Tendon Sheath Infection

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niko

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I got a new mare to bring on just after christmas and all was going well until last week. She cut her hind leg just above the fetlock a small nick. I put her on antibiotics and bathed it to keep it clean and never was lame. That was the Monday, on the Friday morning i went to muck out and it had swollen 3 times the size, she was still weight bearing but had the vet out again. She got a big dose of intravenous stuff and told to inject her twice the next day and bath it 4 times at least to keep circulation going and if infected.
On the sunday morning she was due to go back to the vets and when i was walking her back into the stable after bathing it, she suddenly snapped it up and was crippled on 3 legs.
My vet operated on her to see what was inside and flush anything out. Apparently the antibiotics were working but were just holding off the infection and then it got to her tendon sheath. My vets prognosis was not god, worse than a tendon injury as the tendon sheath cannot repair damage, so can inevitably cripple a horse.
She has been at the vets ever since and have been getting updated, the swelling is still there but starting to walk on the leg. She is coming home tonight with some 'aggressive' antibiotics and still to be bathed. She was being injected twice a day but i cant as the vet is big and he says they have to put her in the stocks and twitch her as she now detests it so much (who could blame her).
This week has been very long, please send healing thoughts to my poor 4yr old who i fear her career could have been over before it started.
If you have any positive stories please share and a warning for the smallest of cuts can be the worst!
 
I really feel for you having been through this with my mare who cut herself on a blackberry bush and was also operated on and the tendon sheath was flushed. Her outcome was not good but she also developed Navicular which is what finally led to me having her PTS. Fingers crossed for you and your mare. I have heard stories of horses making a great recovery.
 
Oh bless her. My boy had an infected tendon sheath, more traumatic than yoyr by the sound of it because he had cut into the tendon sheath. He went to rossdales in Newmarket and they said 9/10 horses recover from an infected tendon sheath, and that was 10 years ago so there are 10 more years of advances in technology and knowledge to add to that.

Sending reiki vibes and crossing my fingers for you. Xxx
 
Sorry, my story was not positive but that doesn't mean that yours won't have a positive ending. I guess I just wanted to let you know that I have been through it and completely understand what you're going through. It was the Navicular that got her in the end.
 
My mare Ripley had a suspected tendon sheath infection back in August (2011). She got an over-reach cut on her front fetlock. Vet came out and put staples in but no antibiotics as she was already on oral antibiotics for a tooth infection. Everything seemed fine, bandage came off a couple of days later and we started some gently ridden work. Then a couple of days later she started to become lame on it, vet back out thought maybe it was an abcess. Next day really sore so brought her to the horsetipal. Inconclusive blood results but the ultrasound showed filling in the tendon sheath so we decided it was best to go in under general anaesthesia and flush the joint.

The surgery went without a hitch and she stayed in the horsetipal for a week getting IV antibiotics to be ultra sure that nothing came back. She came home and was on box rest for two weeks with bandages and dressings on. Trotted her up when the bandages came off and she was sound. Brought her back into work over the next month and she is now back out jumping BNs and Discos. So there can definitely be a happy ending :) Oh, and she was 4 as well when it happened.

Fingers crossed for a positive outcome :)
 
My boy got an infected tendon sheath after a week of owning him, from a tiny puncture wound on the fetlock (still no idea how he achieved this!) He wasn't insured at the time, so instead of the op he had it flushed with needles every day for 3 days and IV antibiotics. He stayed at the vets for 10 days altogether, the prognosis was very guarded but he trotted out sound as a pound the day I brought him home. That was nearly 4 years ago, and he's had no problems at all. Fingers crossed for your mare :)
 
Thank you for posting your experiences good and bad.
Hopefully the positives will work for us and that she will be a fighter and the reiki will help her and I.
I cannot believe it could turn so sinister but thats horses for you, im excited to get her home. She was a rescue horse i got to event and after all shes been through feel that she shouldnt (or anyone) should have this upon them after a start like hers.
I will keep you posted on her progress and maybe get some pics.
 
Also just wondered how long the swelling took to subside, mines a week now and still up a good bit. Just in from bathing it as per vets instructions, but wondered if damaged can it stay swollen?!
 
My filly managed to drive a flint up under the back of her pastern as a 2 year old last Feb. Was lame when my sister got her in so thank god she called the vet. Vet initially thought minor wound till my sister told him she had seen clear fluid seeping. He tested again and the wound was very deep.

Upshot filly was rushed in for emergency tendon flush and stayed in for the week.

Thank god it all went far far better than we could have hoped, as she already had an infection starting in the tendon sheath where the flint had penetrated. Surgeon was amazed at her recovery.

Year on and you would never know it had happened, but I got the impression we were extremely lucky that she went in so fast and was under the anaesthetic less than 24 hours after injury. That window is extremely important in these types of cases apparently.

Hope your mare does as well as mine. I was beside myself when she was in surgery and the week after waiting for the fluid results.
 
hope your horse will be ok

my filly somehow got an infected tendon sheath in Dec she was rushed to Wiepers in glasgow and had 3 ops on the tendon sheath to flush it pumped full of AB's etc only for the infection to then move to her pastern joint so had a 4th op on that
thought a few times we were going to loose her but 7 weeks down there she pulled through and is now at home
she is now sound in walk and her canter in the park is fab but she is still a bit lame in trot but has improved so much since we got her back even more so the past 2-3 weeks not sure what the outcome will be but she is happy to be in the field and if she carrys on improving then she will hopefully be able to be ridden she has just turned 3 so i am in no rush
she also had AB's injected direct into the sheath and also the pastern
the swelling has gone down a good bit but i think she will always have a thicker pastern due to scar tissue etc and also some swelling over the sheath but we are just so glad she is home
i still worry that it will come back, none of the vets could see how or where the infection got in, as there was no cut or wound

i really hope your one pulls through
 
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