Two Torn Check Ligaments

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Taweelka

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Hey everyone,

My horse tore his front right check ligament two years ago, then got the go ahead from the vet to start up and tore the left leg as well :(


I would like to return to 3’ hunters but is there any hope? Is it even possible for a horse to come back from not one but two torn check ligaments?!

Thank you!
 
I saw your post on the other thread. Only time will tell what level of work he will come back to I'm afraid, but check ligaments are the less dismal of the soft tissue injuries in terms of return to work IME.

I didn't jump mine any more after she first got injured (mine are dressage horses so only jump for variety). The check ligaments both held up well but eventually she injured a hind leg which has ended her career. She is very happy zooming around her retirement paddock now :rolleyes3:
 
Hope you don't mind Taweelka but I would like to join in this thread rather than start up a practically identical one which I was about to do? Also looking for answers regarding prognosis and people's experience with these check injuries. Had our first re-scan yesterday (left fore fibre loss in an unusual place on the check) and no change at all seen. Still 2/10 lame and vet is now already mentioning the word retirement. Devastated as originally we'd all thought we'll at least it's the check and nothing else and the vet had been really positive...
 
My mare was late teens when she did hers and the vet suggested that older horses take longer to heal these kinds of injuries, cyberhorse.

Not sure how old yours is? But mine took AGES before we scanned and thought it was good enough to start work. The first one she did in the early March, I was starting hacking late august so she had 6 months off in a small pen or box rest. I scanned about every 6 weeks as we were covered on the insurance but it was pretty depressing for a long while.
 
Its a pretty common injury in hunters so I have seen a lot IME if the horse has minimal lameness and is sound in walk and lameness in trot resolves quickly they go back to their jobs no problem.
However if the lameness is severe and persists longer than ten days they do less well and of course it’s true the older they are the less well they heal .
 
Yes of course please use this thread! This is my guys last chance of recovery and were walking 30mins undersaddle and increasing with tiny bits of trot till April then back to the vet. I will be beyond depressed if he retires 😢
 
Wait 10 days?? The vet said a year off before they start up work is the a good amount of time. How can they be sound after just 10 days?
 
milliepops said:
My mare was late teens when she did hers and the vet suggested that older horses take longer to heal these kinds of injuries, cyberhorse.

Not sure how old yours is? But mine took AGES before we scanned and thought it was good enough to start work. The first one she did in the early March, I was starting hacking late august so she had 6 months off in a small pen or box rest. I scanned about every 6 weeks as we were covered on the insurance but it was pretty depressing for a long while.
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Conner is 11, and two years ago he tore the right leg then a year later the left tore 😔 even adter going by the vets orders it was too fast and he was too weak after a year off and tore the left leg
 
Taweelka said:
Hey everyone,

My horse tore his front right check ligament two years ago, then got the go ahead from the vet to start up and tore the left leg as well :(


I would like to return to 3’ hunters but is there any hope? Is it even possible for a horse to come back from not one but two torn check ligaments?!

Thank you!
Click to expand...

Based on a livery that was here 26years old - torn a tendon behind the knee and took the best part of a year - only to do it again and then retire - Every horse is different but all I can say is be prepared if despite time and such it might never be right again.
 
Taweelka said:
Wait 10 days?? The vet said a year off before they start up work is the a good amount of time. How can they be sound after just 10 days?
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IME most of the horses with soft tissue injuries who return successfully to work are sound in walk within ten days of the injury .they are of course not working .
 
So our situation: Yes sadly he is a much older guy trying to recover at 20yrs so things are really against him. He bounces around like a 6yr old and this is his first ever lameness. The vet has said there is absolutely no signs of wear or tear, thickening or fibre orientation disruption anywhere else on all scans of forelegs and super clean X-rays of both forelegs too. Apparently it's a remarkable set of images for a horse of his age. So hopefully he'll manage without a compensation injury as that is a real worry with an older horse. We are in no hurry with him as I have our young broody to back and train this year (unlikely to be going back in foal now).

We were told box rest 1month and then walking in hand for 10min increasing by 5min per week. He is in heel lifts at a the front to reduce strain. They expected a speedy recovery given it's a very small minor lesion in a good thick area just above mid cannon. He's been as good as gold upto now being sensible. Regime is now small area turnout and in hand walking. I have been very clear that his age needs ignoring in terms of treatment commitment from us and we'll fund regenerative methods if the insurance won't.

It may have originally started with a bridleway collapse down a ravine which left his front legs overextended clinging onto the path (he had to scramble and jump us back up - no idea how he got us out of it as it was horrific and I thought we'd carry on sliding down and go over backwards). He didn't go lame and we watched him like a hawk, had him checked and he had some physio just in case. Came back fairly light work for him, then had a couple of weeks off with an eye injury. Back in the field that week and then brought him out to lunge to find him lame. Vet straight out and by the end of the assessment 3/10 lame but blocked out to mid cannon. Wonder if this area was strained with the fall but being a hardass he didn't complain, stretched a bit further with work and jumping then over tightened when kept in a few days with the eye injury and then snapped fibres completely when back out. Suppose I'll never know for sure... so annoyed I've potentially ruined my best ever jumping horse with a "relaxing hack".

In some ways I don't think his body has recognised the injury and the complete lack of any inflammatory response means healing won't be triggered. It's been so asymptomatic (apart from the lameness itself) the vet doubts himself with the lesion and exhausts every other option he can think of every time he scans him. I do know checks can be weird though and don't always have heat or swelling and sometimes no lameness.
 
cyberhorse said:
so annoyed I've potentially ruined my best ever jumping horse with a "relaxing hack".
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I think many of us have been there, in that negative thought spiral... I ruined my dressage horse taking her to the gallops "for variety". She put her foot down a hole, was nothing to do with the actual canterwork. :rolleyes3:

I kicked myself for months and months. But how were we to know that would happen. Plenty of people do things like that and get away without a soul destroying injury. No point in dwelling on it, it's just bad luck.

Mine had PRP for the first injury, not sure whether that's worth exploring cyberhorse? That seemed to kickstart the healing response and came in at about £600 on the insurance at the time.

That leg was awful on the scan though, no recognisable fibres in the affected bit and the leg gave way periodically when walking for the first month :/ the second one was very very subtle and sounds like yours - I knew what she had done but it took a long time to find the tiny lesion on the scan and there was no lameness or filling.
 
Goldenstar said:
IME most of the horses with soft tissue injuries who return successfully to work are sound in walk within ten days of the injury .they are of course not working .
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For like a good 3 days it was very hard to tell my horse even tore anything he looked %97 fine. And always looked ok at the walk
 
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