Tendon injury

[blueeyes]

My pony has damaged hi superficial flexon tendon, unsure how bad damage is will now more on Thursday after scan.He was lame and his leg swollen, swelling has now gone but has a hard lump on the back of his leg. What exactly does this mean?! Will he return to work, jumping and showing?Is it likely to happen again? How long does it take to heal? Very concerned about future for my pony! Has anyone else been through this!!

 

[L&M]

One of my horses damaged a hind tendon out hunting - classic bowing, heat and the scan revealed a tear and 2 holes. The prognosis was not brilliant.

However we decided on advise of vets to give him a chance, with the hope of getting him at least field sound. He was put on 6 mths box rest and had intensive cold therapy treatment - I had to apply an ice boot 4 times a day for approx 1 mnth. He also had a course of Adequan injections, and was on bute for a long while. I also supplemented him wth MSM which is recommened for this type of injury.

After 3 mnths box rest he was rescanned and appeared to be healing well, so was then advised by vet to start controlled excercise to prevent adhesions from the scarring during the healing process. This started with a 5 min hand walk in hand each day, gradually increasing over the next few mnths to ridden at walk for 10 mins per day. He was sound after the 6 mnths box rest, so was the put back out into the field, still with a controlled excercise programme, and remained sound.

18 mnths after the original injury he was back out show jumping and hunting. He went on loan to a friend a couple of years ago and still remains sound, (the accident was over 5 yrs ago now).

So it is not all doom and gloom - I assumed a tendon issue was a death sentence, but not so. However don't expect a quick fix, as the longer you allow the tendon to heal, the more likely they will return to soundness. We were very lucky as the horse went from hunting fit to 6mnths box rest, and coped with it admirably - indeed my vet attributed his recovery mainly to the fact that he remained calm on box rest and in his controlled excercise, allowing himself the chance to heal.

Good luck and don't think the worst until it happens!