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 Am I really the Weirdo?
Posts: 11181
   
Location: Kansas | My sister-in-law called early this morning and told me that my brother's mare Diamond had a swelled up front leg and would barely walk on it. A couple weeks ago, she had the same thing happen, but it didn't appear to be a serious injury so we gave her bute for several days and Kyle tried to put poultice on it, but she ran away from him. This morning I guess she was worse than before, so Dad took her to the vet and found out she has a bowed tendon. Vet clinic is keeping her for a couple days to sweat it and try to get rid of the swelling, and they told Dad that if it starts to flare up again, she'll need to be confined. I've never dealt with a bowed tendon before, so am curious about them now.
Diamond used to run barrels & poles but is 20 years old and we retired her from competing a couple years ago. Now she's basically a pasture pet who will go for an occasional trail ride or be led around the yard with kids on her, so we're not talking about a high caliber performance horse. We just want to keep her comfortable and sound so she can do her normal light work. Any info on taking care of a horse with a bow would be great. Thanks! |
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I just read the headlines
Posts: 4483
| We had a mare partially cut her tendon in her front leg. Vet sewed it up, I fed her platinum performance, kept it wrapped for a month and she is fine now. I didn't sweat it because she already has other lameness issues. But now we can trail ride her. The vet was very impressed with her recovery. He gave her only a small chance to be rideable. I called PP to ask how much I should feed her. She never got silly or crazy acting but she was in a small pen and I made sure she had baby sitters with her at all times. |
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Am I really the Weirdo?
Posts: 11181
Location: Kansas | No other experiences with tendon injuries?
I'm just kind of curious how this will affect Diamond - will they need to build her a smaller pen instead of letting her and Ace roam the 10 acre pasture with 2 cows, a calf and a few llamas? Ace is in his 20s as well so its not like these two are going to spend their days running around like maniacs, but I think Diamond's eyesight is poor and she kind of needs to be with another horse. |
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  The Original Cyber Bartender
Location: Washington | rodeowithjoker - 2014-11-04 12:27 PM No other experiences with tendon injuries? I'm just kind of curious how this will affect Diamond - will they need to build her a smaller pen instead of letting her and Ace roam the 10 acre pasture with 2 cows, a calf and a few llamas? Ace is in his 20s as well so its not like these two are going to spend their days running around like maniacs, but I think Diamond's eyesight is poor and she kind of needs to be with another horse.
Is it a high or low bow, front or rear?
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Am I really the Weirdo?
Posts: 11181
Location: Kansas | fatchance - 2014-11-04 2:35 PM rodeowithjoker - 2014-11-04 12:27 PM No other experiences with tendon injuries? I'm just kind of curious how this will affect Diamond - will they need to build her a smaller pen instead of letting her and Ace roam the 10 acre pasture with 2 cows, a calf and a few llamas? Ace is in his 20s as well so its not like these two are going to spend their days running around like maniacs, but I think Diamond's eyesight is poor and she kind of needs to be with another horse. Is it a high or low bow, front or rear?
It's on her right front leg I believe. I don't know high or low, as my brother & sister-in-law live about 10 miles away and I am stuck at work today (hence Dad taking Diamond to the vet instead of me). Brother & sister-in-law both teach high school & couldn't take off at the drop of a hat. Dad is retired so he gets nominated for daytime stuff.
When the swelling first showed up a couple weeks ago it was evenly swollen (if that makes any sense) all along the leg from the knee to ankle. We thought it was gone -whatever it was- because she started running from Kyle (who never rides her so it made no sense) when he tried to poultice the leg. I thought that would be easier for him than cold hosing. |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| My experience has been on performance horses
The first horse bowed in the field found her the day after, I cold hosed it then poulticed it with SNM poultice the swelling was gone the next day looked like a perfect leg. Took her to the vet did generic stem cells in the damaged tendon she was on stall rest for with limited exercise then I could start legging her back up.
The second one started out as a crush injury that damaged the tendon again did stem cells she was on stall rest 2 weeks then I could start legging her back up
The last one bowed I game ready her for a week before she went to the vet. She was not lame, and hers is the worst. She had a blood clot in the middle of the tendon that would not dissolve with hepArin the vet had to split her tendon to remove it and reduce swelling as soon as possible there are drugs to do this cold hosing etc then stem cells.
The first two are back running.
The last one still recovering
My vet also says with bows wrapping the bow can be worse. He likes the SNM clay to remove excess fluid (the fluid is what pulls the fibres apart and causes the bow.
If you can get your hands on a game ready the recovery time will be faster then cold hosing.
All of mine have been confined in 20/30 runs until vet says I can start riding |
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The Original Cyber Bartender
Location: Washington | Well let's assume the vet knows it's a bow. He is sweating it, and probably will want it to get a good scurf, this draws blood to the area which helps heals it. To tighten it back down your going to be aggressive with that also and use something like Bigeloil and keep it wrapped. This is a long process, up to at least 3 months no less than 6 weeks, again depending on the extent of the bow. She will need to be stalled until it's as tight as you can get it. She will also need to be kept wrapped for support during turn out, you will gradually turn her out, the last thing you want her to do is go riping around and redo it....or worst yet do the other leg.
BUT due to her age I would love to see a picture of this, the swelling you discribed sounds more like a abcess than a bow. Just thinking out loud here, so don't shoot me.
Edited by fatchance 2014-11-04 2:56 PM
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Am I really the Weirdo?
