suspensory injury and professional rehab?

[Lucky Snowball]

I don't think you're an idiot. You did everything right. If you can't return the horse or decide you don't want to then I would turn him away for a year then try again. Spend time getting to know him and beg, borrow or steal rides on other peoples horses. If your horse comes properly sound he will repay you many times over. If he doesn't then you know you tried your best and maybe he could be a very light hack for someone.

 

[FestiveFuzz]

I think if the seller didn’t disclose the previous injuries you’d have a fair shot of returning him as it’s clear from your vets report that he has a pre-existing condition which means even if you had have been outside of the two week window with the insurance it’s highly unlikely they’d have covered it.

In your shoes I’d honestly return him if that’s an option and I really don’t say that lightly as I know how hard it is when you’re attached to them, but as someone who lost a youngster to a soft tissue injury that occurred early into owning them I would never knowingly put myself through that again if I knew there was an option of sending them back, no matter how attached I was.

 

[Horsestudent2022]

Hi, , sorry, a bit of a long post but any any advice or reassurance would be brilliant, we bought our first horse 9 weeks ago, he’s a 7 year old TB, lightly raced and he passed a 5 stage vetting. He had already had some retraining and was home bred so there were no alarm bells and he seemed to be the perfect horse. We bought him mainly for our 2 teenagers (18 and 15) who have ridden TB’s for the past 5 years.
For the first weeks he was brilliant, hacking out alone and with others, and schooling, and he is the loveliest boy who we have completely fallen in love with. After 3 weeks he spooked on rough ground out hacking and the following day was lame, he had a couple of days rest and was fine, hacked out again for a couple of days with no apparent issues, then slightly lame again on foreleg. We called the vet who said he had a sore hoof so a likely abscess, which was a relief, we poulticed for 5 days but he was still slightly lame, vet came out again and nerve blocked the leg up to the knee, then he was sound. He said to box rest for 2 weeks, which we did (ended up being almost 3 weeks, but he is still slightly lame. He has now had a scan last Thursday and it showed a new small suspensory tear, I think it was the body of the ligament, but more significant damage to the branch, the vet thought their was scar tissue as well, so he scanned the other foreleg and he said there is chronic damage to his other suspensory branch, he said both ligaments have chronic damage that is old and would have been there before we bought him, he also said that as the leg has never been swollen or hot since he was first lame with us this also points to a re-injury. He suggested we return him if possible ( he was not cheap!) but we love him to bits and are devastated. I have contacted Moorcroft and asked about rehab, who think they can help, subject to the vets report, but before we commit to this we really would love to know if anyone else has had a good outcome for this type of injury.

Curious as to whatever happened with your horse ? I am going through a similar situation but mine took much longer to figure out. Currently throwing $$$ at the vets and treatments to get my boy well.

 

[Annapp]

Hi, we kept him and persevered with rehab, he had a couple of weeks box rest, 3 courses of shockwave and very slow ridden rehab (as was a nightmare to lead in hand!!. Our vet was very good and a lameness expert so advised 5 mins walk in straight lines on a hard surface for 2 weeks, then 10 mins for 2 weeks building up to 20 mins, then trot for 5
mins for 2 weeks, then 10, 15 mins etc. the injury was beginning of June and we were cantering by November with a first arena hire in the December. We still have him and apart from one minor flare up he has been fine we do some low level dressage, jumping up to 90cms and he has recently completed a mini one day event whic he lived. Lots of hacking and schooling max of two/ three times a week. I realise we have been very lucky, and we now have a very trusting and much loved horse, as long as you don’t expect too much and can recognise when to ease off and rest him for a bit it is worth the effort. A few recent pics to hopefully give you some reassurance that it can work out ok

 

[Annapp]

 

[Annapp]

Curious as to whatever happened with your horse ? I am going through a similar situation but mine took much longer to figure out. Currently throwing $$$ at the vets and treatments to get my boy well.

 

[Annapp]

Curious as to whatever happened with your horse ? I am going through a similar situation but mine took much longer to figure out. Currently throwing $$$ at the vets and treatments to get my boy well.

Hi, hopefully you have seen my reply below, good luck and I hope it all works out for you. X

 

[emilylou]

Ultrasound of the tendons revealed marked changes of the suspensory ligament branches in both front legs. There was moderate fibre disruption, scarring and avulsion fractures (ligament torn of bone) in both front fetlock joints more pronounced on the inside branch and worst on the lame RF leg. Additionally, there was a recent new injury next to the previous existing damage of the RF medial suspensory branch. The body of the RF suspensory ligament was also enlarged and showed some area of fibre disruption. In summary, he is suffering from suspensory desmitis in the RF. However, there are marked degenerative changes in the suspensory branches of both front fetlocks with fibre disruption and avulsion of the ligament off the proximal sesamoid bone. These chronic changes carry a guarded prognosis as a sound riding horse.
Treatment of suspensory desmitis includes peri-ligamentous or intralesional injection of PrP (Platelet rich Plasma), shockwave therapy, and/ or Class IV LASER therapy, combined with an incremental exercise program.

If you are attached to this horse and want to persevere there are good treatment options for desmitis, PRP is brilliant, and I'd look into INDIBA, which not all vets have heard of but has excellent results with suspensory issues- research studies show it beats shockwave every time, and can be done by a physio for relatively low cost for its effectiveness. Literally resurfaces the tendon, but has to be kept up with and combined with a good exercise program & foot XR's to get perfect foot balance to have the best outcome.

HOWEVER as much as I want to support your hopes of rehab, the avulsions really bother me, they wont heal, the suspensory is incompletely attached to its origin, are not going to reattach and is a ticking time bomb for it to detatch completely.

If you accept that, you could do rehab and get him sound and rideable, but with the knowledge that one day the suspensory will shear off and it will be game over. Could have a sound horse for several months (maybe years) prior to that depending on how well the rehab goes and you could have a good period of enjoyment from him before it happens, but ultimately its only going to end one way for him.

EDIT- just seen this was 2021, really glad to see its worked out for you, I'd still recommend looking into the INDIBA, you may find it gives further life to him, and clearly the suspensories have done enough remodelling for them to maintain integrity. Its amazing how the body can adapt