Suspensory ligament injury - 20-year-old Dressage Horse

[AmyRai]

Has anyone got any experience of successfully treating a suspensory ligament injury in a veteran horse? Despite his age, he was in full work and successfully competing until late summer, but has been on field rest since then as reccommended by the vet. Went back in for a re-scan yesterday, and still not right - lameness improved but still not sound, and shadow still visible on ultrasound. Vet said he was 'disappointed' at progress, and has now requested 8 weeks of box rest with in-hand walks daily, with the possibility with PRP injections if still not better at that stage.

I'd love to hear experiences of these - I am mindful of his age, and whether he will realistically be able to return to work. He's competing at Novice, working elem at home so nothing too taxing, but becuase of his age he's not insured for injuries like this - if prognosis is good then I'm happy to cover the cost, but heartbreaking as it is, I'm wondering whether it could be time to retire him to the field.

I have an ArcEquine unit which he will now have on daily now he's on box rest (not practical when out in the winter!), so I'm hoping this will help too...

Anyone had similar situations?

 

[Pinkvboots]

My horse damaged his hind suspensory in 2015 he was 12 he did quite a job on it as in it was a significant hole, he had prp then 5 months box rest was scanned after the 5 months and the vet was very surprised it had healed so well and he was sound, so I did about 5 weeks of walking starting with 5 minutes and got up to about an hour a day, I then started very short burst of trot and just took it really slowly, he was doing ridden showing before he did it and is still fine, I just don't school him loads in a menage and I walk on deep ground, he never jumps and I am just careful what I do with him.

I am surprised your vet didn't do the prp initially as most of these type of injuries don't heal on there own, but a lot do respond well to the treatments available I would definitely do it again as it's not invasive and there are minimal risks involved and I don't think they are really expensive, I think even though you will have to pay for it yourself it's worth giving it a try.

Have they said how bad the damage is? Do you know how lame he is?

 

[Auslander]

I've had a LOT of suspensory related fun and games over the last 6 years. Alf is a 21 year old former advanced horse, who was diagnosed with proximal suspensory desmitis in 2012, treated with shockwave, PRP, and very careful rehab (months and months of walking in straight lines on the road). Although an injury is slightly different to a diagnosis of PSD, I am rather of the opinion that once the suspensories are damaged, it's a bit of a life sentence as regards working an older horse.
Alf is as sound as I can get him - and he's still full of life and energy (mostly used for his own entertainment), but I am really really careful with him. I walk him for at least 20 mins before doing any faster work, and always hack him round the block before going in the school - which I don't do very often, as surfaces aren't a great place to work horses with suspensory problems. I don't lunge him, and I don't do any intensive schooling - we just pop into the school and do a few of his favourite things for a few minutes, then stop. He is very good at telling me what he's up for doing - there have been days when I've done a 20 minute walk down the road and stopped, but there are days when he's been on fire, and really enjoyed doing tempi changes and a bit of passage! You just need to get very good at listening to what your horse is capable of on any given day.
I can't retire Alf - as he's a big horse, who needs to stay muscled up to be able to comfortably support his own weight. He has a monthly Cartrophen injections, and the odd tactical bute if he's particularly stiff.

 

[ester]

ours did a front suspensory, had disruption rather than a 'hole', had 6 months box rest with in hand walking and PRP fairly quickly (insured) - I'm surprised at the suggestion to do that further down the line only as in my head I would have thought it would work better sooner but understand the cost implications.
She is mostly hacking sound (at all paces), won't stand up to any sort of schooling, goes slightly lame occasionally usually for a couple of weeks at a time but comes ok again.

 

[Gloi]

My pony injured his suspensory about 18 months ago at 27, falling when racing in the field. He was in regular work at the time. I left him turned out in a small paddock through the summer with the idea that if he didn't come sound by winter he would be PTS. In about 3 months he was 90% sound on it but by the start of winter when we were wondering what to do he started trotting up sound. It hasn't given him any more trouble but having 6 months off he lost all his fitness so he has been basically retired except for an occasional pootle round the block.

 

[Goldenstar]

Have you considered getting a physio to laser it ?
It might be too late now but I have good results with that .

 

[AmyRai]

My horse damaged his hind suspensory in 2015 he was 12 he did quite a job on it as in it was a significant hole, he had prp then 5 months box rest was scanned after the 5 months and the vet was very surprised it had healed so well and he was sound, so I did about 5 weeks of walking starting with 5 minutes and got up to about an hour a day, I then started very short burst of trot and just took it really slowly, he was doing ridden showing before he did it and is still fine, I just don't school him loads in a menage and I walk on deep ground, he never jumps and I am just careful what I do with him.

I am surprised your vet didn't do the prp initially as most of these type of injuries don't heal on there own, but a lot do respond well to the treatments available I would definitely do it again as it's not invasive and there are minimal risks involved and I don't think they are really expensive, I think even though you will have to pay for it yourself it's worth giving it a try.

