Severed Extensor tendon????? Recovery??

[Doublethyme]

God, just had a call from a friend and apparently the horse of one of my closest friends slipped under the post and rail last night and crashed the bottom rail. Don't have much detail, but he has severed his extensor tendon, not sure how badly, but possibly right through. He is currently in surgery.

What is the prognosis on something like this? I know she won't worry if he is retired (he virtually is anyway due to coffin joint problems on the front), but can they recover from this type of injury to be retired and happy??

I am so worried about him.

 

[PapaFrita]

Unless my memory fails me (and unfortunately it might!

)At a 'talk' on tendons at Rossdales (when I lived in the UK) vet said that whilst injuries to the flexor tendon were very, very problematic with regards horses returning to full work, the extensor tendon was much less of a problem and had a much more encouraging prognosis
Have you tried a google search?

 

[Happy Horse]

Damage to the extensor tendon can be fixed severing the flexor tendon is a whole different story! We had a hunter that almost severed his flexor tendon and after surgery and box rest he was fine.

 

[star]

the extensor tendons are not a particularly important part of the horse - extensor tendon injuries carry much much better prognoses than flexor tendon injuries and even some flexor tendon injuries recover, so it should be good news. fingers crossed.

 

[Doublethyme]

Thanks guys, he came through the surgery OK and now has a plaster cast for a few days. You are all correct, vets say the extensor tendon is the "best"! one to do and hopefully he should make a full recovery, as long as infection etc isn't a problem.

Poor boy has really been through the wars, but hopefully will be OK.

Thanks again.

 

[Iestyn]

Isd it down the front of a hind leg? My boy, at 3 yrs old, came THROUGH a gate in a thunder storn and sliced his near hind badly and severed an extensor tendon. A horse has 3 of these running down the fron of the leg and apparently only one or two are only ever used at atime. When he did it the vet gave us a fairly good prognosis. She said that because there were 3, the other 2 would strengthen to compensate. She did say to expect a little drag in that foot in all 3 paces, but we haven't seen any of that. He was turned out after 4 weeks and we were back in the saddle within 3 months (he became difficult to handle).

We never had (or were offered) surgery on it. The vet was out every week for about 6 months to trim proud flesh and he was bandaged for that time as well - we just bandaged the other leg as well when he was ridden.

He is now 7, and had this accident 4 years ago. At the time I thought he'd had it and he'd never be sound. He's now Pre-novice eventing (aiming for a novice by the end of the season), competing novice dressage (working towards elementary) and has showjumped Discovery BSJA on a ticket. Not a world beater but he has made a full recovery and surpassed any ambitions we had for him.

 

[jomiln]

If you can get your horse to a spa you may find that recovery is assisted. Talk to your vet about it. If you want more details just shout.

 

[puddicat]

the extensor tendons are not a particularly important part of the horse

Lol, I love this comment, and its sooo true. It made me start to think of other bits of the horse aren't particularly important and could be chopped off without much fuss.

In the interests of pedantry....

A horse has 3 of these running down the fron of the leg and apparently only one or two are only ever used at atime.

Well it has two that go down as far as the foot - perhaps the vet was confusing it with an ox, or she could be including the tendon that stops just below the knee. There are periods of the stride when all the extensor muscles are used together.

because there were 3, the other 2 would strengthen to compensate. She did say to expect a little drag in that foot in all 3 paces, but we haven't seen any of that.

It's a very sensible idea that you might get the remaining muscle to strengthen although both tendons operate on different joints so you wouldn't expect the original function to be restored by compensatory action of the remaining muscle. You wouldn't expect to see any dragging of the foot at any pace with an extensor tendon injury, flexor tendon injury possibly.

you can get your horse to a spa you may find that recovery is assisted.

Of course you won't, this is just a daft idea propagated by people who have absolutely no knowledge whatsoever about how the healing process works and what is likely to affect it.

BUT the good news is that the outlook is promising for a good recovery. Hope it goes well for you.

 

[star]

[ QUOTE ]
the extensor tendons are not a particularly important part of the horse

Lol, I love this comment, and its sooo true. It made me start to think of other bits of the horse aren't particularly important and could be chopped off without much fuss.


[/ QUOTE ]

Well, we're about to chop my horse's annular ligament in half and that's supposed to help him, so i dont spose that's particularly necessary either. You can get rid of half the small intestine and still function normally. What else can we think of?

 

[ihatework]

I reckon some horses would function better if they lost half their brains

 

[puddicat]

er. wolf teeth, check ligaments... useful but not absolutely essential, vocal cord can go and the larynx has a habit of hanging around obstructing airflow so why not tie that out the way as well... I can see I'm going to spend the day thinking about this now!

 

[puddicat]

which half though ? The half that suddenly thinks there's a lion hiding in the hedge just when you're trotting quitely down the road with you attention wandering and with a car coming in the opposite direction or the half that decides it can't possibly manage to jump a simple fence despite being presented straight at it and having jumped it effortlessly for the past year?

