Suspensory ligament injury

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aimeeparr12

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Does anyone have any advice on how to bring a horse back into light work after a suspensory ligament injury. Vets have said she's ready to come back into work but I'm worried about anything happening to her again. Any ideas??
 
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Slow and steady. Lots of walking building up the length of time. Then add in bits of trotting, again gradually increasing the time. Then onto canter in the same way. If all goes well then it should be about 3 months before your horse is back to full fitness.

Always keep an eye on the leg and any heat or swelling back off a wee bit, get it checked and then proceed slowly again.
 
Mine was diagnosed with check ligament and suspensory ligament damage in her near fore in October last year.
Vet advised 3 months box rest, starting with 10mins per day working up to 30 mins per day in walk. Was happy for this to be in hand or under saddle.
We went back to liphook for re-scans 2 weeks ago (so 3 months later) having done 2 months box rest (had a nightmare to start trying to keep her contained as tried to do field rest as was on grass livery which she disagreed with so had to move yards etc etc) and up to 30 mins walking per day.
Check ligament looking almost normal, suspensory still got a way to go so we have 3 more months box rest and to stay at 30 mins walking per day.
My new yard is in a very hilly area which the vet said wasn't ideal (going downhill being worse for the injury than uphill) but that it can't be helped. I can 'hack' in the school if the roads are iced over but no proper schooling allowed as yet either.
We have to go back in another 3 months for another scan.

Equally when my old boy did his suspensory it was 3 months box-rest then over a 3 month period build up to full fitness.
So each horse is obviously different.
Can you not ask your vet for advice on what/how much they want you doing?
Otherwise I would echo EKW - level solid surface, take it slow and steady and keep an eye on the leg. I took mine out for a hack and tried a new route last week. I misjudged the distance and it took about 50 mins and her leg was puffy when we got back so I gave her danilon, iced it and did a gentle hack the next day and touch wood has seemed ok since. Just shows how sensitive it is tho and how important it is to keep an eye on things!
 
aimeeparr12 said:
Does anyone have any advice on how to bring a horse back into light work after a suspensory ligament injury. Vets have said she's ready to come back into work but I'm worried about anything happening to her again. Any ideas??
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Ask your vet....they are the ones that knows the severity of the injury and where precisely in the ligament the injury was located (assuming you had it scanned) so they are the ones best placed to advise you as to a rehab plan.
 
gunnergundog said:
Ask your vet....they are the ones that knows the severity of the injury and where precisely in the ligament the injury was located (assuming you had it scanned) so they are the ones best placed to advise you as to a rehab plan.
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This - its so important not to rush things, go very low and carful - you cant go too slowly but you can go too fast. Prognosis will also depend on which leg and if the injury was acute or chronic - MSM can really help as well (and its also quite reasonably priced)
 
Hi everyone

Im also interested in this as my mare has damaged her hind suspensory branch (vet been up and scanned and confirmed very little damage but damage nonetheless! Shes now on 2 months box rest and is on her 4th shot of Cartrophen (today!).

Luckily its just myself and my friend that rent our little yard and the stables are within a small American type barn so the vet says this is perfect for her to wander about in whilst I muck out. She doesn't really walk anywhere and stands at her haylage bale but totters about to see the others.

After your initial 'box rest period' did you then go onto turning out into a tiny paddock (as in tiny and doesn't have the ability to gether speed) for a few hours each day or just keep on box rest with walking out each day? She's very laid back luckily.

Obviously once her injections are done, she'll be rescanned and ill be taking my vets advice but just out of curiosity really?

She's a happy hacker and Ive got my arab to ride too so we've written this year off (and possibly turn her away next year) to see how she goes so time isn't important to me - slowly slowly obviously!
 
Turning away doesn't always help. Out vet advised against this when rehabbing from box rest (PSD) The reason being that once you start to develop the muscles with the slow exercise the muscles then support the injured area, so less strain goes on the injured area ( sorry not very articulate today)
 
Sorry, no I didn't mean this year - I meant next year once she'd done her first year of rehab and got to a decent level of fitness ... would that not be a good idea?
 
Walking on the road level tracks for the first month or six weeks .
Avoiding sleep slopes ( not so much for the up but the down ) starting with twenty minutes daily and working up to one and half hours daily I ride horses twice daily as it works better IME .
After six weeks I start hill work and would do another six weeks of that then I would start introducing sort periods of trot on good level turf at first the on harder surfaces .after three months I would start schooling and cantering .
We routinely ice the legs of horses after exercise ,who have had injuries .
 
Ahh OK, well shes only a happy hacker so will just keep on as she is (the year after). Shes got her final injection a week on Sat at which point the vets coming and advising on her rehab programme - obviously Ive told myself she's in now for the long term with daily walking exercises (as per vets instruction) but how long before they're allowed out in a small paddock during the day with her best mate? About 6-9 months?
 
I would ask the vet and have follow up scans done before you consider turnout, then I would use Sedalin. Our vet also advised that a small paddock is approx. the size of six stables for the purposes of turn out when rehabbing.

Another think that can help is bar shoes and MSM. If you google you'll see lots of info re Bar shoes helping to support the fetlock joint (and therefore the suspensory) and also MSM for soft tissues - we did both with a pony who was going to be retired due to PSD, and he came back from it - we are careful what we do - no jumping, no schooling, but he's done well showing since, and is a good hack. Good Luck
 
Ha, sorry for all the questions! Yes, she had hind eggbars fitted a few weeks ago as soon as she’d had her ultrasound done as per the vets advice. I emailed him asking about the MSM yesterday actually as heard this was ideal but wanted to make sure she could have it whilst in the middle of her Catrophen injections (or to wait until afterwards!).

Ive got a small area outside the barn which is going to be fenced off so she can go in here and my arab in the other front part of the field so they can still be together over the fence (they wont go anywhere without each other!). it’s about the size of say 5/6 stables and Ive also got another turnout field which is about ½ acre which they can progress to as the year goes on which the vet has seen and is happy with (pretty flat and not boggy!). Bloody horses!

Thanks for all your advice x
 
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