DDFT & CL tears - wishful thinking

[Nuggets]

About a year ago, my horse tore his DDFT in one leg and a collateral ligament in the other leg. Did the MRI, stem cell, and now he’s walking under saddle with 5 min trotting. He’s 15 years old - is it wishful thinking to ever hope he’ll come back to showing and jumping 2’9" or so? It’s ~$1000 a month to keep up the rehab, and a year in, I keep thinking I should have just retired him and put that $ towards a new horse. The vet gave him a “fair” prognosis, and 60% chance to return to work, but can’t predict the future - he just says that every horse heals differently and that I’ll have to see if he holds up when he goes back to training.

What do all of you think - do I keep up the rehabbing and hoping, or should I assume his hunter career is over and let him retire?

[findeight]

Mine did that around age 20 and I did retire it, couldnt see spending thousands on rehab and bringing it back to probably limited usefulness and probable need for regular maintainence to do any serious work. The fact is they don’t bounce back like a younger horse. 15 is not that old but he’s no youngster with low mileage and no tread ware. Nobody can say if he will return as before or be limited in what he can do.

The probability he’s not going to return to his previous work load is high so you need to ask yourself if you’d be happy using him for light riding with no jumping or if it makes more sense to just find him a nice, reasonably priced retirement situation as I did with mine. BTW, mine was off to some degree in that leg for almost two years and would have needed pharmaceutical help to get thru a lengthy rehab to return to any serious work if it was even able to return to the previous level… Didn’t want to do that to such a good horse.

Theres no right or wrong answers here. Each owners situation is different. Each horse is different. And there’s no shame in admitting each budget is different, some of the suggestions on injured horse threads thrown around on here can easily run into the thousands (even with insurance) with no guarantee, , and often an increased risk of re injury.

Good luck with your decision, remember, there is no hard and fast right or wrong answer.

[Nuggets]

In the back of my mind, I know I should probably have him step down to being a kid’s eq horse, but it’s tough to accept - he was such a great hunter. Won everything, and was the horse equivalent of a seeing-eye dog on the course. I get sucked into the internet hole of reading these amazing comeback stories, and I think I’m getting overly optimistic…

[scrbear11]

My 6 year old Appendix mare tore her DDFT in her right front August, 2015. She spooked and slipped on asphalt. Small, but very visible tear, and she ruptured the tendon sheath as well. A well known sport horse vet said her prognosis was questionable. He also advised to be conservative due to the prognosis.

I did 30 days of strict stall rest, 30 days of stall rest with hand walking, and then moved on to small paddock turnout and walking under saddle for 30 days. She was allowed to start trot work at day 91. I did six shockwave sessions while on the 60 days of rest. She rehabbed to the point of being able to return to normal, full size turnout, where she then strained a hind suspensory and collateral ligament while acting like a fool. Back on stall rest… Not quite as lengthy this time. She rehabbed again, and has since returned to full work. She walked back in the show ring August, 2017.

Is there any way you can continue the rehab in a place less expensive than where he is now? Time permitting, now that he’s back to this point, it seems like you could probably take over… But rehab is time consuming. There were evenings I was getting her daily trot in at 8pm.

[findeight]

@Nuggets

In the back of my mind, I know I should probably have him step down to being a kid’s eq horse, but it’s tough to accept - he was such a great hunter. Won everything, and was the horse equivalent of a seeing-eye dog on the course. I get sucked into the internet hole of reading these amazing comeback stories, and I think I’m getting overly optimistic…

Just a thought…we all dream of early retirement for ourselves to do other, less stressful or physically demanding things. Would offering similar to an aging horse be a bad decision? Carting a kid at reduced heights might be perfect for him and the kid he can teach.

It kind of depends on what division we are talking about the horse returning to competing in too. 3’ or higher is one thing, 2’6" on down quite another.

[MtnDrmz]

I would definitely lean towards early retirement. Not sure how much more rehab would be required to even get him to a serviceable level for a 2’6" and under level? If finances permit, maybe even throw him out in a pasture for a bit and see if he likes it, or seems to want to do something still. Maybe he will help make that decision for you.

