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  Discussion on Suspensory
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New Member:
Lesley11

Posted on Thursday, Aug 24, 2006 - 11:53 pm:

I have a 16 yr holsteiner/tb jumper. A very nice horse. A couple years ago he was diagnosed with ringbone in his left hind. Has never been lame from it. We found it during a routine vet check. Just this past year his right hind was diagnosed as well. He has been very sound and in intermittent work. Within the last year we have returned to solid work. Recently he experienced some foot soreness which pads remedied right away. I just had the pads taken off and he showed signs of discomfort. I had the vet out to inject his lower hocks and pasterns as preventative for the ringbone and put hoof testers on his feet to check for soreness. The two days before the vet came I rode him and he felt great -- seemed to be over the soft foot issue. The vet indeed said his hooves were ok, but noticed the interior branches of his hind suspensories were inflamed and hard, the right more so than the left. Upon flexion tests, the left was a little sore, but the right ok. The left has the more advanced ringbone. Other than flexions, soundness is good. I wonder if the lameness I felt was due to the suspensory problem and not soft feet? Going to the left showed more discomfort. The vet suggested laying him off for 5 days and giving bute. He gave me antiinflammatory cream to put directly on the suspensory for a month and he said to ice and wrap overnight as much as I can, which honestly will not be that often due to time constraints. Other than that, work as usual. He also advised not to do the ultrasound because in his experience, once you start down that road it usually ends badly. I would like to put my head in the sand, but I need to make sure this is solid advice. On one hand, I know I only have a certain amount of time left on him due to the ringbone and also his age. (He will be retired in my pasture.) Also, he is sound and going well. On the other hand, I dont want to turn what would have been a minor suspensory injury into a tear or worse. He is my one and only dear horse. I dont have time or finances for more than one horse like this at a time. Any medical and/or other advice? Thanks.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Friday, Aug 25, 2006 - 8:23 am:

Welcome Lesley,
Not having examined your horse Lesley I can only go by the information you post and it is filled with so many medical non sequiturs it is hard to know where to start. If you are willing to hang with me and do a little research I think we can save you loads of cash and maybe even prevent self induced articular damage from what I believe to be unnecessary injections.

First let's talk about the diagnosis of lameness. A horse that is not lame on careful exam does not have either:
  • clinically significant ringbone (osteoarthritis, OA, of the inter-digital joints)
  • inflamed suspensory ligaments (desmitis)
But can we predict future lameness from clinical findings in a sound horse? Both radiographs and flexion tests have been studied and are largely poor predictors for future lameness problems. There may be some exceptions for radiographs in the growing racehorse where there has been more studies done. In short you see lots of degenerative radiographic changes in the foot and other joints are are not predictive of future lameness.

Injecting joints that have no clinical evidence of disease (though there may be some radiographic changes) has never made sense to me. First there is no evidence this procedure decreases the incidence or delays the onset of OA. Considering this it strikes me to be at the least it is a waste of money. However it can put your horses joints at a small but serious risk for serious damage as any articular injection can result in acute idiopathic inflammation or even infection. Both can have the outcome of osteoarthritis.

Please study these articles to address the above issues in depth:
  • Diseases of Horses » Lameness » Localizing Lameness in the Horse
  • Diseases of Horses » Lameness » The Interpretation of Radiographs
You can also find in the lameness section articles on all the diseases you reference above and the treatments you have administered. But I do want you to consider how much therapy you have been pumping into other than being tender footed, a sound horse. Be extra sure to check out the foot lameness section for sole problems in horses.
DrO
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