Suspensory Ligament

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Lucyy-xx

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My 6 year old sports horse has damaged his suspensory ligament in his front leg. He has been given a steroid injection and is on 3 months box rest, after 1 month he can begin a 5 min walk in hand for a week, increasing it by 5 mins every week. He will be re-scanned in December to see if he can move on to trot work. Just wondering if anyone knows if a micro-vet machine might help? His injury isn't what they call major, but I just want to help him where I can! Does anyone know or have a horse who has done something similar and has returned back to original work? I'm very worried about him, I just want him to make a full recovery. Thank you.
 
Main problem may be having him on box rest then asking him to walk quietly in hand, you may need a sedative.
Give him a good grooming every day , and keep yor fingers crossed. Time is a great healer. There are various treatments, not sure which is the best.
 
I had pulsed magnetic therapy, LW ultrasound therapy and something involving a heating lamp type thing aimed at the leg which is held and rolled over the leg for my horses slight sprain of his suspensory branch. I know the suspensory branch isn't as serious as the supsensory as it doesn't take so much load bearing, etc, so his injury wasn't significant and the prognosis was 40% chance of reoccurence. It helped a lot. So did copious amounts of ice therapy in the early stage, every few hours, ice cupped, hosed, ice booted, ice tight overnight, support bandages, and more ice, ice, ice, ice. Sitting ice cupping a leg two or three times a day is boring as hell but well worth the effort. I was seeing ice in my dreams!

I also bought the IceVibe boot which has been invaluable. I put them on prior to exercise for 20 mins, and then put them on after exercise. They loosen the tendons and ligaments prior to work and are very good for working in conjunction with the ice wraps supplied with the boots for after work. Expensive at £180 but worth every penny in my opinon.
 
I agree with Cortez, posting in vet and you will prob get more replies.

My TB did his suspensory on the track. I don't know how they treated it, but he did have a lot of time off. He did return to racing, but damaged it again (I believe it has something to do with his conformation... he is a little base narrow and when he gets tired, becomes a little lazy with his legs.)
Since I have had him, he has been doing a bit Dressage and Eventing. He is jumping 90-95cm (2ft 11 - 3ft 1) at home without any problem and eventing at EvA80 (basically BE80) level with no problems.

After speaking with my vet, farrier, instructor and doing my own research, this is how I manage him;
I ice his legs after all heavy work (jumping, gallops etc)
Whenever possible I take him to the beach to wade in the water for fitness rather than galloping him too much.
His feet are done every 6 weeks or less to ensure his feet are really well balanced to avoid unnecessary strain on his legs
He gets regular body work done, to aid with his way of going and make sure he is working well bio-mechanically
I also use Photonic Red Light Therapy on his leg as it stimulates blood flow and aids the body's natural healing ability. Actually, I use it all over his body. (this lady makes awesome wraps that can be used on muscles and on limbs http://www.redlighttherapy.com.au/) Here is a video of one of the pads on my pony.... note it was not cold, the muscle twitching was in response to the pad on his gluteals, not temperature. https://youtu.be/_F6EL7fisMg
When increasing his work load, I do it a lot slower then I would with any other horse and do a bit of road work to aid in strengthening his ligaments and joints.

He has not been lame on it since I have had him and each time I bump his workload up, he meets the challenge with flying colours.

Hopefully that helped. If you have any questions feel free to PM me. I can't help too much with the rehab bits other then suggest you really look into the red light pads. They are fantastic. There is a heap of info and research on the web page. Good Luck xx
 
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