suspensory ligament

[jubblysmum]

Re previous post
Would love to hear from anyone who has experienced this problem how their horse progressed and if returned to full fitness. Any restrictions? Any advice re supplements and long term maintenance and also if any sacroileac secondary problems?

 

[kcgibson]

my horse suffered from a suspensory ligament inury almost 2 years ago now. he was turned out at all times and was never box rested because after discussions with the vet, we decided he would be better out in the field with the others than going mental in the stable (hes the jealous type!!). around 6 months after the injury he was sound, however, each winter my horse has his shoes removed to give the hoof a rest (this has dramatically improved the hoof by the way!). if i had sarted riding him again when he was sound, i would only have had about 6 weeks of riding before his shoes were to be removed. therefore, i decided to wait until february until i started riding him again (this meant he was out of work for 10 months). he has never re-injured the suspensory ligament. the more time off you can give your horse the better. it can take 6-12 months for a full recovery.
when i started working him again, i began by walking him out in hand on the roads to strengthen his legs. i sttarted off with 10 minutes and built him up to 30 minutes over 2-3 weeks. after that, i rode him but started off with just 10-15 minutes walk and built him up again. if your not sure, you can never do things too slowly, but you could cause re-injury if you move things along too quickly. i remembered this moto and i said, he has never re-injured the leg. i spoke to a friend who's horse had a ligament injury and she said she evented hers again after recovery. i guess each horse is an individual and so you need to take care, but it goes to show that it is possible. hope this helps, anything else i can help with, feel free to pm me.
did you have your horse scanned for diagnosis? do you know how bad damage is? i didnt have mine scanned as he was not insured at the time (bloody well is now tho!) so i just had to play it by ear and take each day as it comes! if you know how bad damage is it will give you a better idea of how long recovery might be. prob with ligament injuries is that they never heal up as good as what they were to begin with. the fibres all lay in nice straight lines in a healthy ligament, but after injury, the new fibres are put down haphazardly and all 'criss-crossed'. this means the ligament isnt as strong as a healthy one so re-injury can be likely and it will always be a weak point in the ligament.
magnetic boots, such as bioflow, will arguably help. i say that cos some people swear by them whereas other dont rate them at all. they wont do any harm and you may be able to get them on insurance. no supplements that i know of. hope that helps!!! and as i said, feel free to pm me!!

 

[star]

my horse had proximal suspensory desmitis Aug 2002. Had 3 lots of shockwave 2weeks apart and was fed MSM throughout recovery. was on box rest for a few months. after a month or so i let him out in a tiny fenced off bit of paddock not much bigger than stable for an hour or so a day and gradually increased time out and size of paddock. should have stayed on box rest for months, but his brain couldn't take it. did a month of in-hand walking, then 3 months of ridden walking gradually increasing to 90mins daily, then introduced trotting building up to 20mins per session over 3 months. some of this was done ni school due to it being winter and dark evenings. then introduced canter and did 1st dressage test in the march, 1st sponsored ride in april. started back at dressage at prelim, then did some novices a few months later. didn't go back to elem/medium for another year or so and didn't really do any jumping other than the odd log for around 2.5yrs, but we were never much into jumping, so that wasn't really an issue. got back to Medium dressage properly last year and then he did his annular ligaments in and ended up at Newmarket being operated on at age of 20. now taking things easy.

 

[jubblysmum]

thanks for all your info really appreciate it. You do feel alone at times and progress is slow. Yes he was scanned at Newmarket both hinds affected right being serious. Had the surgery in Sept period of complete box rest then introduced walk for five mins for a month then ridden walk for a month then ridden trot for a month now we are into half trot half canter for a total of 25 to 30 mins. we are due to go back this week for a further scan to see how he is progressing. It has been hard at times and I could never have done it this far without the help of my instructors who have encouraged me to work thro the periods where he was finding work a little hard and was adopting some of the pre op symptoms but does not when ridden by my instrucors! He is continually encouraged and praised and hopefully we will get there.

 

[jubblysmum]

thanks for yr info a great help to hear you got back to doing so much just sorry further injury occured to slow things. Yes it all sounds heartening and the key is to plod on slowly and take it gradually. He seems to be accepting getting back to work although he does try it on with me and never with my instructors. Back for further scan this week so fingers crossed that it is still going in right direction.

 

[kcgibson]

well good luck to you!! dont feel alone, there are always people out there to spur you on!! it does get diheartening cos progress is slow but you'll get there!

 

[Sali]

Sadie suffered a suspensory ligament injury a while ago, and she's just coming back into fitness. We've had no problems at all with it since, and we're currently working towards BE this season.

I used BioFlow Magnotherapy boots for 12hours each day. I'll still put them on after a particually hard session as I'm far too paranoid for my own good(that and I'd wrap mine up in bubble wrap, cotton wool AND stable them in a padded cell if I could!), I also used an Selenium E supplement.

Hope all comes well for you, it can be hard and progress can be slow but it's worth it in the end

 

[Andy66]

My horse is a racehorse and did his suspensory a couple of years ago. There is a real thickening along the inside suspensory on his near fore. He has also had tendon problems and has been fired when in racing. Rest is the main cure but supplementing with pure MSM is also brilliant because it helps maintain good connective tissue.

My horse is now perfectly sound and is in fact running in a point to point today at Netherton.

