*sigh* and so it begins again - possible DDTT injury. Gutted.

TheSylv007

TheSylv007

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www.ridewelland.co.uk
Apologies, that should be DDFT injury - can't even type!

Warning, epic whine! Feeling rather upset and defeated at the moment. Rose had a slight DDFT injury in 2014 which resulted in an MRI and surgery at Newmarket followed by a careful and long rehabilitation. We had a great year in 2015, and I took her barefoot which she took to brilliantly. She had around 9 months walking rehab before I started anything like normal exercise. Then 2 years later in May this year she came in lame from the field. Her fetlock was swollen so we rested and iced her for a week then got the vet to scan. Nothing showed (other than a small amount of fluid in the tendon sheath) and she was looking much sounder so the vet gave her a steroid injection to shift the fluid and we started 3 months of box rest and walking which I have carried out religiously.

Having had the vet back to check her (who couldn't see any lameness at all by that point) I started riding two weeks ago and everything was looking positive so I made the (completely idiotic) decision to let her have a bit of turn out. Of course she went beserk and gave me and impressive a rodeo show for a couple of minutes before settling down to eat. 24 hours later she's dog lame with a swollen fetlock. Vet came back, scanned again and nothing showed up properly so we decided to nerve block just to be able to rule out a problem inside the hoof (which which is what happened in 2014). She came sound so we're looking at an MRI again and possibly surgery. All of which will self funded as the insurance has excluded both front legs.

I also had concerns over the last 9 months that the farrier wasn't doing a good job on her trims and eventually managed to find a brilliant trimmer who spotted and confirmed my fears that they had been letting her heels become more and more underrun and never tackled the flare that was developing. Thankfully we're on the right track finally with her hooves but I'm kicking myself so hard for not looking elsewhere sooner and turning her out. Don't really know the point of this post, until we have the MRI we don't know what we're doing but I'm feeling rather devastated at the moment. Luckily I have savings and my mum and dad have also very kindly offered help but I'm gutted and feeling a bit tearful about it all. She's only 12 and I felt like we've never been able to get going.

Fish finger sandwiches for anyone who managed to stay with me... :'(
 
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I think you need to have a long hard look at options tbh- ddft injuries carry a poor prognosis for return to ridden work - is this your horses body telling you it can't cope with riddenwork?
 
You may be right. She came back brilliantly the first time and I was very cautious in what I did and had no issues. The annoying things is this time she came in from the field lame after hoolying round rather than as a result of doing ridden work. She may be on for early retirement....
 
Then to add insult to injury, another horse kicked me in the face yesterday meaning I spent all afternoon in A & E having my front teeth pulled out of the roof of my mouth! Think I might stick to cats....
 
TheSylv007 said:
Then to add insult to injury, another horse kicked me in the face yesterday meaning I spent all afternoon in A & E having my front teeth pulled out of the roof of my mouth! Think I might stick to cats....
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Ouch!! Hope you're not too sore today :(
No advice re your mare but my older girl always does her injuries in the field so I share your pain on that one. Blooming horses :(
 
My ISH had a significant lesion in his DDFT in 2014. Prognosis was shockingly bad, during the investigation we also found he had navicular (vets were as shocked as we were).

Vets wanted him box rested for 12 weeks, but I knew it wasn't going to work as he is a stress colicker, cribber, weaver and box walker. I turned him out for 5 hours a day. It was risky, but I decided that if he came sound after a year then great and if not then he would be put to sleep but at least he would have been able to enjoy being a horse for a while. I must add that he was totally sound in walk and always has been.

Within 3 months he was sound in trot, but I stuck to my plan. 12 months later I started walking work, 18 months later he started trot work. We have just hit 28 months and have started to do small amounts of canter. Call me cautious but I have a sound animal on my hands and I intend to keep him that way!

With this sort of injury I believe time is key. I have also taken the decision that he will never jump again (I bought him to event), so we are now aiming for a dressage career.
 
Thanks, teeth are roughly in the right place again, but going to the dentist as will probably need a couple of crowns. Not fun! Vet coming back today with a couple more ideas so we'll see what's what. Think turnout isn't our friend so I'm contemplating making her a little cripple corner in the field to let her out in.
 
