all amazed at the 6 week scan as that would have been the decider. Hacking happily and still doing cartwheels in the field (where he did the original injury!)
 
Thank you for your reply. It does help to get some positive replies like this, especially with a veteran, as my mare is 18. I find it difficult to walk in straight lines, but try hard not to go in circles. Out on the road is straighter, but we have to go up a bit of hill first, the same as going out to the paddock, and vet has advised not to do that yet. I know it’s time that’s the great healer, but do feel it’s a bit like a roller coast ride. Sometimes she seems good and I am positive, other days she is not so good and I feel down. Hey ho, that’s having any animals I guess.
 
Good news! The vet came back today to check my mare and was very pleased with her progress. He didn’t scan her but could see and feel the improvement, and as for the swelling around the knee he tells me it’s fluid in the carpal sheath which can be drained. He was amazed at how well she is walking and has increased the time to 10 mins twice a day. He also said we can make a pen outside which won’t be much bigger than her box, and put her out for a couple of hours a day in about two weeks time. He’s coming back end of April to scan and drain the fluid on the knee. He even said if things continue in this way, I might be able to start hacking her out (albeit slowly and for a few minutes at a time) in June. I didn’t expect that!! ��
 
Anything is possible so long as you take it steady and go at the horses pace. Never be afraid to repeat a stage of the recuperation. Time is the biggest and best healer of them all.

This is my Gray lad 5 years after his injury strutting his stuff in the show ring:

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Never underestimate the healing power of time. My horse had an injury in July last year. We never got to the bottom of it but we suspect DDFT.
She has made slow, steady improvements since and she has just been left, turned out in the field. Sometimes improving then regressing then improving again. Up until December she was still on and off lame but this year seems to have made more progress again and I hope to maybe try some very light riding around the block so to speak soon.
I was at one point wondering if she would ever be well enough to be a field ornament, but as she was eating and drinking and well in herself we just let her be and monitored her. It's amazing how even after six to eight months she still shows signs of moving better.
Best of luck with your horse!
 
Thank you and good luck with yours too! It would help if it would stop raining and start to dry up, we could do with some warm sun, a bit of grazing and some calm weather. I won’t even consider putting mine in her ‘little pen’ unless it’s dry and calm, so worried she do something silly!
 
I am waiting for the weather as well. Mine had an operation on her ddft in November and has been on box rest with controlled exercise since. We are doing short trots undersaddle. Vet has said she can go out next week but I need the fields to dry up
 
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