[QUOTE=twofatponies;3937789]
If the OP is in a remote location (Australia is huge - she could be nearly a thousand miles from an equine surgeon), the local vet may be farm-animal oriented, and not have things like ultrasound. It may be more of a “what would James Herriot do” scenario.
this is exactly it …
[QUOTE=twofatponies;3937789]
If the OP is in a remote location (Australia is huge - she could be nearly a thousand miles from an equine surgeon), the local vet may be farm-animal oriented, and not have things like ultrasound. It may be more of a “what would James Herriot do” scenario.
I suppose it’s not useful to speculate. I am just feeling bad for the OP and the horse.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=2enduraceriders;3936405]Years ago I had a mare sever hers. When stuck with a needle she could not bring the leg forward. The hoof drug across the ground. The vet kept telling me she would learn to use it but I could not believe it at the time. 4 months after the injury I sent her to my sister-in-laws to recover. She used her for trail riding. The mare came back home 3 years later totally sound. She went on to be leased to a pony clubber for 2 years after that and was sound the whole time. The mare spent no time locked in a stall.
Years later I had a horse take the hide off over his suspensory ligament. Looked bad but her was sound on it. Unluckily I went with the vets advice and did stall rest. It healed up cosmetically great. Unluckily by not having the horse out and moving he ended up with adhesions and was never sound again.
I would have a second vet look at the horse.[/QUOTE]
Did you stable rest the first horse during the first 4 months after the injury though??
Eden - I haven’t dealt with that severe a ligament injury, or that particular ligament. But my one mare badly tore a collateral ligament in her front foot a few years ago (no external injury).Vet said 50/50 she’d ever be sound again, it was so badly torn. She did total stall confinement for a good couple months - I don’t remember exactly now, but at a minimum 6 weeks without any exercise, then a similar period where she got handwalking starting with 10 minutes a day or so, building up to 30 minutes a day, until she was deemed pasture sound, after that she got six months turnout in a paddock, graduating to an adjacent larger field, then several months of very gradual re-introduction of work, starting with hand walking again, and to our amazement she held up to it, and is still sound (for riding, too). We did do a soundwave therapy (name eludes me) three times early in the healing process. It’s supposed to help improve the scarring, I think.
[QUOTE=2enduraceriders;3936405]
Years ago I had a mare sever hers. When stuck with a needle she could not bring the leg forward. The hoof drug across the ground. The vet kept telling me she would learn to use it but I could not believe it at the time. 4 months after the injury I sent her to my sister-in-laws to recover. She used her for trail riding. The mare came back home 3 years later totally sound. She went on to be leased to a pony clubber for 2 years after that and was sound the whole time. The mare spent no time locked in a stall.
Years later I had a horse take the hide off over his suspensory ligament. Looked bad but her was sound on it. Unluckily I went with the vets advice and did stall rest. It healed up cosmetically great. Unluckily by not having the horse out and moving he ended up with adhesions and was never sound again.
I would have a second vet look at the horse.[/QUOTE]
Did you stall rest the first horse during the first 4 months after injury though??
Eden, Hope things are going better. I am glad to see you are wrapping him and have him on pain meds. Also glad you are consulting another vet, pictures work well, I still send my vet pictures to show the progress. So I would offer to send pictures to the vet you are speaking with. My mare was on stall rest for about a month, she was able to be hand walked tho because her wound did NOT have any communication with tendons or ligaments. You should have him on antibiotics also, to make sure there is no infection. I know when my mare had her 50 stitches we would bandage her with a Teflon pad wrapped lightly with white gauze, then we did a stacked bandage with pillow wraps from her hoof to just below her hock with brown gauze and then vet wrap on top to keep the wrap tight and secure. We did the stacked bandage so it would not slip and expose the wound. I would do my bandage changes every 2-3 days until her stitches were removed. Keep giving updates… I am hoping everything works out…
I have little to add other than to wish you and your horse the best of luck, and to comment on the suggestion to cold hose it - nope, don’t ever cold hose a wound that has been stitched.