:lol:
Mine's been in a cripple corner for most of the last 3 years. I'm the electric fencing queen! It's hard going in the winter but worth the endless faff and bother to be able to keep them outside without doing further damage to themselves (*touch wood*)
 
milliepops said:
:lol:
Mine's been in a cripple corner for most of the last 3 years. I'm the electric fencing queen! It's hard going in the winter but worth the endless faff and bother to be able to keep them outside without doing further damage to themselves (*touch wood*)
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It's not just me then! Will have to have a word with the YO and see if she'll let me section some off for her. Even if its just for a couple of hours a day it's got to be better than standing in a 12 x 12 stable. How big is your cripple corner?
 
Started out stable sized. We're now up to about 15m x 20m, nearly 3 months post op. Not expecting to return to proper turnout til maybe next year, and even that will be individual and fairly small. unless she is retired in which case it's up to her whether she reinjures the latest problem leg :o
 
TheSylv007 said:
Then to add insult to injury, another horse kicked me in the face yesterday meaning I spent all afternoon in A & E having my front teeth pulled out of the roof of my mouth! Think I might stick to cats....
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god that sounds painful I hope not too much damage has been done, sorry to hear about your horse, I had a lovely mare that had a ddft injury in the back of her pastern I tried for 2 years to get her sound but it just kept tearing and she ended up with so much scar tissue, they basically said no other treatment was worth pursuing she was only 15, I'm sorry I don't have anything more positive to say I know this kind of injury is known for being very difficult to heal.
 
Not a great day today. I need expensive dental treatment (possibly an implant at £3000) and my vet is determined to put heart bar shoes on my horse. I now realise what an awful job previous farriers had done as gradually her heels have become horribly underrun. I'm kicking myself that I didn't change sooner as the new trimmer I have seems to be spot on and wants to put right the problems that were ignored and exacerbated by the previous farriers. This week just keeps getting better! Thanks for the sympathy though, helps that I'm not the only one.
 
right my horse has a DDFT injury I have not opted for the surgery ...well not yet....I bought an arc equine, out of 10 my horse was a 7 lame behind, I have kept him turned out a normal and just used an arc on him every day for 3 hrs, we are rescanning on the 14th of oct but his giant swelling is 50% smaller and out of 10 he is a 2 lame?? His prognosis was not good as it was on the side of is tendon so he was no a candidate for the PRP treatment either. My horse does not cope at all well with box rest
 
annunziata said:
right my horse has a DDFT injury I have not opted for the surgery ...well not yet....I bought an arc equine, out of 10 my horse was a 7 lame behind, I have kept him turned out a normal and just used an arc on him every day for 3 hrs, we are rescanning on the 14th of oct but his giant swelling is 50% smaller and out of 10 he is a 2 lame?? His prognosis was not good as it was on the side of is tendon so he was no a candidate for the PRP treatment either. My horse does not cope at all well with box rest
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Hi, sorry to hear about your horse. Where is the tendon tear? Is it inside the hoof?
 
Just to say my horse who has been not quite right for ages has suddenly become much more right after I changed to a remedial farrier recommended by my vet who has changed his heels slightly - he is now sound unbelievably and has perked up massively, he is standing much more correctly at the back end and the soreness in his back has reduced massively as I've started to work him again. I just wanted to say please don't underestimate how much feet being properly dealt with matters, I am shocked at how such a small change has made such a massive difference to him - I thought I'd have to put shoes back on but he is still barefoot and feet are coping brilliantly.

I know this isn't me dealing with a DDFT tear but having correctly balanced feet can make a huge difference. I am probably massively overstepping the mark here - but keep your trimmer involved if you trust him and get him to speak to your vet. Everything I've heard about heart bars seems to be short term good news only for it to go wrong later on. Sometimes a fresh pair of eyes and experience are worth their weight in gold, if your vet is any good, he should be prepared to listen to some of the information your trimmer has. Also I know of some success stories with the ARC unit, it's worth investigating.
 
