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 Born not Made
Posts: 2937
   
Location: North Dakota | While it was a planned vet visit yesterday, I got completely unexpected results.
I had both my horses scheduled for a lameness evaluation. June is historically when Red's front feet start to bother him, so I was pro-active with setting up an appointment this year. And since I started hauling Shotgun (turned 4 this year) I figured I would check him too just to be sure.
Red was the one who ended up being fine (when he's usually not) and Shotgun ended up with a problem! (wasn't expecting anything)
It's slight, but turns out he has a little swelling (black spot seen on ultrasound) on his medial tendon below his pastern on his right front foot. I raced him on Sunday (actually got his first check in the 4D) and they had the day off on Monday. I didn't notice a thing on Sunday. So I don't know if he tweaked it during his run, or playing in the pasture on Monday, or what the heck happened.
But the vet recommended 2 months off in a confined area where he can't run around. He's young and I want him to last forever, so that's what we'll do. She's going to recheck him before I start working him again. I can eventually do light rides (walking in a straight line) after about a month if I want, but nothing more than that for now. Which is fine.
Just curious on people's experience with this? I've never had this happen before.
Edited to add the terminology from my vet report: Desmitis of the medial oblique sesamoidian ligament. I had to look it up, but I guess desmitis means "lesion" or "inflammation".
Edited by r_beau 2015-06-11 8:33 AM
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 669
Location: Central Texas | Ask about PRP |
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| For gosh sakes ... put him out in a large pen where he can freely walk, trot, lope around so the sheath on the tendon will heal with him being mildly active. A hurt horse is not going to over exercise if he is hurting ... but the movement allows his frog to pump more blood to the injury than standing around and getting an abcess on his other foot.
If it heals up with him just standing around ... the first time you let him out he can rupture it again from it healing too tightly and you are right back to ground zero with a bigger injury ...
GOOD LUCK ... |
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| For gosh sakes ... put him out in a large pen where he can freely walk, trot, lope around so the sheath on the tendon will heal with him being mildly active. A hurt horse is not going to over exercise if he is hurting ... but the movement allows his frog to pump more blood to the injury than standing around and getting an abcess on his other foot.
If it heals up with him just standing around ... the first time you let him out he can rupture it again from it healing too tightly and you are right back to ground zero with a bigger injury ...
GOOD LUCK ... |
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Born not Made
Posts: 2937
Location: North Dakota | BARRELHORSE USA - 2015-06-11 2:20 AM For gosh sakes ... put him out in a large pen where he can freely walk, trot, lope around so the sheath on the tendon will heal with him being mildly active. A hurt horse is not going to over exercise if he is hurting ... but the movement allows his frog to pump more blood to the injury than standing around and getting an abcess on his other foot. If it heals up with him just standing around ... the first time you let him out he can rupture it again from it healing too tightly and you are right back to ground zero with a bigger injury ... GOOD LUCK ... Sorry, but I am going to trust my vet on this one. He's not overtly lame on it but if that is the treatment for it that she says is best, then so be it.
He's a very laid back horse and I have zero worries that he is going to "explode" when I finally let him out into the pasture again. Not to mention, I wouldn't do such a thing suddenly. We'll start with hand walking after 3 weeks and gradually put him into larger corrals to transition him back into the wide open spaces and transition him back onto grass (since he is now on hay again).
Amprat: What is PRP?
Edited by r_beau 2015-06-11 8:34 AM
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Hungarian Midget Woman
Location: Midwest | Platelet Rich Plasma
It's a treatment that is supposed to aid healing and help speed up the healing time. I think it's not exactly cheap though. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 883
Location: Southern Indiana | Your vets advice seems on point. Tendon and ligament injuries seem to slowly happen over time and it sounds like you caught it early which is the best thing you can do. With exercise limitations it should heal up on its own just fine. I wouldn't spend the money on prp for something that minor. You could poultice, use back on track, magnets, etc to help it heal. Once he is good to go I would suggest continuously watching both front legs, so you can spot any issues if they come up again. |
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 You get what you give
Posts: 13030
Location: Texas | Sooooo your gold standard treatment would be stem cell therapy, followed by PRP. PRP is really good but the benefit is short lived. I've done PRP in the past but next time, at least from what I have learned so far in vet school, if I have to again I will spend the $$$ on stem cells. You get more out of it. But PRP is still good for sure.
