Suspensory ligament management to heal

[zeuscleoharmony]

I have a very sensitive Andalusian and we are very happy happy hackers although rather sporadic.

He attended RVC this week and it was found he had a tear/hole in his suspensory branch in near hind. How it occurred I do not know, very low grade lameness, no swelling, heat, nothing obvious.

Lameness tests were undertaken on lunge with and without blocks.

I was told box rest for 2-3 months but prognosis in hinds have a very low recovery rate.

I weighed up my horses mental health, prognosis, my mental and health issues and more and just didn't feel comfortable with box resting. I have given him a flat restricted paddock with access to his stable.

Do horses recover from such an injury without box rest? I will have him assessed in 2-3 months.

Or do I retire him.

Can anyone recommend any support boots for the field that will offer some support whilst healing.

Thankyou.

 

[nutjob]

This is very similar to what happened to my horse. His occurred when he was on restricted turnout for rehab of a sdft injury on the opposite front leg, no idea how it happened. I had 3 sessions of shock wave therapy and kept him on this small turnout as he had already done enough box rest from the first injury. His went from bad to worse and I had him PTS. Obviously mine had 2 problems which were on different legs which clearly didn't help. Hopefully yours will have a better outcome. I wasn't advised to put boots on mine. Can they offer you anything like PRP if there is actually a hole?

 

[zeuscleoharmony]

Thankyou for replying. Unfortunately no treatment available. No op, cannnot inject stem cell therapy as he is deemed to dangerous, breaks through sedation and shock wave wasnt suggested. Tbh, I was in complete shock and didn't take in much except generally poor prognosis and retirement. But I have a feeling he may become sound enough to hack quietly.

 

[Tiddlypom]

Unfortunately mine didn't end well, despite doing the box rest. Retired from ridden work age 8, PTS age 10 as the hind suspensory continued to deteriorate and the fetlock joint was collapsing.

 

[SO1]

Depends on the size of hole/tear.

Mine had a strain/tiny hole so not as bad as a large hole or tear. He was 17 when it happened and recovered and is fine. However I am a livery on a rehab yard so had access to a cold spa and horse walker. He did 3 months active box rest with controlled exercise.The vet did suggest laser but that would be an extra £1000 so I prioritised cold therapy instead as that is less experimental.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

Mine was a good outcome my horse was 12 when he had a hole in his hind suspensory he had prp and 6 months box rest and was sound and hole was healed, his 18 now and still ok a little stiff through the hock but loosens up after a bit of exercise.

I would try and see if they can offer any other treatment as far as I know there are things that help and can speed up healing, and it's a far better outcome than just having rest there are probably lots more available now compared to back then.

Has your vet suggested anything to you?

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

Sorry just read your post re treatment perhaps they don't recommend prp now it's not as invasive as stem cell, they take blood then take the healing bit out and inject it into the injury site I think!

 

[Ceriann]

Mine had a tear in her medial branch suspensory - left hind. We did the box rest but we did move to small turnout after 3 months (for another 3 months) and I’m convinced that this is what helped her recover (long term restricted movement). This and the long slow rehab - we did all the in hand walking and did months of hacking before schooling was contemplated. She’s had 2 follow on scans and no issues. I am very careful with her and she has other issues (mainly feet) that may have contributed to the injury, which are managed. When I researched her injury at the time there were a few stories of horses being turned away long term and recovering. I was told that her prognosis was poor but she’s working at the same level she was pre injury - I just achieve it differently now.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

Mine had a tear in her medial branch suspensory - left hind. We did the box rest but we did move to small turnout after 3 months (for another 3 months) and I’m convinced that this is what helped her recover (long term restricted movement). This and the long slow rehab - we did all the in hand walking and did months of hacking before schooling was contemplated. She’s had 2 follow on scans and no issues. I am very careful with her and she has other issues (mainly feet) that may have contributed to the injury, which are managed. When I researched her injury at the time there were a few stories of horses being turned away long term and recovering. I was told that her prognosis was poor but she’s working at the same level she was pre injury - I just achieve it differently now.

I was told by my vet that it would never heal without surgery but it did and I have always been careful with him and I think some vets always give you the worse case scenario!

 

[Michen]

My young horse had the most minor suspensory branch injury vet and surgeon had ever seen. They described it as a “lifting” of the ligament. We did box rest for a month (meant to be three) it was awful, he got loose etc. Scanned and no improvement. I then had lipogem treatment done (similar to stem cell) and turned him sway for 3 and bought him back very very slowly. Now back and absolutely fine, scans show absolutely nothing abornmal.

 

[gunnergundog]

For a branch injury I would suggest x-raying the foot and joint to check for any medio-lateral imbalances, arthritis or NPA that may be aggravating/contributing to the situation.

 

[Birker2020]

I have a very sensitive Andalusian and we are very happy happy hackers although rather sporadic.

He attended RVC this week and it was found he had a tear/hole in his suspensory branch in near hind. How it occurred I do not know, very low grade lameness, no swelling, heat, nothing obvious.

