Suspensory Ligament

[Lucyy-xx]

My gelding was 1/10 lame on his offside fore. Had him nerve blocked and ultrasound and turned out he has swelling to his Suspensory ligament. He hasn't done the ligament just was swollen. Gave him a steroid injection and He had 30 days worth of bute and is on box rest till December. He came out the stable last Friday to begin his in hand walking. He walks for 5 minutes a day, increasing it by 5 mins per week. He is quite a handful, so my vet advised me to get on him once he will be going out hacking (once he is doing 15 min walking) as I don't trust him being in hand on the roads.My only concern is, there are so many hills around by us, and stony uneven tracks! Will he be ok with this? He isn't allowed to go in the arena. I'm having him re scanned in December to clear him for trot work. Just worry I'll make it worse by walking up and down hills!? Any advise or knowledge on the matter would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks

 

[AandK]

Have you spoken to your vet? I am sure he/she will be able to advise whether or not the hills are a problem.

 

[Birker2020]

Same thing with me and my horse who had a lesser injury, a slight strain to his suspensory branch. I was told to do road work only for a period of time and we have lots of hilly areas by me. I was told to do less down hills and more uphills so if you can find a circular route that has more uphills it is preferable. If you do have to go downhilll you need to make sure you get the horse to use his hind quarters and take the weight of his forehand as much as you can. I have to slow my horse right down and he loves speeding downhill for some weird reason. I try and take the weigh of his forehand and transfer it to his quarters but he does get stroppy if I shorten the contact and will try to pull it out of my hands as if to say 'I know what I am doing mother!"

The arena work comes much later and will involve lots of straight lines, gradually increasing the time ridden and the pace over a period of probably about four weeks for each pace, ie four weeks walking, four weeks trotting.

As I say this was for a slight sprain of the suspensory branch so a bit different to yours.

You are like me, I would rather ride my horse out of the box after six weeks box rest than to walk him in hand after ten days!

You might like to ask your vet about bandaging for exercise. Bandaging as you know is an art, so you have to be really careful as sometimes you can do more harm than good, but the John Whittaker exercise bandages are good as they give good support but have the fleece layer so its hard to cause problems with them.

I can also recommend IceVibe. This is what the maker says:

The ICE-VIBE boots are rechargeable vibrating boots that help to boost circulation in horse's legs by creating a massage effect. They combine the effects off cooling and massage therapy to effectively treat strains, ligament and tendon damage. The massage effect helps to stimulate the lymph system to remove soreness and swelling as well as improving circulation. Everyday wear and tear on joints can be managed with daily use of the boots and rehabilitation through injury can be achieved more effectively.

They are fanstastic but expensive. Everytime I jump my horse or do fast work I put the boots on for 20 mins prior as it loosens the tendons and ligaments. Then I put it on after with an instant ice pack or ice pack from the freezer or just put them on as they are depending on how much work he has done.

They have really made a difference to my horses outcome.