We had a lesson horse that had been getting a lot of maintenence and was older (23-25 ish) so we tried to retire her. Sent her to a place with friends and lots of room. She wouldn’t have it! Was going nuts and you could could tell she was just super ansty. Brought her back for little up down lessons, and as soon as she got to the stable she took a deep breath and sighed. She was knickering to every kid. She wanted her kids! After a while though she was really not doing as well so we tried again a year and a half later, and this time she was ready. Happy as a clam to retire! She was at the same place both times.

[blondewithchrome]

I had a lovely hunter tear a DDFL that could never come back and be competitive, so we retired him. 10 year old Appendix, was showing 3’-3’6" and did 1 year rehab (lots of stall rest, shockwave therapy, sloooooow under saddle rehab) and he just couldn’t handle coming back to jumping. Sent him to a retirement farm where he lived out in a field for a few years, then got adopted into a 4-H home where he won some major halter classes for his kid. Sad, but couldn’t afford the rehab and care when he wasn’t guaranteed to come back. It was hard, but ultimately the best choice for my finances and the horse. I was optimistic throughout the rehab but looking back now, the cost (time and $$$) of taking him from nothing to back showing in the 3’6" was completely unrealistic. If I had the money to give him a few years off then bring him back as a pleasure horse, I certainly would have kept him and let him enjoy an easier life!

Yours could come back great, though - my only advice is to be realistic with what you’re willing to spend and what’s reasonable to ask of your guy.

[Nuggets]

@blondewithchrome

I had a lovely hunter tear a DDFL that could never come back and be competitive, so we retired him.

Was he just off occasionally, or did he tear it again? I’m so far into the rehab at this point that I kind of want to try to bring him back to showing, but at the same time, it’s a bad injury on an older horse.

[blondewithchrome]

@Nuggets He was just never quite sound. Some days he’d jog beautifully and others he’d be off. He also went through EPM during his rehab (which was another nightmare in and of itself) so it was a disaster situation that just exhausted us. He was coming along pretty well until the 7th or 8th month, then we had some setbacks and had to re-start and had a long last 4 months. He just was never back to his old “self” so we gave up and decided he needed a new life without any deadlines or pressure.

The day we loaded him to take him to the retirement farm he jogged completelty sound - GO FIGURE. horses - can’t live with em, can’t live without em.

[HappyAmmy]

I had a lovely horse that twisted a foot and got a partial tear of the DDFT at the coffin bone. This was in the mid 90’s so we didn’t have stem cell, PRP, IRAP or shockwave. We did 3 months strict stall rest and then 3 months walking, 3 months walk trotting, so forth and so on. He came back about 50%. He started having issues in his other foot because of the tear and uneaven weight bearing over a long period of time. He was never going to be 100% sound to jump anything and he didn’t have the brain to be a school/low level horse so we retired him to a pasture. It was mentally and emotionally exhausting so I know your pain. Tendons do not heal as well as we would like and are always going to be prone to re-injury. With that said, with all of the advances in equine sports med, it may be that your guy can rehab nicely into something less than before but still a solid citizen with a job. If you have made it this far, it may be worth it to finish the rehab and let him tell you what he can do.

[Quinn]

My mare had a significant DDFT tear at the age of 12. Had the first MRI done to confirm. Strict stall rest for 30 days. Slow and steadily increased hand walking. Had the second MRI done and although the healing was encouraging, she was at best, cautiously optimistic. She had in total, 12 months stall rest and then progressed to 12x12 turnout for 30 days. On her FIRST day of real turnout, she was chased and lame the next day. Third MRI done with no new injury. She was obviously muscle sore after being chased. She is now 19 and I showed her last year. She has never taken another lame step and her initial injury was significant.

[Nuggets]

The mental exhaustion is real, it’s that rollercoaster of getting overly optimistic and dreaming of showing next year, but then realizing it’s a total gamble. All this while spending $$$$ on board, rehab, vet bills, magic potions… Then passing up a potential new horse because that particular week you have yourself convinced your old one will come back, and the next week regretting passing because you realize you have a 15 year old horse with catastrophic injuries in both front legs!

[Quinn]

Yes, the mental exhaustion is horrible. “Personally” thrilled I saw it through but the Specialist who took and read all the MRIs said she was one of the few who repaired so fully. I put most of that down to following their instructions to the letter. I don’t regret a moment of it BUT I don’t know that I’d do it again. If my youngster had the same injury occur, I think I’d retire him. Couldn’t go through that again.