Tendon injury-suspensory & artheritus

[Spykey]

My 13 yr old Gelding has had ongoing lameness problems for the last 18 months in his right hind. First of all it was found he has slight arthritis in his hock. This was treated with cortisone injections. That seems to be under control at the minute.
He then became lame again and was back and fourth from the vets after lots and lots of nerve blocks. It was then found he had damaged his proximal suspensory ligament. He had surgery 4 weeks ago on both hind legs.
Since then he has been on box rest and a week ago he became lame on his right hind. Took a trip to Leahurst vets again and he has now damaged his tendon whilst on box rest!!!! I have been given a plan to box rest for 8 weeks with 5 minute walks twice a day increasing by 5 minutes every week.

I am now worried that my horse will do MORE damage on box rest and I am toying with the idea of just turning him out.
What do you think? Shall I turn him out? Shall I box rest? I don’t know what to do for the best? My horse seems to have gone through a lot over the past 18 months and I want the best for him. He’s not extremely lame, just slightly. I think he would be much happier turned out and with the winter almost being over the weather should pick up soon.

Your opinions would be great help. Thanks xx

 

[gunnergundog]

Why pay, what I should imagine, has been a LOT of money for veterinary treatment and advice only to disregard it?

If your horse is insured, I should imagine that the insurers would take a dim view of you going against vet advice.

If he's not insured and you only want a paddock sound horse, then it may be okay to turn him out. However, without knowing precisely what surgery he has had, impossible to say, and I can only stress that you would be risking a catastrophic breakdown of the ligament.

Why not phone your vet, have a chat, express your concerns and try and work something out. Unfortunately, the degree of lameness is not always an accurate reflection of the damage done.

Good luck to your horse, whatever you decide.

 

[Paint it Lucky]

Sorry to hear your boy is having so many problems How big is his stable? Is he stressed at being in and so runs around the box? I wouldn't turn him out just yet as the injuries are still so new, he would probably gallop around and make them much worse. You need to minimise the risks of him re-injuring himself in the stable. Possibly consider cross tying him for awhile (not very nice but it will stop him being able to move about and stress his injuries), depends if he will take to it or not. Make sure there is nothing he can slip on in the stable. Make sure he always has hay to keep him occupied. Remove any buckets etc off the floor (hang from wall or over door instead) so he can't knock into them. I assume you keep his back legs bandaged to support them both. Can't think of anythign else for now but hope that gives you a few ideas!

 

[Izzwizz]

I feel your pain! My mare was on months of box rest due a tear in her Deep Digital Flexor tendon, though not all the months in were down to this. She had a bone chip removed from her fetlock to begin with. I wouldnt go against the vets advice for now, especially as it would invalidate your insurance claim. The ground isnt ideal for turning out at the mo, certainly at our yard. Have a realistic chat with your vet. Its frustrating this time of year, but Spring is around the corner and if you are able to turn out full time then, I would wait. Not worth the slippery ground risking more injury. My mare loves her stable so she was fine in but she is now thankfully sound. She was turned out full time last May and so far, fingers x, shes fine. She is in at night and turned out every other day as its our winter turnout programme at the moment. Hope your horse is ok.

 

[Spykey]

Thanks for your views.

Spykes stable is quite big its somethign daft like 18x14? Hes 15.3. As far as i was aware he has been ok box rested. I know he gets a bit excited when he can hear horses running around in the fields near to him but the majority of the time he is fine and relaxed. I keep at least 1 horse in with him so he has company. I am very suprised that a tendon injury could be caused whilst on box rest.
The surgery he went through 4 weeks ago was basically cutting of the nerve of his proximal suspensory ligament on both hind legs.

I also need to bare in mind my horse does have mild artheritus in his hocks so standing in for 23hours and 50 minutes per day is not doing him much good for that problem.

I did purchase some magnetic therapy boots but he has not worm these for several months. If i did start to use these again i would have to start fromt he beginning with 30 minutes (i think) use per day and increase. (premier equine magnetic boots)

Also - my vet has not told me to use any bandages for support.. however, i do most of the time have bandagaes and bandage pads on him in the stable and change them every 2 days (just because i like my horse to be color co-ordinated) (OCD)

Im going to see how he gets on over the weekend and hopefully he will settle. The other option i was given is to keep him on acp whilst on box rest. Which i dont really want to do.