Superficial flexor tendon damage- prognosis

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Milanesa

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Hi all,

Horse has fibre pattern disruption, loss of fibre structure of up to 90% of the diameter of left fore sft. Has anyone else's horse had a diagnosis like this and how has it recovered?? Would like to know if a horse can recover from this enough to lead a happy hacker/ quiet riding life. . .
 
I posted a thread in may after mine ruptured his. Big black hole on the scan after 10 days. Last scan was six weeks ago and it looked like some one had penciled in the hole! He is sound at a walk in hand, and during his occassional leaps about and trots off with me! I am optomistic that mine will come sound to hack and maybe show. Be prepared for some good days and blooming awful days on the way to soundness though. Also expect negative posts from the 'pts if it can't compete lobby that reside on here! If you search for my thread there are some positive posts from people whose horses have fully recovered. Good luck and keep us updated.
 
Check out my threads, My mare has just bugered this tendon a few weeks ago and I am in early stages with it. Been told she will return tofull work but holding my hope back a bit from that.

I have had lots of great info so have a read :)
 
My old lady did this in late August. over 90% of hers disrupted. She is actually doing amazingly well considering how severe it was, just been to vets today and she is forming some decent scar tissue and the drop has improved considerably although still evident.
Best case scenario for her at diagnosis was paddock sound but things looking a little more optimistic today as she is doing so well. Still likely to be no more than light hacking in walk with a light rider at its best. Still a long way to go, rescan in 2 - 3 months and if fibrosis is good enough will start spa-ing her.
 
Good luck Milanesa, my boy has just been diagnosed too :( Called vet out to scan as there was a tiny bit of swelling - thought check ligament and vet agreed (horse completely sound). Found some damage to check ligament but sdft horrifically damaged. 3 weeks complete box rest/cold hosing then can begin to walk out for another 3 weeks. Vet inclined to turnout after that but knowing what my boy is like in the field we agreed to hold on and use the outdoor school at the yard for turnout over winter instead.

My boy is 20 and I made it clear I wasn't worried about being able to ride again, vet said that it would be likely to be a year until he would be rideable if I did want to..

Healing vibes being sent your way, looks like we are on the same journey :(
 
hackedoff - firstly, is not put to sleep if it cant compete. Its all aout quality of life. Yours is NOT that similar to this case (or what we know of it so far). Yours had DDFT injury if I remember correctly AND (most importantly IMO) you would not be able to turn out for 18mths due to ground conditions. THIS is my biggest problem with putting an older horse through rehab for tendon injuries. If suitable turnou is available then rehab is definitely worth trying - but if not then quality of life for an extended period of time is compromised and this i have major objection to. Also, it is common for a horse to become sound at the stageyour horse is at - unfortunately reoccurance is also very common at approximately this point to I would stick to your vet's exercise instructions religously.

OP - if its loss of fibre structure as opposed to a big black hole across 90% of the tendon surface then of course with careful rehab he has a very good chance of becoming field sound. A to whether he will work again, only time will tell as often in these oldies it is a degenerative change rather than acute injury. Tendon injuries usually take approximately a year to recover (ie return to full work).


ETA - oops! You didnt say yours was an oldie so fingers crossed i isnt a degenerative change and ecovery is uneventful!

Rhino - check ligament injuries often dont make horses very lame (if at all) however they also can be the result of degenertive changes in older horses (particularly if there isnt actually a defect in the ligament just lack of fibre structure). Fingers crossed the recovery from both check lig and SDFT are smooth and uneventful.
 
OP

first apologies form hijacking your thread but Glenruby has made some comments aboyur rehabiklitating my horse that I feel I need to answer and may help you with yours.

Glenruby I suggest you read the update to my previous thread. Mine had a sfdt injury, yes hes 21, yes he is on no turnout till summer, but guess what? Quality of lifewise mine is starting ridden work this weekend and is on the road back to a useful life. The vet reckons that he will be back doing pleasure rides next year (touch wood of course that nothing else goes wrong)

I have posted what you orginally sent to me below which made some major assumptions such as my horse having arthritis. The purpose for my updating my thread and commeting on this is that I think advice to PTS from forumites who are not in a postion to know about an individual horse and probably are not vets is at best misguided and at worst, well Id rather not say! Im am sure Glenruby meant well but if I had followed his/her advice I would have a dead horse rather than the happy one that has returned to soundness now.

