Tendon injury help - we're a bit despondent

[candida_machin]

My daughter's pony hurt his tendon on his back leg just above the fetlock last week after a lovely round of showjumping, he just lost his footing. The vet has scanned it, and now he is on box rest until the next scan at the end of the month, then we'll see. He is having Adequan injections, is on bute for 10 days, and the leg is bandaged, and I'm giving the area a cold gel treatment twice a day. We are trying TendonEase from Global Herbs and also arnica is arriving tomorrow. Does anyone have any experiences they can pass on...? We are very sad at the moment and the pony does not understand what he has done to be shut up. He's 20 and a palomino 13.1 welsh/arab beloved family pet. What do you think the outlook is - how can we help improve his chances of a full recovery? Any advice on box rest, or tendon experience gratefully received. Thank you.

 

[SillyMare]

No tendon experience relating to hind legs I'm afraid - don't know how it relates to the prognosis when it is a front leg.

My only advice (based on front leg tendons) is take things really slowly, give him loads of time to recover and follow the advice of your vet to the letter.

Shame it has happened to him at this time in his career - poor old boy must be really fed up!

Box rest is miserable, but there are lots of things you can do to make it a bit better. Perhaps make sure he has a box where he can watch what is going on (unless that stresses him out more). See if he is interested in toys / licks / vegetables to chew on (big turnips are good because they take ages to eat). Split his feeding times into lots of little ones (including lots of fresh fruit and veg) so he has something to look forward to. You could try one of those stable mirrors. See if your vet will let you take him out in hand for grass.

I'm sure others have ideas I haven't though of.

 

[henryhorn]

If you have an equine spa near enough five or more treatments would greatly increase the healing , we took our mare and I could see the swelling visibly reducing every day.
The box rest seems to be pretty much the same from every vet, three weeks complete box rest, three weeks in hand walking, then re-assess before doing more. I was shocked to see our small tendon injury (6% hole) will take 9 months to a year to get back to full work.
Thinking back one of my riding school horses did his tendon on the beach and he was off a long while too I'm afraid.
We have tried to keep our stabled mare entertained with horse lolly ices, toys and moving her from one stable to another day/night time, so she sees a different view and isn't quite so restricted. She has just screeched her head off when the box left for a show without her poor girl.
The above mare is stabled due to a different injury, our tendon mare is out with some quiet horses as she fretted badly when kept in 24/7. It may possibly take longer to get her right but that's something we accept.
One of my retired liveries arrived five years ago with terrible tendon injuries.He was then an insurance write off and his back legs looked terrible. After five years he is totally sound and hardly a swelling of any sort, so even really bad injuries improve over time.. Fingers crossed, but really once the swelling subsides you need a scan to assess the problem.

 

[miamibear]

Sorry to hear about your old neddy.

All advice i can give is dont expect a quick recovery (im sure you werent anyway) it takes the oldies longer to heal and heal propely. Then take any excercise very slowly.

Fingers crossed for a full recovery x

 

[Dolphin]

Hi there, and sorry to hear about your pony's injury.
My mare injured her inferior check ligament near fore, she did it in walk skidding across a man hole/drain cover on the road.
I had no idea it was a tendon at first, no lameness at all, very slight swelling and minimal heat. Vet called after 5 days with no change. Initital prognosis was back in full work 5-6 months.
I took the decision to leave her living out as opposed to box rest. I know this is not the norm but I had many reasons for this desicion - in a nutshell my mare hates being in and I feared she would make the damage even worse if kept in. It was July, it was hot, our herd has a lot of older horses in it and she was happy to just potter round the field getting fat! I knew I was taking a big risk doing this but was taking her mental health into account as well as her physical health and I was lucky that it worked for me.
She had 4 months completely off, then started ridden walking for literally 5 minutes, and built this up slowly. This went on until April, as we were interrupted by an abcess, colic,and bi-lateral front feet lameness (but thats a whole other story!)
Started trot work in April, again just a few strides at first and built it up. Latest scan shows all is healed, just some slight fluid in there, and scar tissue in the form of a slight swelling on her leg (which is reducing all the time - I am using magnetic therapy boots on it and massaging the lump). We were given the all clear to start canter work at the last scan (almost a year to the day from the injury) which we have, although limited just now due to the ground being so hard. We have started schooling in walk and trot, but we are not using our school as it is sand and quite deep so we are using the field to school in - plus we can do bigger circles so the turns are not as tight as they would be in the school.
Plan to have her in normal work by the end of the year, including schooling in the sand school, and then see how I feel about jumping her next spring.
So I guess from injury to back in full work, I am looking at around 18 months as opposed to the 5-6 months I was intially told.
Hope this helps in some way.

 

[candida_machin]

Thank you for all the help so far. It does help to know that other people are out there! With the hydrotherapy, at what point in the recovery is it most beneficial? Thanks again.

 

[aran]

just remember that the most vunerable time in tendon recovery is when it looks healed. Internally it needs more time for the fibres to re-align and to strengthen. All I'm saying is what ever you decide to help remember that time is the most important thing and a gradual recovery.

Good luck

 

[jomiln]

HI - I am sorry to read about your pony - with regard to hydrotherapy the best time is as soon as possible as it reduces the swelling, takes any heat out and the healing process can start.

Where abouts are you in the country - there are a few spa around the country and I may be able to point you in the direction of the nearest to you.

Jo

 

[candida_machin]

Thanks so much for the advice everyone. I am putting a gel pad on from the freezer for 20 minutes twice a day and the rest of the time it is bandaged with 2 layers of padding. We've started homeopathic (arnica and ruta grav) and TendonEase from Global Herbs too. Adequan again tomorrow. For hydrotherapy we are on Kent/East Sussex borders - nearest I know about is Lingfield - I would have to send him on Livery as we are moving house next week and time for driving around is nonexistent. Plus the cost.....I'm not sure we can afford it............I would be interested in finding out more thoughas there is still a little bit of swelling and we are on day 8. Thanks again.........

 

[jomiln]

Hi

If you look at the following link you may find a centre nearer you.

http://www.horsedata.co.uk/healthcare_therapies.asp

with regard to the cost each centre varies a little - obviously more expensive down your end of the country than up here in the north. We currently have an offer on for a package deal of hydrotherapy and livery for £180 a week - just to give you an idea

 

[AmyMay]

Would your pony be a candidate for stem cell treatment?? It might be worth speaking to your vet about it.