BethH said:
Just to say my horse who has been not quite right for ages has suddenly become much more right after I changed to a remedial farrier recommended by my vet who has changed his heels slightly - he is now sound unbelievably and has perked up massively, he is standing much more correctly at the back end and the soreness in his back has reduced massively as I've started to work him again. I just wanted to say please don't underestimate how much feet being properly dealt with matters, I am shocked at how such a small change has made such a massive difference to him - I thought I'd have to put shoes back on but he is still barefoot and feet are coping brilliantly.

I know this isn't me dealing with a DDFT tear but having correctly balanced feet can make a huge difference. I am probably massively overstepping the mark here - but keep your trimmer involved if you trust him and get him to speak to your vet. Everything I've heard about heart bars seems to be short term good news only for it to go wrong later on. Sometimes a fresh pair of eyes and experience are worth their weight in gold, if your vet is any good, he should be prepared to listen to some of the information your trimmer has. Also I know of some success stories with the ARC unit, it's worth investigating.
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Thank you, you've echoed exactly what I was thinking. I'm so mad with myself for not tackling the previous farriers sooner and was really positive about the new trimmer. I'll keep her in the loop as I really don't want my horse in bar shoes for any longer than necessary. Hard to convince the vet though....
 
Aww bless you, I totally feel your pain on this one. My baby mare came in from the field hopping lame 3 months ago with an acute tear to her DDFT. We've gone down the route of Lipogems treatment and touch wood she's responded well so far. I'm just waiting for an ultrasound this week and then we'll hopefully be able to start our ridden walk work. She'll still be on box rest for the foreseeable future but eventually we'll be able to start turnout in a small space and gradually increase it in size until it's more in line with a standard paddock.

Really hope you and horsey are feeling better soon, and that you manage to convince the vet heartbars aren't the answer :)
 
FestiveFuzz said:
Aww bless you, I totally feel your pain on this one. My baby mare came in from the field hopping lame 3 months ago with an acute tear to her DDFT. We've gone down the route of Lipogems treatment and touch wood she's responded well so far. I'm just waiting for an ultrasound this week and then we'll hopefully be able to start our ridden walk work. She'll still be on box rest for the foreseeable future but eventually we'll be able to start turnout in a small space and gradually increase it in size until it's more in line with a standard paddock.

Really hope you and horsey are feeling better soon, and that you manage to convince the vet heartbars aren't the answer :)
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Crikey, hope your mare comes good, sounds like the Lipogems treatment is helping. I really don't want to go shod as I finally felt we were on the right track but the vet is being fairly insistent. Her logic is that it would stabilise and support the foot while the tendon is healing so I asked if they could then be taken off after a couple of cycles. She said yes. My thinking is that I will humour the vet for a couple of shoeing cycles to get things settled then start again with a barefoot rehab from scratch. I don't want to have a horse who is only sound in remedial shoes.
 
I'd ask the vet why rockley have such a good strike rate for ddft injuries if the hoof capsule is better immobilised. :p
 
ester said:
I'd ask the vet why rockley have such a good strike rate for ddft injuries if the hoof capsule is better immobilised. :p
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That was my thinking exactly. It's so hard when you are not the qualified person to argue. Telling the vet or farrier that I've gleaned my information from forums and books doesn't seem to convince them! In fairness the vet did say she's not that familiar with barefoot (as I guess it's just not taught) so I'm kind of onto a loser there.
 
Some vets are these days, I was pleasantly surprised when going to a hoof talk recently, I was prepped for it to be shoeing based as was half farrier :).
Essentially you can try either and if they don't work do the other but :p. TBF I did (not ddft but then equally no mri ;) ) we did 2 cycles of bar shoes first because that was the longest I was prepared to give them to work.
I have to say it isn't something I am that up on with regards to the theory/mechanism of healing barefoot compared to immobilising with a shoe, other than I'm not sure immobilising tendons leads to the best/strongest healing. I'd prob drop an email to Nic to see if I could get more info to discuss with my pros.
 
To be honest haven't read all the post but wanted to give you some hope with my story. Two years ago my mare was diagnosed with massive tear in the DDFT and early navicular changes. Was basically told by consultant at Vet School that it would be highly unlikely she would ever be ridden again, or at the very most a gently hack down the road. I went for conventional treatment, 3 months box rest, gradual wedge heartbars and a steroid injection.

