Suspensory branch ligament injury

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Tdoodney

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Hi just after people's opinions really as research I've done is divided. Our lovely cob has torn his off hind suspensory branch ligament once by we think loosing his foot down a rabbit hole then 6 weeks later turning awkwardly whilst hand grazing. He's now got a grade 3 tear. Anyway it's 13 weeks since original injury 8 weeks since 2nd injury just loosing heat now and reduced to 1 bute a day. Billy is turning into a right grump though he has had enough of his confinement. He's due to be re scanned next week, our thinking is if he is improving and can start controlled exercise we will stick with it but if there's little improvement to turn out and let nature do the rest. What's your opinions? He's 10 and we would be happy with him as a happy hacker thanks for reading
 
I have a horse that is 5mths down the line with a check ligament injury. Like yours mine didn't cope well with box rest so we made a stable sized paddock to start with and gradually increased the size of it as he started to recover. He is now out in the herd again as of about a week ago and so far so good. I would speak to your vet and explain he's become extremely grumpy and you feel he needs to be out rather than box rested,especially if in his grumpiness he is starting to kick out or leap around the stable. I would not however just turn him out as he's likely to want to gallop about after being restricted for so long and as you are only 8 weeks in from the 2nd injury he is likely to not be ready for that yet and you risk a worse injury.
 
All soft tissue injuries need controlled exercise to heal properly.

So, in an ideal world, walking in hand to begin with, then under saddle, increasing by a few mins. per week, is the best way to get a good result.

Problem is with turning away that one slip or mad moment can undo weeks of healing.

Really you need to weigh up your ability and the horses' to do the rehab needed and factor in temperament, time of year, how easy it is to walk him etc etc and decide on a plan.

Once you have a plan it is amazing how the weeks go by, and when they are getting 20/30/40/50/60 mins. per day of walking the boredom factor of the box rest is lost.
 
I have rehabbed my horse with three separate 'slight sprains' to the suspensory branch on three different legs and he has come sound after each so I could go back to unaff jumping and dressage with him.

However this current injury (which was his first suspensory branch injury) has so much scar tissue I've been told not to jump him again, which is obviously what I intend to stick to.

I think the Icevibe boots helped. For my horse box rest was not an option as he has other issues (arthritis) and he was on a sandpit for two hours turnout a day during winter and up to 14 hours a day overnight in the summer on grass. They have all healed remarkably well apart from the first one which was subject to a very traumatic injury (caught up in framework of wheelbarrow) whilst I was at work and this is the injury that has left all the scar tissue sadly.

I would consider using Zyklene for a safe turnout for the immediate future.
 
My crotchety mare is also rehabbing a splint fracture and cannot be boxed.... like at all. We got a bunch of white plastic step-in posts and hot tape, made a standard square paddock, but broke the space up with "rays" to prevent pacing/trotting and put interesting things in each mini paddock. Here is a bird's eye view of the design :) http://imgur.com/a/X82iW

it's pretty easy to move since you just poke the posts and the battery energizer in the ground wherever.
 
ohmissbrittany said:
My crotchety mare is also rehabbing a splint fracture and cannot be boxed.... like at all. We got a bunch of white plastic step-in posts and hot tape, made a standard square paddock, but broke the space up with "rays" to prevent pacing/trotting and put interesting things in each mini paddock. Here is a bird's eye view of the design :) http://imgur.com/a/X82iW

it's pretty easy to move since you just poke the posts and the battery energizer in the ground wherever.
Click to expand...
Wow I love this, what a brilliant idea, love the diagram and the salt lick! :) I have thought about doing that by extending fence 3/4 way along the width of the paddock and the same again 3/4 in the other direction (if that makes sense) down the length of a paddock to stop my horse running but wasn't sure if he was sensible/clever enough to work out how to get down and back again :)
 
I have rehabbed a couple of horses with suspensory injuries. The last one I did went through shockwave and was ridiculous in controlled exercise. I managed to keep it controlled in walk but in trot we had a lot of fly bucking which resulted in him redoing his injury. In the end he got turned away for 9 months and came back into work a full year after the injury. We took his work carefully when bringing him back and he has actually come back better than ever! He's been eventing, BD and is all in all as sound as he's ever been! Time's a great healer!
 
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