Strange advice from vet re tendon injury - updated

MrA

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Feb 8, 2012
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Horse (not Ale) injured their leg a little over a week ago, lameness, swelling and heat around the lower part of tendons back of front leg. Horse has been box rested just very gentle 5 min walks for grass and to help prevent stiffness/ swelling.

Swelling has reduced, but not gone completely, same with heat. Horse is still lame in walk, not badly but you can see it, and worse on a corner, also landing outside of hoof first which seems odd.

Vet came yesterday and advised immediate ridden work 15 mins per day building up to 40mins by the end of next week.

If the leg worsens they will then scan for a tear. Seems very odd to me! Why would the vet say the work could potentially make them worse? Why not just scan now?

Maybe this is usual practise with a less severe tendon injury? Ridden work just seems a bit mean!
 
Is that 15 minutes walking straight lines/controlled exercise, or just 'ave-at-it ridden work? controlled exercise can help get a better end result with tendon healing, if completely/no movement rested as they heal they can for adhesions and cross fibers which then pull as the horse starts using the full range of movement and they are less strong so more likely to re injure. Controlled exercise early on is thought to help the healing fibers all lay in the right direction and prevent adhesions. BUT there is a very fine line between rehab exercise and doing too much.

I have had vets recommend work when they have not been able to identify where exactly the injury is, so want to aggravate it by working so that it becomes more identifiable for further diagnostics/treatment, but TBH if the horse is lame at a walk and pottery on corners then I would expect a vet worth their salt to be able to figure it out without making it worse. If it were mine I'd call and ask what their reasoning is for exercise if they suspect a tendon injury.
 
It is controlled walk work yes, so I do understand the theory behind it in a way. But when the horse is still lame surely adding a riders weight isn't a good idea? I also think that building it up so quickly seems odd to?

The reasoning that was given was it'll either get alot worse which will indicate a tear or it'll continue to improve in which case he can come off box rest.
 
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I believe the hoof imbalance is new, so it seems interesting this was put down to conformation. He is landing very obviously outside of the hoof first. This is also the same horse dragging toes relatively recently
 
A riders weight might not be hugely relevant depending on exactly what is injured, and if it’s difficult in hand riding can sometimes be the better option, difficult to guess without being there.

it sounds like there might be a more complex series of problems, it could be that playing into the vets recommendation not being classic tendon rehab, hopefully the vet can get to the bottom of it.
 
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I have been told to exercise Billy for his hock injury. But he has had xrays so we know where the issue is. The vet said with injurys like this they are better in work and come sound with exercise. I have the issue how much work do i do with him. After he had his steroid injection i was told he could return to full work. That technically includes jumping. Theres no way i would. Having had someone else ride him as well now and give there verdict, and with the questions in my mind. I am only prepared to do hacking. Also a comment someone made on here a little while back is stuck firmly in my mind and i will if necessary retire him.
 
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Controlled exercise when on box walk is perfectly normal depending upon the injury and treatment. It's also fairly common at the diagnosis stage.

Hope the horse comes sound :)
 
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I only have Ales injury really for reference, which was alot worse. Reassuring to know it's just me worrying over nothing.
 
The horse was scanned today and found to have a large lesion in the origin of the suspensory ligament despite barely being lame anymore. Now on complete box rest.

This was my concern re the ridden work and he's done 3 weeks now. Just seems such strange advice from the vet.
 
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If hes continued to improve then hopefully the ridden work has helped with removing stiffness and inflammation.
 
The horse was scanned today and found to have a large lesion in the origin of the suspensory ligament despite barely being lame anymore. Now on complete box rest.

This was my concern re the ridden work and he's done 3 weeks now. Just seems such strange advice from the vet.
Joe damaged his suspensory ligament which ultimately led to him being pts (he re injured twice and the last time it proved fatal as it led to his fetlock dropping). I was always told strict box rest directly after the injury occurred. To begin with it was a month and then the vet came and re scanned him. I think (this is going back twelve years or more so might not be exact) depending on the second scan OH was told to begin riding him for ten minutes a day - or leading whichever he felt happiest doing. It was bloomin difficult lol - we had some interesting escapades both ridden and in hand.
Anyway, all that waffle lol I really hope the injury can be dealt with and heal properly. If I had known then what I know now the second time Joe injured it, I'd have really been a lot stricter about his turnout and the introduction of it. It's easy to look back I suppose but I don't think you can be too careful. Although it's hard for them being box rested, ultimately it's for the greater good (though of course they don't know that!).
 
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If hes continued to improve then hopefully the ridden work has helped with removing stiffness and inflammation.
But they have now put him on complete rest so I can only assume they are worried it's actually worsening, or if not worsening not healing at all which would mean scar tissue surely
 
Joe damaged his suspensory ligament which ultimately led to him being pts (he re injured twice and the last time it proved fatal as it led to his fetlock dropping). I was always told strict box rest directly after the injury occurred. To begin with it was a month and then the vet came and re scanned him. I think (this is going back twelve years or more so might not be exact) depending on the second scan OH was told to begin riding him for ten minutes a day - or leading whichever he felt happiest doing. It was bloomin difficult lol - we had some interesting escapades both ridden and in hand.
Anyway, all that waffle lol I really hope the injury can be dealt with and heal properly. If I had known then what I know now the second time Joe injured it, I'd have really been a lot stricter about his turnout and the introduction of it. It's easy to look back I suppose but I don't think you can be too careful. Although it's hard for them being box rested, ultimately it's for the greater good (though of course they don't know that!).
Okay thank you, I'm really concerned as although the horse doesn't seem that lame they did say it's a very large legion
 
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Like you I cannot see why they didn't scam immediately @Ale . I could understand saying controlled exercise if they'd scanned and nothing had shown, but if he'd been mine I'd have been insisting on a scan straight away.
 
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I didn’t have Jess’ suspensory scanned when she pulled it, but it was really obvious to my fabulous vet what it was (and I know if Lucy had any hint of a doubt she’d have ordered diagnostics especially as she was looking at Jess at the hospital as she didn’t have time to get out to us between appointments so I took Jess in) and she was happy to rest for 3 weeks and scan if it didn’t improve as expected, hers was a high suspensory strain though. I was okayed to ride her in straight lines right after from memory, I probably hand walked for a couple of weeks just to be sure and definitely did an 8+ week controlled return to work.
 
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