Slipped flexor tendon

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Mrskyfall

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Hello everyone,

On Friday, my beloved cob was diagnosed by the vet with a slipped flexor tendon. No idea how this could have happened, but he has had on and off lameness for about 3 months. Vet did come out and thought it was a soft tissue injury, but on Friday he was hopping lame on his one hind and vet then diagnosed this. Vet has said rest and time should heal it, but there is always an outside chance it may not settle. Any experiences, positive outcomes please. Feeling sick with worry!
 
Has it slipped off the hock?

If this is the case, then I do have experience as my girl has had this happen to both her hocks :-(. They happened within about 3 months of each other with the latest being March this year, we think it was caused by a change in shoeing to help with a hock problem and due to her age and collagen not being as elastic the fibres holding the tendons in place couldn't cope with the change in movement and tore :-(. A friends mare had this injury too but hers that was caused by galloping around in the field. I think it is usually more of an injury caused by speed?!

It was horrible when it first happened as she looked horribly lame particularly when the second one went and I thought I was going to have to let her go (she's 21 semi retired ex advanced dressage horse with not the greatest suspensories and I've had her 17 years, sob), however my vet assured me the majority of the "lameness" was coming from the sensation of the tendon moving when she went to move rather than proper pain. Due to her age and other issues he wanted her kept lightly hacking and continued turnout (I couldn't ride to start with as she looked uncomfortable, so we did hand walking), within a couple of weeks she started to look better and long story short, we are back hacking now for a good hour 4-5 times a week and she is now happy to trot and canter although I am very careful! One hock has stabilised and the tendon has settled to the side, the other is still unstable and you can see it move on and off the hock (this was actually the first hock to go so I'm thinking it might not ever stabilise). She will never be a dressage horse again but is thoroughly enjoying her hacking around the countryside. I did have her treated by my physio several times to make sure she was comfortable and not holding tension and pain elsewhere and although she is tight in some places, my physio has never found any signs of pain from the injury.

I did a lot of research when it happened and although there is not a lot of info to find on this injury I did find some good recovery stories and saw some horses had recovered to go eventing/jumping and hunting again. I think dressage is not always possible as they can be left with a mechanical lameness. Some horses couldn't cope with the injury but my mare is tough and calm by nature and seems to have taken it in her stride, hopefully your boy will be the same!!

If you have any questions do ask :D
 
Thank you so much for replying! I was getting worried as there had been lots of views, but no responses! Yes, the tendon has slipped off the hock and he is horribly lame, although he seems little better walking forwards than he was on Friday.

Your story has given me so much hope. My cob is a happy hacker and could win competitions for eating, but nothing else! My vet has recommended a postage stamp size turnout and in at night and he is doing ok. At the moment, I wouldn't be happy walking him in hand as he will walk fine and then the tendon obviously twangs and he leaps forward, snorting. I did wonder if one hock has gone, does this mean the other will? The sensation of the tendon twanging
 
its no problem at all, glad I can help in some way :-) there was another lady on here that helped me as her horse had slipped both hocks too, I found more references where one had gone so hopefully it is not always the case that they both go! I think both of my girls only went due to her age and other OAP issues she has.

Its a tricky injury too as there is not a lot the vets can do for it and it can look horrific when they hobble about, my girl went on one bute a day but more for her other issues than the tendon as my vet said apart from the initial tearing stage there is not a lot of "pain" so bute doesn't help and some swelling is good to help try and stabilise the tendon. He has seen the injury a lot on polo ponies!

My girl coped really well when the first one went, she didn't really show much lameness in walk but trot/canter was dreadful and she had swelling on the inside of the hock. I was able to keep hacking in walk and after about a month she was happy to trot/canter again herself. She was a lot worse with the second one though and would do a funny hop/stumble in walk (guess the tendon pinging!) and generally looked much more uncomfortable which is why I couldn't ride her even though the vet wanted me too and whilst he wasn't too concerned I was thinking it was more time to consider PTS.

I did the same as your vet has recommended, small individual paddock and in at night. Time to move about but also time to rest She pretty much box rested herself in the field too as she didn't move around too much although she's a very laidback soul and it was winter with not much grass to interest her, lol.

