Sympathy and positive stories please!

rupertsmum

rupertsmum

Well-Known Member
Joined
14 March 2008
Messages
159
Visit site
you may have read my post on 'what is causing this lameness?' in my TB and the vet will be doing X rays and scans next week to decide if it really is his suspensory ligament.....

how have you coped with this? how long did it take to get better? and....do they regain full strength in the leg again ie able to jump?

Thanks as seriously depressed now, at beginning of the season
 
Hi, haven't read your other post but I'll keep my fingers crossed for you and hope it's not too bad! My horse sprained his suspensory the in autumn 2008. He did it out hunting as the going was quite deep and he wasn't really fit enough for it. He had a month off completely then began walking in hand for about 6 weeks, then walking under saddle for a month, then very gradually I was able to introduce trotting, always seeing how he felt and checking his leg for any heat/swelling daily. After a month of trotting I also introduced canter but I was very carefull with him for the first few months, always picking good surfaces, avoiding very hard/ very soft or uneven ground. Initially we just hacked for a long time then as he got stronger I gradually reintroduced working on a school surface. He started jumping again at the end of the summer but nothing too stressfull and we gradually built from there.

He had a few flare ups which were quite worrying but with carefull treatment and management we seem to have come beyond this. He basically had a quiet year last year. This year we are back to competing regularly in dressage, showjumping and cross country and I'm taking him to a one day event next month.

So basically with carefull management even if your boy has hurt his suspensory, hopefully it will come right again. Gentle exercise seems to be the key for helping this type of injury. Hope he is alright.
 
Is it a front suspensory? If so my mare sprained hers in October. She was 6/10ths lame initially. She had a short period of box rest due to my previous vet thinking it was her foot. She was prob rested for 6/7weeks. Got a 2nd opinion and said it was a suspensory strain. He said to keep her in quiet work (she was a lot sounder by then) would be best, basically as much as she could cope with. He preferred her ridden as she is quite uphill and it would keep the weight of her forehand. Basically, she's now fine. I've jumped her, done fab at dressage and haven't looked back. She's due for a re-scan in May. He did however say that if it was a tear it would be quite serious, but more to do with the fact that she's 18. Good luck.
 
I'm not far enough down the line for the result yet but you have lots of sympathy from me!! My boy has now done over 10 weeks of box rest with hand grazing only.
My advice is not to take advice from anyone but your vet!! They know the extent of the injury and there are many variables eg proximal suspensory injury in the foreleg has a better outcome than a hind etc.
I think the more slowly you can take the rehab the better, it's hard to be patient though. My vet believes in complete box rest leading to controlled exercise still on box rest. I think my poor horse will not be seeing a field for months. :(:(
My other advice is not to read everything on the internet and to stay positive. There are several active treatments that can be done and surgery is a possible option. Fingers crossed for you!
 
not entirely helpful i'm afraid, but probably much much worse than your horse, one of my point to pointers tore his suspensory ligament racing, his fetlock was so low to the ground i honestly thought he was curtains. he had box rest for months (i think it was about 4-5) with a huge robert jones bandage on for weeks, he was then on restricted turnout (tiny paddock the size of about 4 stables for another couple of months, (it should have been longer but he kept jumping out) and then he was turned out for another year, he did come back into work & does hacking & the odd bit of dressage, i've never jumped him again (partly becasue he was a dreadful jumper before he broke down)

but.... my vet did tell me to shoot him, as he would never stand up to racing again, however, when i took him back for his scans at 12monthish, he was amazed at how well it had recovered, which i put down to a number of things.....

i fed him a high level of MSM, a really high level of nucleotides, every day for about 6 months,
once the bandages came off i spent alot of time massaging his leg to encourage blood flow,
he wore magnetic boots for about 30 mins every day for a year, and a magnetic rug every day while he was stabled,

yes, he's totally useless as a competition horse (unless i get desperate & also develop a total passion for dressage or showing) but he's sound and that was nearly 7 years ago, and he was so lame initially it was obvious it was something fairly catastrophic, & your horse obviously isn't anywhere as severe

hope thats vaguely helpful
RD
 
mine did a hind suspensory and was back in full work in 6mths, took another year or so to go back to jumping anything decent but never caused him another problem.
 
Gentle walking will be OK, but you should get your mind round 6-9 months, even a year without any jumping at all.

Know a horse who has had this and it's taken two years, because the girl who owned her couldn;t leave it alone and jumped far too eartly - causing even more damage.
 
mine damaged his in November, he was on box rest with complcations, 2 bouts of cellulitis.

He came sound and had started walking out , but I think we have a bit of a relapse at the minute as theres heat on the inside of his leg and hes resting it forward but isnt lame, got to ring vet tomorrow

I dont think its always a quick fix, sorry not much help.
 
Thank you everyone for the positives (and negatives).

fingers crossed tonight to stop me biting my nails! Off to the hospital tomorrow for the scans and Xrays. will post results tomorrow for anybody interested.......
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top