After 3 months I was to gently bring her back to work. After 9 months I popped her over some cross country fences, and this season? Well she's completed three BE90's - getting placed in one of them, and done her very first BE100, each time going clear in the cross country section!!!!!!

At first I always panicked every time I rode her Incase she went lame again. Now, although I'm still very aware of ground conditions, I go out and enjoy my horse, not even thinking that it could all end tomorrow.

Don't give up hope!
 
ester said:
Some vets are these days, I was pleasantly surprised when going to a hoof talk recently, I was prepped for it to be shoeing based as was half farrier :).
Essentially you can try either and if they don't work do the other but :p. TBF I did (not ddft but then equally no mri ;) ) we did 2 cycles of bar shoes first because that was the longest I was prepared to give them to work.
I have to say it isn't something I am that up on with regards to the theory/mechanism of healing barefoot compared to immobilising with a shoe, other than I'm not sure immobilising tendons leads to the best/strongest healing. I'd prob drop an email to Nic to see if I could get more info to discuss with my pros.
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Thank you, I am seriously starting to consider Rockley. I think 2 cycles of bar shoes is about my limit as well, then go my own sweet way.

Maclinda said:
To be honest haven't read all the post but wanted to give you some hope with my story. Two years ago my mare was diagnosed with massive tear in the DDFT and early navicular changes. Was basically told by consultant at Vet School that it would be highly unlikely she would ever be ridden again, or at the very most a gently hack down the road. I went for conventional treatment, 3 months box rest, gradual wedge heartbars and a steroid injection.

After 3 months I was to gently bring her back to work. After 9 months I popped her over some cross country fences, and this season? Well she's completed three BE90's - getting placed in one of them, and done her very first BE100, each time going clear in the cross country section!!!!!!

At first I always panicked every time I rode her Incase she went lame again. Now, although I'm still very aware of ground conditions, I go out and enjoy my horse, not even thinking that it could all end tomorrow.

Don't give up hope!
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Thank you, that's brilliant to hear. My horse did her DDFT in 2014, had surgery and we had two years trouble free. She was barefoot but this year her feet started to get underrun and the farrier didn't do a good job. I'm hoping that if we can get the foot sorted (I've swapped to a trimmer who immediately 'got' the problems and has started addressing them) we can avoid too much more trouble.
 
My horse had a possible tear to DDFT in June last year. Scan didn't show anything as it was down in the foot.The leg was already excluded because of hock problems so I didn't get an MRI, just went for a steroid injection and turned away. Brought him back into work in Jan 2016 as he was starting to go nuts in the field. Slowly rehabbed then have just been hacking really. I won't say its a miracle cure because I am just to scared to push but I have had the ok to start jumping again.Fingers crossed for your horse
 
claracanter said:
My horse had a possible tear to DDFT in June last year. Scan didn't show anything as it was down in the foot.The leg was already excluded because of hock problems so I didn't get an MRI, just went for a steroid injection and turned away. Brought him back into work in Jan 2016 as he was starting to go nuts in the field. Slowly rehabbed then have just been hacking really. I won't say its a miracle cure because I am just to scared to push but I have had the ok to start jumping again.Fingers crossed for your horse
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I have to say this approach is starting to appeal rather than buggering about for months with diagnostics. Ultimately it will still be rest and controlled exercise. Great to hear you are clear to jump again, sounds like you've done a great job - hope things keep going well for you. Were remedial shoes recommended to you at all?
 
No, remedial shoeing was not recommended, although I did have a look at the Rockley website. He's a TB but he does have great feet although if he loses a shoe he's virtually crippled so I don't know if barefoot would be for him. Its hard to know where to draw the line isn't it? I think if he had gone to Newmarket for MRI scans they would have found lots wrong with him, he's one of those types. I miss taking him out to things but if he just ends up being a hack then thats ok.

As an aside, I went on a tour of the Darley pre-training yard in Newmarket and the manager there said she had all the fancy and expensive treatments available to her and yet the thing that worked best was time. I thought that was an interesting view from someone whose owners had unlimited funds and yet turning away proved to be far the most effective.
 
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