Tendon Knock Help, help, help

[Joss]

My wonderful 6 yr old event horse came in from the field yesterday having knocked himself right on the back of his tendon. It is just above the fetlock. He is actually sound but it is sore to the touch & swollen. I have already spent a long time hosing it & had cool boots on him. I am also icing when I am not at work. The question is how long do you think I should leave it to settle/get the bruising out before I can get it scanned to assess the damage. I am gettting different opinions from different vets. I am having to talk to more than 1 vet because my own vets do not have a scanner. I will have to travel quite a distance to the nearest specialist Equine vet.

Opinions & experiences gratefully received.

 

[imafluffybunny]

Vets usually like to scan once the injury is approx 2 weeks old, i would keep the horse in and do what you are doing, keep icing it as much as you can. I was advised to stable bandage my horse when he injured his tendon.
I would only walk him in hand until the vet has seen him.
Where in SW Scotland are you? I am from that area and may be able to reccomend a vet. PM me if you want.

 

[dwi]

Daisy did something very similar last spring. I would say box rest with walking in hand until the vet sees him. If you ring them now they will be able to advise you on what to do and book you in for a scan at the appropriate time. Vet wasn't sure what Daisy had done until he scanned so he said to turn her out once sound but that just made it flare up again. We found that she needed complete boxrest until after she was treated and then it healed reasonably quickly

 

[Bounty]

Mine did this - she was scanned 10days following the incident which showed localised trauma to the DDFT. She was fairly sound initially and was buted, but I eased back on the bute for 3 days prior to seeing the vet, at which point she was 4/10ths in walk.

She was prescribed 6 weeks box rest, a month restricted turnout and a month paddock rest before starting back walking in hand.

It will definitely be worth the trip to an equine specialist though, promise!

 

[Persephone]

Mine also did this. She reacted so badly to the pain that hosing caused that the vet stuck it into a robert jones for a week. (The second week)

After this time she was scanned and given the all clear luckily, but she still remembers the pain. I have big probs doing anything with that leg now.

Jojo x

 

[RachelB]

Call your vet again, book the scan (as the others say it's usually about two weeks after) and get some advice on what to do in the meantime. The cold therapy (hosing icing etc.) you're applying is probably the best thing for it at the moment, along with rest if appropriate (get your vet's opinion). Good luck, I hope it's nothing to worry about!

 

[BeckyD]

My horse did this about 5 weeks - knocked SDFT on a water bucket (of all the things!). He was scanned after 10 days (showing a tiny amount of fluid between some of the fibres but no other damage), then box rested for 2 weeks with cold hosing daily, rescanned (showing the healing having commenced and fluid reducing). He's then been turned out for a week and then started short ridden work (15 mins walk a day). Unfortunately he's then been bandaged too tight which has made tendon on other leg flare up, so back on the box rest with 10 mins walking in hand a day but is allowed out tomorrow (other leg swelling completely gone after 24 hours), fingers crossed he doesn't make it worse. I've penned off a small area of an already small paddock. Vet wants him back in walking work asap. I've been lucky as he hasn't gone lame with his tendon knock, I could just see a tiny bow to the tendon.

Good luck to your horse for a speedy recovery.