Lameness tests were undertaken on lunge with and without blocks.

I was told box rest for 2-3 months but prognosis in hinds have a very low recovery rate.

I weighed up my horses mental health, prognosis, my mental and health issues and more and just didn't feel comfortable with box resting. I have given him a flat restricted paddock with access to his stable.

Do horses recover from such an injury without box rest? I will have him assessed in 2-3 months.

Or do I retire him.

Can anyone recommend any support boots for the field that will offer some support whilst healing.

Thankyou.

My previous horse did her suspensory branches 3 or 4 times on different legs, its a common injury apparently. One of the times she did it in the field, another time on the lunge when she half sprung a shoe and it took me a few laps to bring her back to halt, she'd obviously been cantering and trotting on the half sprung shoe which had caused inflammation to suspensory branch of that leg where it had pulled on it.

I did a lot of cold icing, used ice cups and ice vibe boots, and bute and they really helped. In the end I opted for turnout in a small electric fenced paddock as she had arthrtitis and I wanted her moving, and she did very well. The vet was surprised the speed with which they healed.

These are scans of a check ligament injury, December and the following March where the hole has healed. Again down to aggressive rapid ice therapy and the ice vibe boots although this time she wasn't turned out for three months. She did remarkably well.

The vet has always said that early intervention with cold therapy and the use of the ice vibe boots has been instrumental in her recovery.

 

[Ceriann]

I was told by my vet that it would never heal without surgery but it did and I have always been careful with him and I think some vets always give you the worse case scenario!

What annoyed me most was verbally it was presented almost positively - she’d had a left hind niggle for a few weeks after a field hooley, which I just couldn’t ignore - I was expecting a back issue or psd (which were the horsepital top picks) but when it turned out to be an injury to the medial branch I was told chances much better etc. I then got the email written report pretty much writing her off.

 

[Birker2020]

What annoyed me most was verbally it was presented almost positively - she’d had a left hind niggle for a few weeks after a field hooley, which I just couldn’t ignore - I was expecting a back issue or psd (which were the horsepital top picks) but when it turned out to be an injury to the medial branch I was told chances much better etc. I then got the email written report pretty much writing her off.

Mine went back to jumping/dressaging every time.

The one suspensory branch injury was bad though. This is the one that had received PRP only to have a terrible accident with a wheelbarrow whilst I was at work weeks later. All that money and time and effort wasted.

Anyway she developed calcification in this although it wasn't clear if it was due to the injury with the wheelbarrow or that PRP can actually do this. This was the branch injury out of all of them that continued to plague her right until the end, I'd rehab her and for months she'd be fine and then it would go puffy again and it was back to icing/non riding for a couple of weeks before resuming again.

 

[Blondiecopper]

I have a very sensitive Andalusian and we are very happy happy hackers although rather sporadic.

He attended RVC this week and it was found he had a tear/hole in his suspensory branch in near hind. How it occurred I do not know, very low grade lameness, no swelling, heat, nothing obvious.

Lameness tests were undertaken on lunge with and without blocks.

I was told box rest for 2-3 months but prognosis in hinds have a very low recovery rate.

I weighed up my horses mental health, prognosis, my mental and health issues and more and just didn't feel comfortable with box resting. I have given him a flat restricted paddock with access to his stable.

Do horses recover from such an injury without box rest? I will have him assessed in 2-3 months.

Or do I retire him.

Can anyone recommend any support boots for the field that will offer some support whilst healing.

Thankyou.

Have you looked at the Arc equine to help speed up the process of healing?

 

[Birker2020]

Have you looked at the Arc equine to help speed up the process of healing?

Seen these advertised on FB the other day. £200 for something like a 'ring' that you put on the leg.

 

[Bionic Boy]

Have you looked at the Arc equine to help speed up the process of healing?

I brought an arc equine for this very reason but have bottled out of using it. I have a grey PRE who has a dormant melanoma. Weighing up the pros of maybe healing his leg against the con of waking up the melanoma and any other hidden ones I don’t know about was not a risk I wanted to take so it’s still sitting in its box brand new.
I have instead gone for laser treatment which is working well so far.

 

[Blondiecopper]

Seen these advertised on FB the other day. £200 for something like a 'ring' that you put on the leg.

I have used one on myself for tissue repair. My injury healed a 2 months quicker than the specialist advised. There are some interesting articles about Microtherapy and the use of with equines.

 

[Birker2020]

I have used one on myself for tissue repair. My injury healed a 2 months quicker than the specialist advised. There are some interesting articles about Microtherapy and the use of with equines.

Very impressive.

 

[Hallo2012]

slightly different as fore leg but mine banged the SDFT in a lorry accident, and then slightly strained the opposite lower suspensory branch compensating and i have just booted him out in the field for a year.

he looks completely sound in the field but i dont trot him up and wont until Oct.

IME prolonged field rest is the best you can offer except in extreme circumstances.