Tendon? Advice on treatment?

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Beatrice5

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Here in the South West we have had just a little rain........like 3 times the rest of the country according to the man on the news :(

So fields are horrendous and very very deep on top of being hilly and steep.

Rode Friday all fine, horses spent the weekend out with hay as we don't have proper facilities as is a friends field and we are just eating the grass and keeping elderly mare company supposedly for the summer although fields worse than in winter.

Brought madam in yesterday morning and washed several inches of mud off her legs. Rear fetlock joints and just above are hot filled and hard.

Made a make do corral on tiny bit of hard standing available for her lastnight with a hay net to rest her from the mud. She is walking out short and due to the hill we are on I haven't tried to trot her up on the road as very steep.

In my 35 years of owning and living with horses I have been very fortunate to have not had an major lameness problems so am not very educated on tendons. What is the best course of action and how do I know if it is tendons. I am guessing she has pulled or twisted someting in the deep mud.

I have made a small clean paddock in the rested peice of field for her to wander around on today then will corral her again tonight.

What is the best cause of action and what do I need to know and do?

Many thanks.
 
It is unlikely that she has pulled both hind tendons, although not impossible, the only way for diagnosing and to get correct treatment is to get your vet.They will need to scan the area to find out how bad it is. Tendon or ligament injuries will vary in severity and treatment will vary also.
 
Vet is likely to possibly suggest along the following lines
Bute 2 x a day (reduce inflammation), cold water hose for at least 2 if not 3 x per day (reduce inflammation) & also put Kaolin on affected part of leg(s) & bandage for 4 to 5 days.
If no change after 4 or 5 days, vet out to work up: Flexion test/trot/ or lunge.
Then (if me) I'd go for nerve block to determine exactly where - and also a scan too to see what is going on.

Have recently (stil am!) going through similar with Big Fuzzy

Hope its nothing too serious & Fuzzy recovers soon :)
 
She would be extremely lame if she had pulled both hind tendons! Could you post a picture please? I would bring her in if possible, cold hose and put some clay on them (it cools) - then wash it off after a few hours. Do her hooves have any heat in them? Is the swelling restricted to the fetlock?
 
Have bought her in as much as I can i.e she in corraled onto a small hardstanding area at night and small fresh non boggy grass in day.

Will take pics when I go and get her in and feed this afternoon.

She isn't looking extremely lame and yesterday when I went to catch her to bring her in to wash her legs she cantered off through the track to get in before me so she isn't hobbling just coming up short for her usual stride. Again hard to tell on hill so I will walk her in hand down to a level surface tomorrow and see if I can trot her up.

What I wanted to know is about tendons - what symptoms are too look out for, how they work and how they heal and how to aid recovery.

I am guessing from advice so far it is a sprain rather than a strain? and to rest her for a few days give anti inflamitaries and see if improves. If she had a wound or was really lame and sad looking I would not hesitate to call vet but she is perky, alert and grazing happily on new grass.
 
There does seem to be a lot of tendon injuries around this year after the dry ground went slippery. My 18 year old is on his fourth week of box rest and my neighbours horse, 22 years old, is on his second week of box rest. Neither of them have had tendon injuries before and both injured themselves whilst grazing.

What is surprising is that our vets have given two different treatment plans, mine said four weeks box rest then walk in hand (including two weeks on bute, cold hosing, bandaging etc), my neighbours vet said two weeks box rest, no bute, no cold hosing and turn out into the full size field again after the two weeks is up! It will be interesting to see which horse recovers the quickest and stays healthy.

It's so frustrating after waiting all winter to ride! Roll on summer :)
 
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