SUSPENSORY LIGAMENT??

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lcharles

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Tool my horse to vets today.....after scan and xrays and blocked hock, they think she might have a suspensory ligament injury where it joins the bone. When the vet came to see her on Friday, she thought it was bone spavin x

Horse is still at vets - on bits of chopped up cardboard bedding :O( they are waiting for hock block to wear off so they can block the sus. ligament to see how she reacts then. When they blocked her hock there was an improvement in her trot but she wasn't 100% but vet said that blocking the hock will also block a bit of the sus ligament.

Is a suspensory ligament damage a massive problem?! x

Poor horse is stuck at vets while im stuck at work now!! :O( x
 
My mare damaged her suspensory ligament (off hind) in summer 2007. She had no scans or xrays or anthing else. Very respected vet said he could do tests but in his opinion they wouldn't tell him anything he didn't know already! If I wanted to go down that route he would happily do it and insurance would pay. I chose to go with his opinion at that point.

She had 3 months box rest, brought back into work slowly and has been totally sound ever since.
 
Mine has a similar injury at the moment - had scans, xrays, ultrasound and did the nerve blocking. He is on box rest and restricted turnout, and although this should be over in about 3 months (shoudl be about 4 weeks to go) due to the winter closing in, and the risk of ice/deep mud I am going to try and keep him restricted until March or so, as I want to do this once, and do it well!

Results can be good, and they can be not so good. They can operate and cut the nerves (I think!) but I am not familiar with this, and not sure if its a route I'd want to go down. Do a search on here for other people with horses with this - there are lots of us!!! :)
 
My horse is going to be on box rest for 6 months for something totally different, she's quite a highly strung girl and hatwes being left alone and not going out (im glad she's never gouing to be rideable again- i think i would die!!!) however she has now been on rest for three months and is coping really well with it all, i think they sometimes know what is best for them :)
 
Hi my mare did this, 11 years ago aged 19- she had x rays and I was advised, after a month of box rest, to stop doing schooling etc (given she was 19, I couldn't complain!) anyway she's now 28, still hacking about 3 times a week (time permitting) and keeping up with, if not overlapping, those that we hack with (jogged halfway around on Saturday!) therefore try not to worry too much :D
 
Yes it can be very serious!!!!!!!!!! Please see my other posts on this subject! My horse has had two sessions of 6 and 7 months box rest, shockwave therapy, de-nerving and regretfully after about £10k costs to my insurers is not sound and only lightly hacks.

However - having said all that - not all suspensory injuries are as bad and yours will depend on the severity of the lesions to the ligament. So - do not dispare yet. Many horses do eventually return to full work. But not all. Follow the advice of your vet to the letter - and good luck.
 
My mare has just been diagnosed at Glasgow with a proximal suspensory ligament problem -but it's not as serious as they initially thought. she responded positive to the nerve block but when they scanned, although the ligament is "irregular", it wasn't all the bad news we were expecting. She does not do box rest - at all - she will either kill herself or me. So I have chosen to give her six months off - she comes in for about 14 hours per day, but she goes out during the day. She doesn't go mental if she goes out every day, but if i keep her in for a week and then let her out, she will go ballistic and cause more damage, so I have decided that this is better for her. She is undergoing shockwave therapy and has had the ligament medicated. I am going to enjoy a winter of not riding and see how she is in Spring. My mare also has bone spavin - it seems to be something that goes hand in hand with it.
Good luck with your horse.
 
As charmeroo says just follow your vets advice! We did everything right, box rest, shockwave, cartrophen inj and brought back in very slowly but sadly our boy is still not sound so we have decided to paddock rest him for a year and see how he is, he is only 8 :-(
 
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