i have a 7 year old, 17 hand jet black appendix quarter horse that was recently diagnosed with a suspensory injury.
after ultrasounds we found that he has torn his suspensory ligament in 2 places. the vet gave me a schedual for him to start slowly getting him back to where he was before the injury but he said it will probably take between 6-12 months for a full recovery. he also said that there are different things we can try to do such as shock wave therapy and a few other things but they are only to encourage the body to speed up the healing process and arent gurenteed to work. i am wondering if anyone has any experience or suggestions with this type of injury and/or the shock wave therapy or any other thing you can do for this injury and the healing process
it has been about 2 weeks since the diagnosis and my horse is on stall rest till he is fully recovered. he is an appendix and a big boy so he naturaly has alot of energy. he is used to being worked every day and being turned out at night and like many other appendix horses he needs a "job" to keep him busy. he is the sweetest and calmest to deal with when he has something to do but he now is just in his stall. when i get him out to walk he is fine for like 5-10 minutes but then he cant contain himself anymore and he buck and rears and even in his stall he kicks. i know this cant be helping with the healing and i would rather not get injured either so i am looking for advice on any of the long term tranquilizers or anything else that might help to calm him.
My horse took 8 months to recover (He had it when he was younger also.) Anywho. There is a spray by Sprouting Health, It is called "Athletic Formula" or "Triticum Aestivum". It really does work!
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Be sure to take rehab very slowly and have ultrasounds done to check progress. With a torn suspensory, I really wouldn't doubt that it's going to be 12 months or more of rehab. These soft tissue injuries will appear healed long before they truly are and people tend to get in a hurry and end up re-injuring the area. Take it slowly and carefully.
yes our vet has planned a strict rehab schedual and every 2 months we go back for check up ultrasounds and the result of what the ultrasound shows will decide if we can progress in his exercise or if we need more time at that level or if we need to decrease some. he said that he should have a full recovery and be back to the level of work he was at before the injury within 6-12 months if everything goes as planned. do you have any advice on long term tranquilizers and/or anything that can help with the healing process(such as shock wave therapy or injections) or anyother tips. i am trying to get as much advice as i can to talk to my vet about.
i have found that the long term tranqs dont work well for a lot of horses, but theres no harm in trying. my sisters gelding was on stall rest for a year & a half [he had a torn suspensory & a sesamoid fracture] & we ended up having to ace him everyday to get out of his stall so he wouldnt hurt himself, us, or other horses/people. she also walked him undersaddle where she had more control.
we also did shockwave therapy, but im not sure if it worked or not. at that time we didnt know about the fracture because the vet missed it on the xray.
can he go outside in a small paddock during the day or is a stall your only option ?
Soft tissue injuries are often worse to heal and rehab than a complex fracture. Take it very slow. I agree with Ryle, I don't doubt it could be 12 or more months before she's ready to come back to full work. As Ryle said, a lot of times the horse will seem OK to come back to work and they end up re-injuring.
I was advised that it depends on a) the severity and b) the age of the injury whether or not different therapies such as shockwave and hydrotherapy will be of any help. An older or chronic injury won't respond as well as a newly injured suspensory.
well he has torn his suspensory ligament in 2 places so the vet said any kind of turnout isnt even an option. but his stall is huge, its 2 10x12 stalls put together because hes so big that one stall was too small, he could hardly move.
riacoe, I understand that. I've had to deal with suspensory injuries in the past, and it is never easy. Talking to your vet about long-term sedation is fine, though I have a funny feeling that s/he is not going to be keen on giving you anything, as I have found in the past. My recommendation is going to your local feed or tack store and talking to a sales associate about herbal calming supplements. In particular, I have found that "Chill" by Omega Alpha is effective, but your tack store might have a better recommendation for you.
could you get a paddock of that size outside ? thats what we did & it helped a lot. except for when a tree fell down & he freaked out & jumped over the 5ft fence...haha
We have had lots of horss shocked for different injuries, including suspensory. I think the results were good, but it can be costly and for us involved shipping the horse to the clinic rather than having the vet come to us. Ultrasound therapy, magnets, ceramics and different forms of aqua therapy(hoses, jets and especially swimming) have also yielded good results.
As for long term calmins solutions, have you tried rescue remedy? It works well on horse and human alike. It got me through childbirth unmedicated, so I can vouch that it works to keep you calm! Atravet in granule form works well on some, but I have horses that have been totaly resistant to it. If these long term calmers are not working, maybe talk to your vet about getting him into a water rehab program. Don't know if you have a facility like that around you but there are several here and they are great. The horse swims every day once their injury is healed enough to handle it. It's a great low impact exercise with many benefits.
Good luck, suspensories are a bummer. If you want links to some magnetic/ceramic therapy websites, I'll happily post some for you.
we arent exactly sure when the injury happpened or what caused it but we think it was due to a farrier that put a lift pad on both front feet when only one foot needed it. before that he looked a little foot sore on hard ground but other than that he was fine and after the lift was put on when he would stand still the foot that didnt need lifted couldnt even strighten, it would just shake because it was like putting high heals on him and he looked crippled so we had a different farrier come take it off and he got a little bit better but not much. thats when we relized something was wrong and took him to the vet. so over about a week of time he went from a little foot sore on hard ground(which is normal) to barley being able to trot on a lunge line because it hurt him so bad, and usually he is lunged before i ride to take the edge off him because hes full of energy but i would put him on the lunge line and he could barley walk
You need to adjust his diet to compensate for the decreased energy needs. If he's been working, you've likely got him on a diet to provide extra energy for work. Consider going to simply a grass hay and ration balancer while he's on stall rest. This will meet protein, vitamin and mineral requirements without providing lots of extra energy.
And try to provide some mental stimulation while he is stalled. Spending time in just grooming, doing stretching exercises, teaching tricks, etc can really help to prevent boredom and stress. Also having a radio playing, suspending a toy that he can bump from the overhead beams and having a neighbor that he can talk to over the gate can be helpful. But if you do provide a companion, make sure he is calm and that he can't wander too far away or your horse may get upset by his buddy leaving and end up pacing and pawing.
www.vapco.com get 'Flex-it' and put him on that. It is glucosamine HCL, calcium, and hydrolyzed collagen. Builds muscles, tendons, etc......
www.schreiners.com get their Herbal Solution and apply it once a day by spraying it on and rubbing it in. DO NOT WRAP IT Helps healing through increased blood flow and the herbs contained in it.
A few years ago my mare tore both medial suspensories in her hind legs. Your horse sounds like a big boy, but the stall may be a little too big. In my experience, the more room they have, the more they feel the need to buck and be stupid =P I tried the long-term sedation and it had no effect. She was about 5 and very energetic, I had to ace her every time I hand walked her. Looking back on it now, I wish I would have moved her to a different stall. Every day, she saw all the horses turned out and playing and running, that's when she would start getting excited and bucking and kicking in her stall. If she would have been in a more quiet, secluded setting, I think it would have been easier on her.
I used the shockwave therapy, and it helped immensely. The injury happened in January, and I was walking/trotting her under saddle by the second week of july.
I agree with changing his diet, if you haven't already. He will not need a lot of grain, if any, while he is on stall rest. That won't help your energy problems lol.
Smartpak has a supplement called 'smarttendon' that I started her on and will always keep her on. It has and awesome combination of everything her ligaments need to stay as flexible as possible. Good luck with the recovery!
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