With the second one I had this gut feeling that I did need to get her moving to get her used to the sensation which is why I did the hand walking after about 2 weeks of just turnout (I was lucky though she didn't really panic herself with the tendon pinging, my friends mare would kick out and gallop off), then after about 2/3 weeks of that I was dragging her around as she was bored so thought I'd try a short hack (10/15mins max) and weirdly she actually walked better with me on her back. I've taken it slowly and at times had to shut my eyes when she's had some hobbling about moments but we are 6/7 months on and she now canters off when turned out, chooses to canter out on our hacks and throw in some flying changes, lol and apart from transitions being a bit odd and she lacks some power now she feels fairly normal! The success stories I found all had about a 12 month rehab time, if she was younger I probably would have given her more time before being ridden but due to other issues keeping her moving was in her best interest.

I'm very glad I didn't PTS as I owe her everything and am grateful we are both enjoying some fun days hacking together after years of training. I had a lot of "opinions" about what I should do from people at my yard and glad I didn't listen to them as she's proving them all wrong :-P. Other things she does now which she didn't do before is rest her hind legs a lot more although this has got less noticeable over the last month or so too.
 
My old mare pulled the tendon off her hock when she was pregnant. The vet thought she had Broken her leg to start with as she was completely non weight bearing when I found her with no obvious injury. She was sent to vet hospital where they quickly discovered what she had done. She had a few days in hospital due to a combination of her being in pain and being heavily pregnant and the fact the hospital was 3 hours drive from home. Her treatment was a long period of box rest in the stable then a tiny paddock in the field but she did pretty much recover. The tendon never went back over the hock it just sat to the side and looked a bit strange and she moved a wee bit strange but the vet ssid it was only a mechanical lameness and she wasn't in pain. I never rode her again but that was for other reasons.
 
One of mine did this racing. You could put the tendon back up where it should be and have it stitched back in place but in the long term they don't tend to stay and come off again so not really worth the hassle. My lad had 3 months box rest, 3 months in hand walking then turnout. He could have gone back to race again but he wasn't very good in the first place so it would have been pointless. He was technically lame in trot because the tendon is in the wrong place and thus moves the leg differently but it was never pain. I put him down 2 years ago due to a totally unrelated field accident.

It isn't the end of the world, you will still have a happy hacker in a few months time. You will just need to learn what is mechanical lame for your horse so you know when he is lame lame.

Don't worry!
 
Mrskyfall said:
Thank you so much for replying! I was getting worried as there had been lots of views, but no responses! Yes, the tendon has slipped off the hock and he is horribly lame, although he seems little better walking forwards than he was on Friday.

Your story has given me so much hope. My cob is a happy hacker and could win competitions for eating, but nothing else! My vet has recommended a postage stamp size turnout and in at night and he is doing ok. At the moment, I wouldn't be happy walking him in hand as he will walk fine and then the tendon obviously twangs and he leaps forward, snorting. I did wonder if one hock has gone, does this mean the other will? The sensation of the tendon twanging
Click to expand...

My girl did this just before Xmas. Vet recommended 3 month box rest with hand walking, but she doesn't do box rest so she did 3 months field rest and (touchwood) seems to have recovered well. She had a lot of swelling/lameness to start with so I got her an ice vibe boot and that helped a lot. The vet was really happy with it at all of her reviews so seems that the field rest did her no harm :)
 
Thank you all for your replies. I hadn't realised that only half my reply had posted and didn't make sense at all- sorry.

Update on cob. He is much better already! I can still see the tendon pinging but he doesn't have a huge reaction anymore. He is much better in the morning after being in at night, and is more stiff in the evenings, but there is a definite improvement! Thank goodness.

I have purchased some magnetic bands. I am prepared to try any to encourage healing. It's probably a load of old tosh, but I'll give anything a go!
 
Mrskyfall said:
Thank you all for your replies. I hadn't realised that only half my reply had posted and didn't make sense at all- sorry.

Update on cob. He is much better already! I can still see the tendon pinging but he doesn't have a huge reaction anymore. He is much better in the morning after being in at night, and is more stiff in the evenings, but there is a definite improvement! Thank goodness.

I have purchased some magnetic bands. I am prepared to try any to encourage healing. It's probably a load of old tosh, but I'll give anything a go!
Click to expand...

If the tendon is off the side it wont go back by itself. What will happen is the ligaments that snapped to allow it to come off will need to fix the tendon in place where it is now.
 
Mine did this 6 years ago and was mechanically lame. I retired him then he did the same to the other hock 3 years later when in the field. He was very lame that time and they thought he might have broken it. I brought him back into work last year after he had laminitis. The idea initially was to only walk him but I am now trotting and cantering and even having the odd gallop. I can't tell you how much pleasure it gives me to be riding him again (although I do miss the eventing on occasions).
 
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