'I would PTS. IMO there is a big difference between a 14yo getting seriously injured and requiring box rst for 18mths plus and a 21yo in the same situation. The latter undoubtedly has his best days behind him and will be 23 at least before he gets out again. Most likely he will have less than 2-3yrs of life left. He will have permanently compromised tendons and will not fair well on such a hill I would guess. Add to that he will probably have/has arthritis and box rest longterm will be hard on him. A 14yo could potenially have another 10 years of life after box rest and could enjoy the rest of his days in the field (assuming ideal turnout).

If you are intent on giving him a chance I would suggest finding alternative lviing arrangements for him to allow him to be turned out . -ETA i have just realised I might have misread your turnot situation.

Im sorry - clearly its not what you want to hear but Id PTS. What do describe is IMO no quality of life.
 
glenruby said:
Rhino - check ligament injuries often dont make horses very lame (if at all) however they also can be the result of degenertive changes in older horses (particularly if there isnt actually a defect in the ligament just lack of fibre structure). Fingers crossed the recovery from both check lig and SDFT are smooth and uneventful.
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Thanks :) I'm just taking it a day at a time at the moment, luckily he has a very contented, chilled temperament so is perfectly happy on box rest. In fact I think he's enjoying all the attention from everyone (and the equissage treatment).
 
Hackedoff - you asked for opinions and as I clearly stated, that is what I gave - MY opinion. Based on the situation you posted about.
As for the arthritis - I did actually say probably has/will have by 23. And I stand by this. Very very few horses - if any - will not have arthritis at that age. They suffer to varying extents with it (as with the geriatrics of any species) but the vast majority will have "stiffness" as they get older. Make no mistake - this stiffness is arthritis.
And misguided I am not. ;)
 
My mare went hopping lame in July literally all a sudden and I had the vet out that night and after scans and many tests over the next few days it turned out she had damaged her SFTD. She has been on box rest ever since, but she did come sound so the vet said we could start wlaking her out in hand building up to being ridden slowly building up to 30 mins of trot over a month speriod. Anyway a bird flapping in the tree one morning while I was walking and she completly turned herself inside out and went ballistic and so of course made herself lame again. We ( me and the vets) decided surgery was going to be her only option as we had tried the conventional way and it didnt work so she went in on Mon of this week and had surgery on Tues. Turns out it was the best decision as it was torn and flapping aorund inside the tendon sheath and the surgeon said she would of never come sound again if she hadnt of had the op. My vets fetched a specialist Orthopedic Surgeon up from Newmarket to help out with her op. She is doing really well in horsepital and is coming home tomorrow with the prognosis of a full recovery and in time will even be able to jump again. Its going to be a long slow recovery and there will be times when Im sure she will test my patience and strength ( shes a Shire X cob) but we will get through it together and with Sedalin being our new best friend for the first few weeks lol.

I really hope your horse goes on to make a full recovery aswell xxx
 
Hey thanks for this. Horse in question is 13 yrs so not too Old. We have gOod facilities so box rest/ small coral turnout is no problem. It has already been treated a few times but all your messages give me encouragement that she could well heal up. We are expecting 1 yr off for recovery before attempting anything, all stories posted are positive so she must def have a good chance to become soundish!!
 
We had this March 2010 with our mare. It turned out BOTH SDF tendons (each front leg) were damaged :( Complete depression and much cake eating as you might imagine. ANYWAY, had Stem Cell therapy, we put her in foal, and she is now back in very light work. I have hopefully found a very good loan home for her on our old livery yard for YO's super lightweight daughter, and YO is retired vet!. very light riding duties at weekends only, but she does like to have something to do. She came sound after about 2 months - it was the most wonderful sight to see her trotting up the field towards the gate normally again when I'd feared it would never happen.

Stay hopeful!
 
hi
my 8yr old damaged his SDFT in june this year (big black hole :( )
he also had stem cell therapy in august and he is doing great ,he is still on box rest but is now up to 40mins walking under saddle :)

vets are hopful mine will return to eventing ,feel free to have a look through my posts there are a few updates etc on his treatment

good luck with yours and everyone else with tendon troubles
 
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