We have a 14 year old that has been sucessful but not had he legs run off.  He has been off and on lame so the vet suggested an MRI to find out what the heck was going on.  Not a good report.  He has a torn deep digital flexor tendon on the left and the same on the right just not as severe.

Has anyone had any luck trying to rehab this type of injury?  It goes without saying that we are broken hearted.  

No real advice from me, I've not had to deal with that.. I sure hope someone can offer up some good advice for you. I just wanted to say I'm sorry you are having to deal with that. It seems there are a lot of alternative therapies nowadays that could help with healing. 

nope, both were retired. Treated one extensively since he was a younger gelding (I mean what do you do with a gelding?...can’t breed him) got him pasture/ trail riding sound but he couldn’t ever run again. Mare had multiple extensive injuries, vet didn’t know how she was walking much less trying to run barrels, she’s retired and making babies from time to time.

Mine was done, we did everything we could do treatment wise. Spent thousands and thousands of dollars, because I wanted to rehab him and insurance made me do everything. We tried for a year and a half and he was so bad we ended up putting him down. His was extremely bad. You will probably have to retire. Im sure not the news you wanted but its a crappy injury.

So right.  How much a wish he was a mare. (sigh)

We are just not sure if the treatments are worth the expense when we haven't heard alot about good results.  The money might be better spent on a replacement.

Yes my horse who is now 17 had both hind leg deep digital flexor tendons tore at the same time. Once diagnosed we did shock wave therapy 3 times. I think this helped alot. Also used BOT wraps often on him.  He could go out in the pasture as long as he didn't run and play. Which he was really a good boy about. Mostly it will take time to heal. I had another horse to run so he has been healing for 2 years now. I am riding him now and bringing him back slowly. So far so good. He is not lame. Also the vet said if this didn't work that they could try stem cell therapy but that was about $3600. He wanted to try and get it to heal on its' own first. Mainly I would tell you that time is your best bet. Hope you can wait and let it heal.

I know some people back East that had a horse with a 90% tear in DDF. They did a Renovo injection with stall rest. They're now rehabbing. Latest ultrasound shows good healing . Prognosis for return to competition is excellent.

For me i wish i would not have spent $5000 in treatments and vet visits. But my insurance pretty much told me i had to do everything to try and get it healed. I did 1.5yrs of treatments. Shock wave, irap, injections, stall rest, we did a bunch of other stuff to I just dont remember them all, special shoes. I had to end up begging my vet to tell insurance he needed to tell insurance we needed to put him down. His quality of life was not good, we could not keep weight on him because he was in so much pain. He lived on ulcer meds, previcox and still was always hurting. it was heart breaking to see but I had to follow what insurance wanted me to do.

I suppose depends where and how bad.

My gelding Red had a large tear of the DDFT on his left front foot but it was above the ankle, and below was fine (strangely). He probably slipped on the ice during the winter. Had a fairly large bulge outwardly on the tendon too. I turned him out for a whole year in the pasture. The following year, it was about half healed and the vet cleared me for light riding. We injected it with ProStride, I got a bunch of PEMF therapy treatments on it, back on track before riding, ice after riding. Two months later it was completely healed. Of course, he has scar tissue and a bulge will remain.

Last year, the vet gave me the okay to try barrel racing on him again. Of course, I only enter him where the ground is good, so I am selective. But he held up all last year, knock on wood.

I never believed I would ever run barrels on him again. So I cherish every single run I get to make on him. He isn't as fast as he used to be (he had other soundness problems we have managed for years) but he is fun to run, automatic, and he still loves him job.

I'm currently rehabbing DDFT injury as well. My horse had an MRI in February that confirmed core lesions in both fronts, the left being worse. We did the Renovo injections. This is a newer treatment, but my vet has been impressed with the results. He's on stall rest with a small 25 x 25 "patio" off the front. My vet likes a little bit of movement to prevent adhesions, and with his age, we didn't want to trigger other arthritis while we work on something else. I also use Bemer cuffs twice a day. We go back for a recheck in late May, but my vet said he has every reason to believe he will ride again, and not just mosey on the trail.

It may depend on the severity, location of the lesions, how well your horse takes to stall rest, there are SO many factors. Honestly, I hadn't told anyone other than 2 close friends that I'm dealing with this, because I don't need to hear negativity and give up hope. Everyone has a slightly different scenario, even if they had the same general diagnosis. I'd say be guarded that this can be severe, but if your vet is optimistic, just be dilligent with your rehab and take each day as it comes.

My horse is 21, he's had this going on for over 18 months. We thought it was bursitis, as all we could ever find with x ray or ultrasound was some inflammation. The vet had pushed for MRI at first, but when injections in the navicular bursa helped, we thought we were on the right track. He was understanding that MRI is a pricey commitment for a horse his age, plus the risks that come with general anesthesia. He had long spells where he was sound, we even rode, but every few months he'd have a very mild limp, only periodically. This past January looked the hardest on him, so we went ahead with the MRI. I wish I'd done it the first day he came up lame and the vet said we'd need it to get the full picture, rather than trying the tincture of time and various other treatments. It's always easier looking back! But if I have one with pain that blocks to the foot, I'll MRI FIRST next time. 

Prayers for a full recovery for your boy!