Tendon update...

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showjump

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Hi,

Some of you gave me some help/ advice the other day on my horses tendon.
I took him to the vets tonight, and she agrees that it does look dodgy! So he's got to go back next week for a scan.
She thinks it could be his check ligament, or he could have banged it. Ive got everything crossed that its the latter of the two.

She has said if it was the check ligament it will be 6- 9 months box rest.
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Has anyone had this happen to there horse?

Also any tips on how to help it heal are much appreciated. She said hose it 2/3 times a day, then put stable bandages on inbetween hosing it. I have to walk him in hand for 5 mins twice a day. should be fun!
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Could i put that leg ice or similar on in in the morning instead of hosing as mornings are a rush, or will this not work as well??
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i used one of those gel boots that you chill down in the freezer then apply to the leg instead of cold hosing. as long as you don't leave it on more than 10 mins it should be fine. don't leave anything on the leg that can get warm from the horses bodyheat - suprised vet said to bandaged. Mine said not to and as I understand you to keep the area cool to let swelling go down...?
Good luck, hope it is not as bad as you fear - have just gone through having a tendon sprain with my horse. i was gutted initially but got loads (too many) offers of rides which has helped the time go.
 
Hi. Sorry to hear about your horses injury. My pony had a tendon injury a few months ago but the scan showed no damage so he was fine after a few weeks box rest so fingers crossed for you that it is not serious.
Not 100% sure if the leg ice will be okay instead of the hosing (I used this in between hosing) but if you are in a rush I suggest using one of those boots that you attach the hose to so you can carry on with other stuff or if your horse is stands quietly, vetwrap the hose to his leg - I found that a haynet helps!
All the best!
 
Thanks, i was abit suprised she said to put stable bandages on inbetween the hosing to keep the leg warm?? I had in in my head it should be kept cold, can anyone shed anymore light on this??

I did the vet wrap idea the other day!

were either of your horses lame? or found it painful to touch the area?
Mine isnt so im hoping that 'might' be a sign its less serious?
 
sorry to hear its not good
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hope is just a knock, my old boy did his achillies tendon in, vet said would take months to heal, was much quicker than she thought, fingers crossed for you, let me know how it goes next week

vet also adviced keeping him bandaged between hosing and it definatly helped stop his leg blowing up huge
 
My pony was obviously lame on the first day but was virtually sound the next day (he injured it in the field). It didn't appear to be painful to touch. The first vet who came out didn't mention bandages but the equine vet who came out to scan about 2/3 weeks later said I didn't need to hose anymore but use bandages - I think different vets have different ideas on this?? How long ago did this happen and when is the scan?
 
noticed the swelling as soon as i went in his stable to feed him on sat morning. He hadnt been out or ridden for 2/ 3 days prior to that or in the field for a fair few weeks. He has done very little of anything over christmas, due to us waiting to be refered to a back specialist so didnt want to do anything other than light work.
Put him out for a hour on sat as thought it was just puffyness from him being in. He did play about in field, but this is after the swelling appeared. Just wish i hadnt of turned him out, as i might of made things worse now.
He hasnt been lame, or pain when touched ect. Only evidence anything was wrong is from the swelling.
Took him to vets today. And is being scanned in a week.( so next tues.)

So im confused as to how he's done it, sorry if that doesnt make alot of sense!!
 
Don't fret about what you should have done - I hadn't seen Chum for nearly 24 hours when it happened and I'm still not 100% sure how he did it .. I think it was in the field but he also slightly slipped on the yard as I brought him in?? Just keep hosing it until the vet scans it and then take it from there. I know you can't help but fear the worst and I know I was very lucky that Chum's wasn't serious. Tuesday will come quickly.
Finger crossed and take care.
C x
 
Hi

We never bandage in first few weeks as you want to keep the leg as cold as possible.

We have had a few check ligament injuries in for treatment and they all seem to have responded quciker than your vet's have said.

Our usual practise is to box rest until all heat and swelling has gone - we spa them instead of cold hosing as this provides a deeper penetration of cold therapy.

Once all heat/swelling has gone and the vet has scanned to know the full extent of the injury we very gradually start walking out - this starts at 5 mins initially and builds very gradually - with scanning at periods to know how the damage is repairing.

Hope that this helps
 
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Thanks, i was abit suprised she said to put stable bandages on inbetween the hosing to keep the leg warm?? I had in in my head it should be kept cold, can anyone shed anymore light on this??


[/ QUOTE ]

The idea behind cold treatment is to shock the system into improving the circulation. Hot to cold is even better - it is the extremes which will really get the blood pumping around the leg.
Horses will rarely be lame with check ligaments, and TBH I think you need to change the vet if she is honestly going to suggest that much box rest. With ligaments it is very imporatnt to keep them mobile and using them to their full capacity. Otherwise they kind of lose their stretch and will go easier in the future.
If you pick the leg up and pinch the swelling away from the leg, she should feel pain. It can be an indication of how serious the injury is, but only an experienced hand will tell.
 
Don't rely on the lack of lameness indicating a less serious injury. Even a mild injury leads to a weakness and it is then when the horse could do irreversable damage.

I googled 'tendon injury' and the Liphook Vet hospital has a few articles on the subject which cleared things up for me. Maybe you will find similar for ligament injuries?
 
Sorry, only just spotted this thread...

Bo has just come back from an almost identical injury. End of October he came in from the field with his OSF swollen badly. No sign of lameness and no obvious discomfort. The vet came out next day with the scanner. She didn't scan the leg but did agree that it was a check ligament injury. She advised box rest, bandaging and cold hosing twice a day and 2 sachets of bute a day until the swelling went down. This took approx a week to ten days. Once the swelling was down, we started to lead him out in hand for 10 - 15 minutes, twice a day. This was done for a further week. We then started riding him in walk, on the flat, under saddle, building upto 30 minutes a day for another week or so. Then, we started to introduce a small amount of trot, again building up over a week. I stayed in the school, and thus on flat terrain for this period too. By this point we were about 4.5 to 5 weeks into the recovery period, and started to introduce some canter work, and also some gentle hacking over more undulating terrain...again a week or so of this. We started introducing some poles on the ground towards the end of December, and finally started jumping again after about 8 - 9 weeks of the initial injury occurring.

At all stages of the process we have been monitoring the leg, and at any sign of swelling (there hasn't been any fortunately !) we would have stopped and recalled the vet.

Unless the injury is extreme, I think 6 to 9 months box rest is way over the top, but then I know JH58 has had a very different experience to mine so perhaps we've just been lucky
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