Care/maintenance for an old bowed tendon?

[SMRaven]

Hi all, all of the topics I saw on this are old and outdated so forgive me if there are more recent threads.

I am considering a lease on a horse with an old bowed tendon that has been completely healed/rehabbed. He is in full work but needs a lower-level job, which is where I come in!
Ideally I would want to keep him comfortable and happy and reduce risk of any further injury or strain and wondering if there are certain products or steps I can take to help him? Some things that I’m curious about are Back on Track wraps at night, icing after rides, brushing boots (or similar) in turnout, etc.
Obviously I’ll be asking my vet to weigh in as well if we end up proceeding with the lease, but I want to get an idea of what I could be in for maintenance-wise to help make that decision.

[trubandloki]

Congratulations on your new lease horse.

A properly healed old bow should not really require any special attention.

I think it is great that you are wanting to give him special care. Talk to the owner to see if they do anything special for him now.

[NancyM]

Just run your hand over it each day as you groom and tack up. It should feel the same each day. Once healed up, no problem for most work a horse might do for you. Do NOT try to “support” it with boots or bandages. Just leave it alone as long as it stays the same. If there is a change, call your vet for advice… but mostly it just needs rest to heal it again if it is re injured. Unless the horse is racing, it will probably be fine for what you do with the horse. Make sure that the horse is correctly trimmed and/or shod. Incorrect trimming and/or shoeing will put more stress on the tendon.

[SMRaven]

Thank you! This is helpful. I’ve ridden for 25 years at this point and lucky to have never dealt with a bowed tendon on any of my personal horses - so this is very new to me. I appreciate your response.

[foursocks]

I’ve had two horses with bows. One got the bow while I had him and then we rehabbed it correctly, the other horse’s bow was somewhat newer but set when I bought him. Over the year after I got the second one the bow itself decreased in size, which is why we figured it had been a newer thing.

Both of mine were 100% on the bow once it was fully set, and I never had any issues. The first one was my Children’s Hunter and we sold him to a gentleman doing the 3’ Adults; he showed him and never had any leg issues from that bow. The second guy was a jumper and was never lame on that leg, even when the site of the bow was still pretty big. If it is old and set it is fine and you can pretty much ignore it.

[joiedevie99]

Just things you should be doing for any horse: Don’t ride in overly deep or mucky footing, stay on top of your trim/shoeing schedule, and make sure the feet are well balanced (or ask your vet for hoof balance x-rays if you aren’t sure).

[candyappy]

My first horse bowed a tendon while riding one day. My fault for galloping up a huge hill ( forgive me I was a teenager ) . He was 5-6 I think. Once it healed I never had to do anything special and I rode him daily and I rode him hard. Never had an issue.

[olim2005]

I love Back On Track, it keeps my horse from swelling up. Shoes and make sure you have appropriate heel height. I also prefer slightly firmer ground for old soft tissue limb issues. Stay away fro, deep sand.

My horse has an old deep flexor tear. He wears aluminum shoes with a wedge. Firm riding arena. Also, put him on Animed Hemp Joint and previox. He is like a new man.

[2DogsFarm]

DH’s TWH came to us as an 8yo with an old “cold” bow RF.
Never bothered him.
DH rode Dressage, Evented him low level (schooled to Training), but mostly we rode trails.
Horse was shod when he came to us, we pulled shoes & kept him barefoot for all of the above.
His Dressage debut:

Eventing BNR:

[Edre]

My first horse (purchased as a 6yo) came with an old bow. It never caused him problems in all the years I had him (and I owned him until he passed). Commonsense rules prevail - pay attention to your footing. Pay attention to the farrier schedule. Warm up properly.

I did not ride him in boots, and I didn’t cold hose or ice as a part of our daily routine (only after strenuous days like shows when he had multiple tough rides). He was schooling mid-upper level dressage at the time he passed (working on canter pirouettes) and nothing in that repertoire of movements ever caused him problems.

Just be smart. Warm up. Cool down. Pay attention to the leg, know what is “normal” for it (so you will catch anything abnormal if something happens) and be mindful about your riding conditions, as you would with any horse.

Old bows would not turn me off of leasing or buying a horse in the slightest, unless a vet had other reasons to be concerned by it.

[SMRaven]

Great advice, thank you. Generally these are all of the things I’m aware of for any horse! Unfortunately my jumper had to have a very early retirement at only 10yo due to some unresolvable lameness issues so I am sensitive to it and want to make sure I’m not setting myself up for disappointment with this one. Thankfully though I have somewhere where I can keep my horses when they’ve passed their prime or can no longer have a showing job.