Posts: 11181
Location: Kansas | fatchance - 2014-11-04 2:55 PM Well let's assume the vet knows it's a bow. He is sweating it, and probably will want it to get a good scurf, this draws blood to the area which helps heals it. To tighten it back down your going to be aggressive with that also and use something like Bigeloil and keep it wrapped. This is a long process, up to at least 3 months no less than 6 weeks, again depending on the extent of the bow. She will need to be stalled until it's as tight as you can get it. She will also need to be kept wrapped for support during turn out, you will gradually turn her out, the last thing you want her to do is go riping around and redo it....or worst yet do the other leg.
BUT due to her age I would love to see a picture of this, the swelling you discribed sounds more like a abcess than a bow. Just thinking out loud here, so don't shoot me.
Well the swelling I saw in person could be a different deal than the current bow. I just kind of assumed that they were related because of the somewhat close timing.
As far as it being a bow, I'd trust the two vets over there to at least diagnose that right. They aren't great with subtle lamenesses but what Rachel described on Diamond wasn't subtle at all. The little bit I read about bows online this morning indicated that a horse with long, weak pasterns would be more at risk for a bow, and Diamond definitely has long, weak pasterns. She's a gaited mix and won't be anyone's example of good conformation. We got her as a rescue and she's got a pretty easy life at their place now. They do have a barn that has stalls, unlike mom & dads where stalling one is a nightmare. I'll try to make it over there and demonstrate wrapping on Ace tonight so they're prepared to take care of the old gal. I'm not too worried about her taking off and reinjuring herself later on - unlike my barrel horses she has never been one to just take off running and playing. |
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The Original Cyber Bartender
Location: Washington | rodeowithjoker - 2014-11-04 1:03 PM fatchance - 2014-11-04 2:55 PM Well let's assume the vet knows it's a bow. He is sweating it, and probably will want it to get a good scurf, this draws blood to the area which helps heals it. To tighten it back down your going to be aggressive with that also and use something like Bigeloil and keep it wrapped. This is a long process, up to at least 3 months no less than 6 weeks, again depending on the extent of the bow. She will need to be stalled until it's as tight as you can get it. She will also need to be kept wrapped for support during turn out, you will gradually turn her out, the last thing you want her to do is go riping around and redo it....or worst yet do the other leg.
BUT due to her age I would love to see a picture of this, the swelling you discribed sounds more like a abcess than a bow. Just thinking out loud here, so don't shoot me. Well the swelling I saw in person could be a different deal than the current bow. I just kind of assumed that they were related because of the somewhat close timing.
As far as it being a bow, I'd trust the two vets over there to at least diagnose that right. They aren't great with subtle lamenesses but what Rachel described on Diamond wasn't subtle at all. The little bit I read about bows online this morning indicated that a horse with long, weak pasterns would be more at risk for a bow, and Diamond definitely has long, weak pasterns. She's a gaited mix and won't be anyone's example of good conformation. We got her as a rescue and she's got a pretty easy life at their place now. They do have a barn that has stalls, unlike mom & dads where stalling one is a nightmare. I'll try to make it over there and demonstrate wrapping on Ace tonight so they're prepared to take care of the old gal. I'm not too worried about her taking off and reinjuring herself later on - unlike my barrel horses she has never been one to just take off running and playing.
Pray for snow..... |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1074
| There is a new procedure out for bowed tendons. It's called Novobrace. It's wonderful! Your vet has to inject small amounts of the Novobrace and it forms an internal brace. Within 3 hours of injection the brace begins to form. It helps the fibers to rebuild by forming a scaffold for them to regrow. The success rate has been great so far. They are developing it for the human market as well. |
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Am I really the Weirdo?
Posts: 11181
Location: Kansas | fatchance - 2014-11-04 3:10 PM rodeowithjoker - 2014-11-04 1:03 PM fatchance - 2014-11-04 2:55 PM Well let's assume the vet knows it's a bow. He is sweating it, and probably will want it to get a good scurf, this draws blood to the area which helps heals it. To tighten it back down your going to be aggressive with that also and use something like Bigeloil and keep it wrapped. This is a long process, up to at least 3 months no less than 6 weeks, again depending on the extent of the bow. She will need to be stalled until it's as tight as you can get it. She will also need to be kept wrapped for support during turn out, you will gradually turn her out, the last thing you want her to do is go riping around and redo it....or worst yet do the other leg.
BUT due to her age I would love to see a picture of this, the swelling you discribed sounds more like a abcess than a bow. Just thinking out loud here, so don't shoot me. Well the swelling I saw in person could be a different deal than the current bow. I just kind of assumed that they were related because of the somewhat close timing.
As far as it being a bow, I'd trust the two vets over there to at least diagnose that right. They aren't great with subtle lamenesses but what Rachel described on Diamond wasn't subtle at all. The little bit I read about bows online this morning indicated that a horse with long, weak pasterns would be more at risk for a bow, and Diamond definitely has long, weak pasterns. She's a gaited mix and won't be anyone's example of good conformation. We got her as a rescue and she's got a pretty easy life at their place now. They do have a barn that has stalls, unlike mom & dads where stalling one is a nightmare. I'll try to make it over there and demonstrate wrapping on Ace tonight so they're prepared to take care of the old gal. I'm not too worried about her taking off and reinjuring herself later on - unlike my barrel horses she has never been one to just take off running and playing.
Supposed to be a rough winter here so its likely that we'll get plenty of snow. Whether we want it all or not. lol.
Now that I think about it, today is probably only the second time Diamond has ever been stalled. We took her to the state fair one year when Kyle qualified in poles on her but that's been 10 years ago. Luckily she didn't seem to mind it that time. I've had some pasture horses who thought stall rest was completely torture!
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| What did the ultrasound show?
Where and what is damaged will determine what treatment will be best |
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