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  Discussion on Suspensory Not Healing
Author Message
Member:
Rob10549

Posted on Monday, May 2, 2005 - 12:11 pm:

Dear Doc,
I have been nursing my 15 year old thoroughbred back from a rear leg suspensory as well as EPM for the last seven months. His right rear leg has a thickened suspensory that constantly changes in shape and temperature and his left rear suffers from neurological deficits from the EPM. I moved him three days ago to a small barn with all day turnout in the hopes of getting him moving daily. The place I boarded him prior they only got him out 2 hrs a day in a small med paddock. He started off well and his ligament looked like it was tightening up then yesterday he was full of himself and started showing off, bucking, rearing, cantering....and by late afternoon yesterday he had swelling in his suspensory and warmth thruout the canon bone and injury sight. I cold hosed, poulticed and wrapped him last night and this morning it looked better. I ACE'd him and put him out this morning and was walking fine, no limp but by the time I left his leg was warm again. I am suffereing emotionally over the fact that my horse seems to be unable to heal. Riding him is out of the question however, I do not know what my expectations should be for his recovery. Retirement is fine with me but at what point does a horse owner make a decision about quality of life. Obviously you can not sedate a horse forever and if my horse is constantly reinjuring himself everytime he behaves like a horse then what am I to do? This is my first horse and I feel very strongly about quality of life. This morning, despite his warm leg, he seemed quite content grazing. I would appreciate any advice you can give me. Thank you, Robin
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Tuesday, May 3, 2005 - 5:51 pm:

Robin how severe is the lameness and what is its history and are there ultrasounds? Swelling alone does not tell us much about how severe the suspensory is damaged.
DrO
Member:
Rob10549

Posted on Wednesday, May 4, 2005 - 2:59 pm:

Hi Doc,
My horse is not limping. There's some fluid in the thickened area of the ligament and warmth in the leg and around the injury. Multiple ultrasounds have shown no tears. The last one we had done showed a healed suspensory and the vet thought he looked good. He's been out daily since I moved him last Friday. Yesterday he again let loose in the afternoon when another horse spooked him. You would have thought he was in the rodeo. There was nothing I could do to prevent it. I had sedated him in the morning and he was grazing quietly when another boarder made the mistake of letting his horse out without a lead rope. By the time I could corner my horse he was bleeding from superficial cuts on his front inside leg. It was a real nerve breaker. I calmed him down, put him in his stall and then washed off the cuts. The suspensory looked ok and so I wrapped him for the night. This morning when I took the wraps off both back legs were the same temperature and the leg looked fine. I put him out on the grass for an hour, sedated, and by the time I left him after the hour his suspensory was fluid filled and warm again. I am going back now to check him and will poultice him tonight and wrap. Despite the fact that he really went wild I thought he looked fairly good, no limping. What should my expectations be for healing and recovery? Is it normal to see this kind of up and down when first putting a horse back out and moving after a seven month layup? I am feeling incredibly guilty about the two incidents that I had no control over. I have spent so much of my life nursing him back. realize that I can't protect him from everything and he is going to be a horse but at the same time I am a new horse owner and am trying to wade thru so many things at once.
Thanks, Robin
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, May 5, 2005 - 9:04 am:

When was the last time he was lame? It is not the suspensory that is fluid filled Robin, it is the tissues around the suspensory. If the swelling is remarkably warm it suggests inflamation.

If I understand your posts correctly from above you went from 2 hours to all day, and at this point the horse went from no or minimal swelling to remarkable swelling? Perhaps this was to big a jump in time, or perhaps where he is at now he is much more active.

You should continue to address the swelling as you have but should reduce him to the turn out time (and possibly place if it controls his activity better) you had when he was not having trouble. Then once the swelling remains down for a month, try just increasing his time out by a few hours at a time.

Lots of if's and perhaps so this should be run by the veterinarian who can actually examine the horse.
DrO
Member:
Rob10549

Posted on Thursday, May 5, 2005 - 12:38 pm:

Thank you Doc. What is your definition of lame? Limping? From day one he has never limped. The vet says he has a chronic injury to the suspensory, no tears or strains, just a thickening with scar tissue. Prior to our move he was going out for 2-3 hours in a small medical paddock. Now he's got two options; a little larger dirt paddock compared to the one he used to go out in which opens to a small grass paddock. My vet wanted him out as much as possible. He was doing fairly well during the first two days. I was sedating him with 1/2 cc of ACE when he first went out. I sit and watch him while he's on the grass for one hour and he's calm as a cucumber. He then goes back in the dirt paddock until the afternoon when I come and we repeat the process again. The problem was that another boarder inadvertantly caused all the horses to spook two days ago, sending my horse sky rocketing. I couldn't catch him and really tested both his back legs, the suspensory injured and the EPM deficient. I was expecting the worst but surprisingly it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be considering the bucking, cantering, etc that he did do.
Can you tell me how long ACE lasts in the horse's system? And since it is up to me to make the decision of when to stop ACEing him how do I know? Is it all instinct? When do I know I can trust my horse to behave? The problem is, is that once you make the decision to stop sedation and either you're wrong or something happens to set the horse off, it's too late! How can you protect a horse from being a horse? It seems to me that at some point you can not prevent some of these things from happening.
My vet said to expect swelling off and on b/c the thickened tissue is probably causing the fluid in his leg to accumulate. I was more concerned that the front of his canon bone gets warm too.
If you saw how my horse is built you'd understand that everytime he walks he's probably hurting himself. He has lots of action in his pasterns; lots of bend in every step, where his fetlocks are not too far away from the ground.
You can probably hear the exhaustion in my voice! It's been a long 7 months.
Thank you for all your help. Robin
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Friday, May 6, 2005 - 9:19 am:

For a definition of lameness and how to recognize it see, Equine Diseases » Lameness » Localizing Lameness in the Horse.

For information on the effects, dosages (your dose is too small), and duration of Ace see, Equine Medications and Nutriceuticals » Sedatives & Anesthetics » Acepromazine.

You can't trust your horse to know to behave. If he is not healed well enough to freely exercise himself then he must be restrained. If chemical restraint is working it is continued until the horse is well. If it is uncertain whether the leg is healed well enough you could gradually reduce the dose.

The hyperextension of the fetlocks (DrOpping nearly to the ground) on weight bearing may indicate a chronic degenerative process. Robin let me ask you what is your goal in keeping horses and what are you expecting this horses contribution to be?
DrO
Member:
Rob10549

Posted on Tuesday, May 10, 2005 - 2:14 pm:

I love my horse. I am not sure what you mean by what is my goal? Before he was injured I was doing low level dressage and trail riding with my horse. I have no expectations at this point other than to get my horse back to being a horse. I realize that the injury is chronic and that going back to dressage is not going to be possible and I accept that. My vet thinks trail riding may be a possibility in the future. I do not give up on my friends. Retirement, no problem. As long as he's not in pain and can just live out his life grazing and can walk, trot and canter safely I'll be very happy. I am not one of those people who get rid of their horse b/c you can no longer ride it. My horse is my good friend and part of our family so when you ask me what is my goal in keeping horses the question seems foreign to me. Goal? I enjoy being with my horse, hand grazing him, grooming, loving him. It's fairly simple. I don't want him to be sent far away to a retirement home and I don't expect him, after having EPM and an injury to contribute anything but to be there to love.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Tuesday, May 10, 2005 - 7:18 pm:

If your goal is pasture sound Robin, you should have quit worrying: I can almost guarantee it. If with proper rest more is possible that is icing on the cake.
DrO
Member:
Rob10549

Posted on Friday, May 13, 2005 - 2:54 pm:

Thank u.
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