Tendon injuries advice pls. (Sorry long!)

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Woodrock

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Hi, I have a 7yr old ex harness racing standardbred gelding who stumbled & damaged a SF tendon 6wks ago, initial scan showed no lesions / holes but tendon was approx 30% bigger than the good one. He was one tenth lame. Unfortunately box rest was not an option, he tried to jump out of the 6ft walled yard we confined him in & did the same when we confined him to a small turn out area! Vet said to turn him out as there would be no horse left to fix! Was given bute, bandaged & cold hosed 3 times a day for 6wks. Got a re scan yesterday and while most of the superficial swelling had gone down there is no improvement in the size of the tendon, but did trot up sound. Vet has advised to stop bandaging. Brought him in this am and there is filling around the tendon again. Just wondered if anyone experienced anything similar and what the outcome was? Any advice / comments gratefully received!
 
Hiya, i would keep hosing his leg and put tendon boots on when he is turned out for a bit of support. My friend experienced a snapped tendon with her horse and this is what we did after the bandages had to come off. Hope this helps, good luck
 
Remember that scans *quite often* do not reveal the true picture of tendon damage. So although the scans are showing nothing, it does not mean that there is no damage there.
Personally I think that the amount of inflammation there sounds pretty significant, I would turn him away in the field for about at least one year. Just normal field turnout with his field mates.If you have a spa near you I would book a couple of weeks spa treatment and take him in regularly. If no spa would just carry on cold hosing each day.
 
I also think you should turn him away, the worst thing to do with a tendon injury is to bring the horse in and out as they are more likely to run around on being turned out. Cold hose whenever you can, cold therapy is the best approach to tendons in the initial stages. TBH I'd be surprised to see any singificant difference in the tendon after only six weeks. It takes at least a year to heal, my horse tore her deep digital flexor tendon and went on box rest on Feb 26th last year, on field rest (turned away completely) July 7th, the vet came out on Thursday and said she's still not 100% but is much, much better.
If I were you I'd call your vet and see what he says. If he has any sense he'll probably suggest turning the horse away. Personally I wouldn't keep bandaging or you'll end up having to bandage every day for a year while he's turned away! I also don't agree with the tendon boots suggestion above, mostly for the fect that tendon boots provide protection to the tendons in case of a strike by the hind toe, and they do not actually support the tendons. Bandages are by far the best option for support, apart from two flaws - 1) they heat the tendons, which makes them more susceptible to further injury, and 2) realistically they probably don't support anything, if you think that your horse probably weighs the best part of a tonne and all you're doing to support internal structures is wrapping a flimsy bit of fabric around the outside! Not that I don't agree with bandaging or booting (with wrap boots) for support, as my horse will be worked in wrap boots when she starts walking, but I can see the limitations of it.
The only other thing I can say is, good luck!
 
Has vet considered a course of Adequan injections, intra muscular?
You could also consider Bioflow boots - just leave them on for daytime, if he is living out, then rinse off any mud and dry overnight
 
Nope...boots will not give support to the tendon...there is a medical tendon boot that I saw once from a company (dalmar) but I do not know whether it would help. Cold hosing is most effective in the first ten days of a tendon injury (so I was told by vets)...after that bandaging can be carried on...but obviously this is considering box rest or restricted turnout.
Time and rest is really the only thing that can help a tendon once damaged. Obviously not every horse will take it easy...which does put pressure on the tendon and delays the progress...so turning a horse like that out can sometimes be the only alternative - to save his mental state and doing less damage than has already happened.
 
The Dalmar boots apparently aren't comercially available yet as they have had trouble with them rubbing during trials. Or so I have heard. SUCH a good idea though, if it is shown that they work then I'm sure they will help a lot of horses.
 
Shame...I saw it ages ago...I used to buy their other boots from Ireland (before you could get them over here).
When my mare damaged her leg...I wanted a good boot for her and my vet actually mentioned Dalmar (this was ages ago!)...tho like he said no boot would do what I really wanted (basically to give support) but these were good.
 
Hi all, thanks very much for all your replies all very helpful, I am going to turn him out (Well he is already really) But have stopped bandaging. I tried putting some turnout boots with a bit of fetlock support (For my benefit more than his!) But they made his legs hot, so he is now bare legged, unfortunately since I have stopped bandaging there is more filling around the tendon but I suppose this is only to be expected. I am at a bit of a loose end now and feel like I should be doing something & am trying not to look at the tendon every five minutes for any changes. Sad I know! Am now looking for a quiet field companion for him.
Thanks again for the advice
 
Good luck, I can tell you after seven months of practise it does get easier letting them rough off and turn into hairy bog ponies without worrying too much about their injuries! There's nothing you can do now except wait, in which case you may as well not worry until you get to the beginning of February next year and have to arrange to get the vet out again.
 
Hiya,

From experience equine spas seem to be amazing for tendon injuries. Their have been a lot of racehorses that have broken with tendons and have gone through the spa and raced again! The people to speak to are ECB i think - the website is www.equinespa.com - they have rehab centres all over the country which might be able to help!
Good luck
 
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