 

[ihatework]

Well, if you put it like that we may just be better removing the entire brain.
No half measures and all that

 

[hotheaded]

He should make a full recovery into happy retirement. It will leave him slightly weaker in the affected leg, so heavy workload and high end competition may be a problem. But you say he is not doing this anyway. You need to make sure he is properly rehabbed. With severed tendons and surgery there will be a lot of scar tissue. This in itself will cause pain and restriction. It is easily rehabbed with massage work to the area. Get a good equine body worker out to do deep tissue work and his recovery will be much quicker

 

[puddicat]

Hmmm interesting....

Everything you say is a sort of throw-away statement that anyone with common sense could say BUT you say it as if you're saying something special with authority. Well OK but in fact you fall to pieces in the detail a bit

Can you explain how you would do deep tissue work on the lower leg of the horse where there is in fact only skin, a small amount of fascia and then bone?

Whereas any old fool could say the leg will left slightly weaker and this might limit competition - I don't think it will because as star and I have already noted, the role of the extensor tendons is fairly minor and a complete recovery should mean just that - a complete functional recovery - so can you explain precisely what you think the consequences of a weakened extensor tendon would be on exercise?

 

[Iestyn]

I'm sorry Puddicat, but if anyone is talking as if they have said something special and "an air of authority", then it's you. Someone has asked for help, people are offering their opinons and you have done nothing but belittle 2 or 3 replies. Is there a problem with what we have said? I'm not a vet or an equine physio or any sort of expert, but I do have first hand experience of this exact injury to my horse. I may not have had all the facts correct and neither have others, but if you want to correct us please do so with a little tact and subtlty as your replies have (for me personally) caused nothing but a lack of respect in your opinon on the matter.

 

[ihatework]

TBH, if I came on here with a genuine question and, not knowing any better, received a response that contained a significant amount of tosh (Healthys response rather than yours) I would be grateful to whoever made it clear that such advice was misleading (and thats being polite).

 

[Iestyn]

Of course - I agree, but there is a way of saying things, even on a relatively anonymous forum (where in fact many identities are worked out one way or another). I took the reply to my post with a pinch of salt, but the latest was rather rude and abrupt - sorry, I may just have my standards.

 

[puddicat]

Yep sure everybody can express an opinion, I don't mind if somebody reckons that rubbing cheese into the mane cures sweet itch. But I will challenge it because I think its useful for people to be able to have some idea what is total nonsense and what has some basis. So you ask is there a problem with what we have said - yes if I've challenged it, it is because I think there is a considerable amount of evidence to suggest the view expressed is wrong. Now I'm always happy to go into that evidence in as much detail as people want but in practice people rarely ask. I don't really do tact and subtlety because I want there to be no ambiguity about the point I'm making however I agree with you it is virtue so I shall try a bit harder to do that in the future.

 

[puddicat]

Yeah I take your point, I think the amount of tact I have decreases with the size of gap between people's conviction that they are right and the amount by which the evidence suggests they aren't. That's why I was particularly blunt with Healty, I thought I saw some very wrong things said with overwhelming confidence but we shall see I suppose. I don't bring any emotion into my comments so to me the reply to S_V wasn't personal, it was meant generally *however* I see looking back at it that most people would take it personally. Like I said, I take your point and will try to be more tactful in future. Thanks for pointing it out.

 

[Doublethyme]

Hey guys I value everyones opinions/advice that has been given on this matter, it is really appreciated. I haven't seen anything wrong in anyone questioning other people's replies, neither do I see anything wrong in any one person's post or opinion. All information is great and to be honest, I think with anything read on these forums people should only use it as a guide, not as information set in stone, I certainly don't.

As for the horse, he is hopefully coming home by the end of the week and is doing really well, moving quite well even with his massive cast on, which is a great relief for my friend.

As for coming back into competition, it was extremely doubtful that he would ever do this anyway even pre current injury, as sadly he has extensive bony changes to his coffin joint and navicular bone in both front feet, so although officially was having a year out before his accident, is probably retired for life or at the most a bit of light hacking or schooling.

Thanks again everyone, each bit of information/opinion is gratefully received.

 

[hotheaded]

Some people are possibly better at explaining themselves in writing than others. I will in future take more time to explain in more depth what I am saying. It's new to me so obviously I need to improve my method.
Apologies to anyone else who have found my replies to be to basic. I am working on it

 

[Beanyowner]

Some people are possibly better at reading answers than others as well...I wish people would take the time to read a bit more sometimes!!

Thats not directed at anyone in particular btw...just a general observation!

 

[Iestyn]

O...la!!! - didn't take it personally at all!!! I have thicker skin than that! It's sometimes nice to have things pointed out - I've spent the last 4 years hanging on the words of the vet (a good one yes) but I may have heard a few things incorrectly at the time, or as time went by thought I'd heard them LOL - it's my aging you know!!!

Thank you for replying in such a polite manner as well - I often hold back from challenging as you are often told to get off. Sorry if that's patronising in any way, but I truly appreciate it.