Have they said how bad the damage is? Do you know how lame he is?

Depends what type of surface he was on - initially, on a circle on hard ground, about 4/10 lame, on a surface about 2/10 with the bad leg on the outside, not really noticable with it on the inside, this time much better, maybe 2/10 on all surfaces. Was told initially that it wasn't bad, even at his age recovery shouldn't be an issue but it's just not hapened for whatever reason. i've seen the scans and i could see the hole, but I'm not expert so can't really comment other than to say it was better this time than last...

I waited to see the best lameness vet in the area so I trust his opinion - he was genuinely expecting him to be sound when I took him back 2 months later which is why they didn't go straight in with PRP when he's not insured. Now just feeling like I've been a bit niave with it all - when he initially said what it was I thought it was game over, but he really wasn't worried so I was a bit gutted that he wasn't better!

 

[Pinkvboots]

It is a significant improvement but I wonder why they didn't say box rest from the off either, my horse was treated at Rossdales Newmarket the top lameness vet looked at his x rays and said he may not come sound because of the extent of the hole,recommended 5 months box rest and the prp and if that didn't work he said there was the option of cutting the nerve.

I think if your prepared to do the box rest I would find out how much the prp is and go ahead, if he did it late summer I am assuming September? That is only 3 months it's not long for that sort of injury in my experience, I wouldn't blame yourself it's very hard if you really have had no experience of an injury you are at the mercy of what vets tell you.

 

[horsecrazyblonde]

I’ve had the most success by not bothering with months box rest and using the Equinetendon.com rehabilitation technology that is now available.

Rest= scar tissue
Scar tissue = weakness
Weakness = reinjury.

Every veterinary journal / article of suspensories/ tendons will say for maximum healing “controlled early exercise is key”. Previously this has been impossible because there has been no safety device for horses to prevent them reinjuring/ further injuring themselves shortly after injury those. Equinetendon now offers a solution - they have many success cases of stories similar to yours on their FB page.

My horse was back in full work in just 6 months after being given a very guarded prognosis by 2 other vets. What they’re able to do sounds ridiculous but if you are in a similar position to what I was in - I don’t think it would hurt to do some investigating or give them a call.

Hope this helps!

 

[Auslander]

I’ve had the most success by not bothering with months box rest and using the Equinetendon.com rehabilitation technology that is now available.

Rest= scar tissue
Scar tissue = weakness
Weakness = reinjury.

Every veterinary journal / article of suspensories/ tendons will say for maximum healing “controlled early exercise is key”. Previously this has been impossible because there has been no safety device for horses to prevent them reinjuring/ further injuring themselves shortly after injury those. Equinetendon now offers a solution - they have many success cases of stories similar to yours on their FB page.

My horse was back in full work in just 6 months after being given a very guarded prognosis by 2 other vets. What they’re able to do sounds ridiculous but if you are in a similar position to what I was in - I don’t think it would hurt to do some investigating or give them a call.

Hope this helps!

Are you aware that advertising (stealth or otherwise) isn't permitted on this forum?

 

[horsecrazyblonde]

Yes I am. I am also aware that you are allowed to share your personal experiences.

Horses get helped by people sharing experiences that others may otherwise not have heard. If it wasn’t for this forum I wouldn’t have gone the Rockley barefoot route for my mare who had collateral ligament damage and had been unsound for months with traditional veterinary medicine. Surely if I have had such a positive experience with Equinetendon I have every right to say their services helped when I was offered no other viable solutions for my horse?
(If I am wrong here please correct me?)

 

[OldNag]

Yes I am. I am also aware that you are allowed to share your personal experiences.

Horses get helped by people sharing experiences that others may otherwise not have heard. If it wasn’t for this forum I wouldn’t have gone the Rockley barefoot route for my mare who had collateral ligament damage and had been unsound for months with traditional veterinary medicine. Surely if I have had such a positive experience with Equinetendon I have every right to say their services helped when I was offered no other viable solutions for my horse?
(If I am wrong here please correct me?)

It's just that since joining you have been posting about the above, so it does look as if you're advertising. If you aren't connected with Equinetendon then fair enough but it can look a bit sus when someone joins and then just posts about a particular product.

 

[Auslander]

Yes I am. I am also aware that you are allowed to share your personal experiences.

Horses get helped by people sharing experiences that others may otherwise not have heard. If it wasn’t for this forum I wouldn’t have gone the Rockley barefoot route for my mare who had collateral ligament damage and had been unsound for months with traditional veterinary medicine. Surely if I have had such a positive experience with Equinetendon I have every right to say their services helped when I was offered no other viable solutions for my horse?
(If I am wrong here please correct me?)

You do indeed have every right to tell people of your experiences with a product. It just looks rather suspicious when you join a forum, and fire out multiple posts about a product - and only that product. Even if you aren't associated with the product, it looks like you are, so you are doing the brand a disservice by appearing to be spamming the forum on their behalf