[QUOTE=EqTrainer;3938530]
I have little to add other than to wish you and your horse the best of luck, and to comment on the suggestion to cold hose it - nope, don’t ever cold hose a wound that has been stitched.[/QUOTE]
I agree if you need to clean it at all just dab it with a warm wet rag… And now that it is being wrapped it shouldn’t get too dirty. Cold hose once stitches are out.
[QUOTE=Eden09;3938220]
Did you stable rest the first horse during the first 4 months after the injury though??[/QUOTE]
No. She was on antibiotics. The cut was not even wrapped, just sprayed but was very deep but small in width.
Ask it the specialist if they feel some kind of splint should be included in the wrapping to help immobilize the joint. Scrap lumber, carpet padding, ace bandages, and duct tape. It might help, might not. Won’t hurt to ask.
Feed and care
Cut the feed! When mine tore suspensory, we cut feed in half and keep quality t/a hay and had to take the alfalfa out in about 6 weeks and only feed timothy. And no matter what, stall rest is the standard of care; of course you know that with such a severe injury. I hope it all works out for you and your horse.
Thanks so much for all your good wishes and ideas. I don’t even feel so isolated anymore!! My horse is starting to put weight on the foot and I don’t know whether it is a good thing or not - I suspect that it is because of the pain killer in the anti-inflammotory granules … hopefully he won’t do anymore damage to it. I feel like tying him up to prevent him from walking around too much, but feel sorry for him, because I can see he starts to feel better and wants to get out of the stable. I’ll ask the specialist about the splint idea. Yes, I’ll cut the feed - he can do with a bit of weight loss anyway.
When a horse at our barn fractured a hip, and vet wanted him to move as little as possible, we made his stall smaller by using hay bales to divide the stall. It worked great, because he had free choice hay, but couldn’t walk around a lot.
Great idea, thanks. Just spoke with the specialist, but he doesn’t want us to put on a splint, seems to think that bandage is enough support. Hope he is right!!
My horses dream about such situations . . . the part where they are stuck in a stall and confined by a never ending supply of forrage. :lol:
When faced with a medical problem I always defer to the opinion of the experienced medical professionals. OTOH, I’ve had some vets complain (tongue in cheek) that I’m PITA for asking so many questions. 
Another thought-- have a plan if he starts to get upset by being stall bound. Plan meaning calming meds on hand and perhaps ways for him to occupy himself-- a hay bag with small holes or somesort of hanging toy-- you can make your own by hanging up plastic bottles of some sort.
That sounds like an extensor tendon injury, not a suspensory ligament.
Just to update you all. I’ve contacted a second specialist - in America via “www.justanswer.com”, where you can post your question to hundreds of experts for a small payment. The most appropriate specialist will then contact you. We actually had a couple of “discussions” first, before he gave me his final answer. I found this site very professional and very helpful. He suggested the Kimsey splint - has anyone used this before?? Or wrappings of at least 3 layers. I’m now just a bit concerned about the wound itself as it is getting very “pussy” - I supects that it is because of the fact that it is covered - I’ve started to use Debrisol spray on it and do his bandages daily. I know I’ll never be able to ride him again, but I’m just hoping to get him back into a state of walking around normally and just being a horse again. I just hope he will be able to walk around one day if the last bit of the tendon snaps too …
Eden09, I feel for you. I am in a similar situation here in Haiti - few vets in the country, no lab or surgery, very hard to ship meds in through customs. Fortunately the ponies I help with haven’t had any major injuries. Let us know from time to time how he’s doing.
Just saw this–we have a yearling filly that came in with a cut that severed her hind suspensory. It happened on Christmas Eve of '08. She belongs to a client, who luckily was able to afford to give her every possible treatment known to man, and it’s healed really well. She’s just started handwalking this week (not fun!) and she seems pretty sound.
She had surgery to repair the ligament, and was on IV antibiotics the first week, and actually had a cast on for three weeks. After that she was kept bandaged for another five weeks, and on total stall rest for about three months. She also got stem cell treatments and spent some time in the hyperbaeric chamber. Her prognosis is guarded for racing–it really depends on how much arthritis she develops–but good for less stressful stuff and excellent for being a broodmare.
The original injury was pretty nasty, and the cut went to the bone in a couple of places, but now there’s just a small bump and scab left.
If your horse’s injury has much discharge, it may be a good idea to step up the antibiotics.
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