I own a supplements business and if you are interested in MSM we supply it at probably the cheapest price in the UK. Check it out at www.equineanswers.co.uk

 

[maisiebo]

Sorry to hijack you post but my mare was operated on her HR suspensory ligament last Sept. To date she is still lame I am not sure what to do next as it has only been 6 months and a lot of people say it does take up to a year to heal completely. My vet seems to think that as she was operated on 6 months ago she should be sound by now, is he right or wrong? I have followed the vet's instructions to a t but only seen slight improvement. I saw the vet last week who has now said he can't understand why the horse is still lame. He took an x-ray as she had a small splint appear but it’s very small and not painful to touch. She had slight improvement in January but re-injured herself in another area (only small compared to the other injury) which has put us back but I am beginning to lose hope of her ever coming sound again. Any advice really appreciated.

Oh forgot to ask what type of training programme were you given from you vet, just want to compare notes.


Thankyou

 

[star]

training programmes vary depending on the severity of the injury and whether or not they need surgery. I would agree with your vet though - normally they come sound after the surgery. Suspensory ligament ruptures treated with rest can certainly take 18months of rest to come right, but proximal strains treated with surgery normally come good very quickly - technically the nerve that supplies the ligament should have been completely cut and so she shouldn't be able to feel it and shouldn't be lame - why she is still lame could be that there is another cause (could try nerve blocking her again to try and find site of pain), or the nerve that was cut in the surgery could have re-grown, which can happen.

 

[jubblysmum]

sorry to hear things not going too well. Time is crucial and is the one common thing that has been said about this injury. Jubbly was box rested to two weeks then walked for 5 mins for 4 weeks then ridden walk for 4weeks building time up slowly to about 15mins. Then we introduced trot slowly for the same amount of time. he did have a period of slight lameness for 2 weeks at this point but I believe was unrelated. Then back to walk and trot and finally for the last 4 weeks walk trot and canter. All this has been done with the wonderful support of my instructor who has encouraged us both so much and help me overcome the terrible fear that every time Jubs complained a little I was causing him pain. In reality we think he was so unfit and work was not in his remit at the time. We have been back to see Andy Bathe at Rossdales and all seems to be progressing nicely although I do feel on tenderhooks still!!!! Good luck please post if I can help at all.

 

[maisiebo]

Ok now I am confused: confused: I am not sure what to think, I had my horse operated on in Germany by a German vet, and he made it sound like it was quite a routine operation and didn’t mention cutting any nerves. I was under the impression they cut and rejoin the ligament using stem cell therapy which is what my mare had done. She stayed at the clinic for 40 days which I had to pay for as it wasn’t covered on my insurance. During her time there she was box rested and started a gradual walking programme after 2 weeks. 30 days later she started a 2 week aqua training programme prior to coming home. When I got her home I continued the in hand walking programme until told to start riding. I rode 20 min's walking 2 x per day building up to 40 mins twice per day over 4 weeks. After 8 weeks and still lame I was instructed by the vet to start trotting, one round of the school in trot and one round walking. I didn’t feel right trotting on a lame horse so made half the school in trot and the other half in walk. I didn’t do this every day because It didn’t feel ok so I stuck to just walking. She has been back 3 times in the last 3 months for further stem cell injections and check ups each time she showed slight improvement (I didn’t see anything my self but the vet and his assistant both agreed it had improved) until the end of Jan we took an ultrasound and saw there was another defect (hope that’s the right word to use). So another stem cell injection was administered and she went back to walking in hand, after 4 days I could start walking again. After ten days I was instructed to start trotting again I tried a bit of trot it didn’t feel right so kept to only walk. Went back last week to the vet and he took another ultrasound. The defect we found the last time had healed but she had a small splint forming, took an x-ray to be sure it wasn’t anything else and it was what we expected, probably caused by a knock. I wasn’t painful to touch and the vets opinion was that this was not causing the lameness, so what is?

Not sure weather to get a second opinion, I paid the vet so much money and not seen much improvement.

Any Ideas welcome

 

[star]

ok, well i'm not exactly sure what your horse has had done. we're not using stem cell treatment in the UK for suspensory injuries at the moment, just tendon injuries - i worked with the guy who's developing it in the country when i was at uni. So, i'm not exactly sure what you should expect post-op because your horse has had a completely different type of treatment to what i'm experienced with. You should go back to your vet and find out some more info. Maybe think about getting a 2nd opinion if you dont get the answers you want.

 

[jubblysmum]

I would try to get another opinion if you can. I can recommend Rossdales at Newmarket but Im not sure if that close to you. I cannot fault Jubblys care. He had bilateral metatarsal neurectomy and fasciotomy if that helps. During diagnosis he had blocks, ultrasound scans and bone scans all under the care of Andy Bathe.

 

[maisiebo]

Not quite sure what to ask as he couldn’t establish the cause of lameness and didn't nerve block again he just gave her an injection against this calcification forming on her leg. He just said she may just need time to heal. I can kind of agree with him as the new defect had healed but could heal a bit more by the look on the ultrasound. Just getting a bit scared she might never come sound and as he is supposed to be the best vet in the area I am not sure weather to go to another vet as I’ve heard some scary stories.
Was it right to trot her whilst she was lame? Just asking as it didn't feel right.
Thank you for your advice

 

[maisiebo]

Unfortunately I am here in Germany until June. I then move back to the UK. If I have no luck and she is still lame I will take her to a practice in the UK when move back. I will be moving to Cornwall so if anyone could recommend a practice in the South West would be very grateful. If I have to travel to Newmarket then I am prepared to do so I just want my horse better.
Thanks again