I would definitely not play around with sesamoidean ligament injuries or any ligament injury for that matter- they are slow healing and the last thing you want them to do is run around and go ahead and tear it.
I had a horse tear her oblique distal sesamoidean ligament and it was a PITA to diagnose- by the time a vet found it, it was 11 months after the accident she sustained, and the ligament had mineralized. No bueno.
I would do what your vet said, but I would also invest in Runner's Relief and wrap that leg with it. Follow the package instructions. I had another horse strain a suspensory ligament. It took 5 months of rehab, and I would sweat that leg religiously for 8 weeks with runners relief. I would alternate with poultice as well. She healed from it completely and is running just as good as she was before her injury. Back when I bought runners relief it came in a black powder and you mixed it with nitrofurazone but i think they have a newer formulation now thats already in a poultice form. |
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Born not Made
Posts: 2937
Location: North Dakota | Yes I am very thankful we caught it early and it didn't progress into something more serious. I actually was not experiencing ANY problems with him. He was doing great!! So I was a little surprised at the diagnosis but glad I had him set up for preventative care. He is young and if he needs to sit for a year, I have no problem with that. I just want him to heal up fully.
Also thankful that it is not a very large spot. He actually has no swelling or heat on the outside of his foot. He was just 2+ lame on the flexion and we nerve blocked to isloate the location. Did x-rays on the foot which were clean and then did ultrasound to find the little area of fluid.
My vet didn't mention stem cells or PRP. But then again, it isn't that large of a spot so I guess I don't know at what point it is beneficial to do it? Or maybe we do the time off FIRST and then see how he is?
How does Runner's Relief differ from (for example) Sore No More poultice?
My vet did instruct me to do use DMSO mixed with nitrofurazone for 3 days, wrapping it as well. And cold hose it whenever I have the chance.
Edited by r_beau 2015-06-11 3:22 PM
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Rad Dork
Posts: 5218
Location: Oklahoma | I probably shouldn't comment as my injury wasn't the same as yours, but my gelding had suspensory inflammation. I did runners relief for probably two weeks with extra cold hosings inbetween the 12 hour "shifts" and then started putting BOT on him at night. Also did three shockwave treatments. That might be something you can look into, but I'd ask the vet. My vet suggest it, so we did it. Good luck! Be sure and keep him lots of hay (slow feeders are great!) and keep Red close by so he's not lonely and doesn't feel completely isolated! |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 494
| Best advice is to not put him on complete stall rest. I've found MANY of mine and others have healed better with less restricted movement. |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| I would re ultrasound in a few weeks, different injury but had a mare who bowed her front tendon looked like a classic bow, vet ultrasounded 2 weeks post injury she ended up having a blood clot in the middle of the tendon.
We tried breaking it down with drugs with no relief so they split the tendon did stem cells, 6 months post you would never know.
I have been told the time to inject the stem cells is when the tendon or ligament tissue is regular not irradic. (This has to do with how the striations look on an ultrasound)
If you could get your hands on a game ready that will do wonders, i game ready then apply sore no more clay then back on track.
If you can't get a game ready then I would ice or hose for 30 min daily then the clay and back on track.
Prayers as I have heard anything with the sesamoids is not a good thing
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 Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | PRP doesn't have to be expensive--my vet does it for $100/site. I've had great luck with it helping soft tissue injuries. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 669
Location: Central Texas | barrelracr131 - 2015-06-11 11:44 AM
Platelet Rich Plasma
It's a treatment that is supposed to aid healing and help speed up the healing time. I think it's not exactly cheap though.
This and my vet charged 300.00 so it was not overly expensive for me. Got my horse healed up much sooner than leaving it un treated. This was just my experience. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 669
Location: Central Texas | Three 4 Luck - 2015-06-12 8:22 AM
PRP doesn't have to be expensive--my vet does it for $100/site. I've had great luck with it helping soft tissue injuries.
correct, same here. I did 3 treatments 2 weeks apart for 300.00 total. |
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