What drugs are you using for rehab? On month 4 and my horse is no longer eating the trazadone. I’m afraid to go to reserpine for the side effects but I might have to. Not so much for riding but leading out to his paddock he can be explosive.
I’m still using trazodone, so no help there, but in your situation I’d be looking at just using Ace or dorm gel. Oral ace in a syringe or even IM should get you safely to turnout or riding without worrying about him eating pills. Dorm I wouldn’t ride on, but might get the turnout situation fixed.
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Can you syringe the Trazodone in? That’s what I did when I used it. Those pills are nasty — can’t imagine any horse missing them in grain. Especially if you are using 12 twice a day like I was.
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We definitely syringed the trazadone at first, too, until we realized Dobbins was a pig and would eat it in grain after all.
That being said, I did find a Smartpak supplement that I think also has some strangely strong sedating properties - it’s the one with all the non-show-legal stuff (so fine for rehab), i.e., valerian, skullcap, passionflower, etc. But that would only work for a little extra relaxation - obviously not going to sedate a wild child in the throws of fighting rest and confinement 
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When my guy was on trazadone he ate them in Fig Newtons. I sliced it open to expose the filling, pressed the pills in and put back together. He took 2 cookies and always ate them.
Another survey question - what kind of shoes, if any, are you using on your horses recovering from a suspensory injury? I am specifically interested in hind leg injuries.
My vet has recommended egg bars but it looks like research is inconsistent on whether they help or not. I see a lot of mention of the Denoix suspensory shoes but I don’t know anyone who uses them. I just texted my farrier to see if she has any experience with them.
We didn’t change the shoeing, except to make sure the toes didn’t get long and the shoes were set back slightly to make break-over easier.
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My horse had a high hind proximal suspensory injury. Five months of stall rest with therapeutic ultrasound and hand walking (and a bone marrow transplant – this was before IRAP); three months of under saddle trots sets (sedivet for all of these) but no turn out; once he got to canter he was allowed turnout and we stopped using sedivet. I think we introduced cavalettis about two months after starting canter work and ramped that up over the next six months. He was able to return to full work (AA hunters) the next year. Once he started rehabbing he was in bar shoes behind specifically to give support to the suspensory. I think he had them for about 9 months and then went back to regular shoes.
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What was the purpose of the bone marrow transplant? That is a new treatment for me. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of it being used before. Obviously it didn’t hurt and may have helped a great deal.
The bone marrow transfer was an old treatment – this was before IRAP and those related therapies. Think 20 years ago. Bone marrow was extracted from the sternum and then injected into various place in the suspensory. The aim was to promote healing, which in my horse’s case was what happened. However, six years later, he developed calcification deposits and it was thought that it was a result of the bone marrow transfer. Although he had returned to full soundness for many years (the exclusion on that leg was even lifted by the insurance company), the development of calcification deposits led to his retirement.
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I have a 25 year old that was on month 6 of stall rest/starting hand walking in Nov for a medial collateral ligament tear who managed to rupture his hind suspensory (do not know how…) The only good news was the collateral ligament healed. From the fluid caused by the suspensory trauma, he ended up with very painful cellulitis for several weeks. The vet told me 12 months of total stall rest and no hand walking. So we are on month 3. I am not optimistic we will get to month 12. This is just to get him pasture sound.
Right now he is pleased with himself and happy with a mare on each side of him in the barn and not in pain. If he stays comfortable for now, I am going to wait until spring and decide what is in his best interest. A sunny spring day, two mares that love him and no more pain , I recognize might the best gift I can give him.
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Well my front suspensory horse is officially on 10 minutes of trotting and generally is more cooperative with Trazodone on board.
However, he got his teeth done a couple weeks ago and now has started to refuse the bit. As in, clamping his teeth together and not opening his mouth. The vet said he had a few points but his teeth were generally good so we are at a loss as to if it’s a new evasion or something hurts. I’ll have the vet look again when they’re out for spring shots but seriously this horse is driving me bonkers 
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Great news on being cleared to trot! Hopefully you can get to the bottom of the bit refusal issue quickly.
My vet okayed use of the Denoix suspensory shoes, so we are putting on the one with the wider branch on one side on the injured hind leg (outer branch suspensory), and the “standard” suspensory shoe on the other hind. My farrier is back out the second week of March - fingers crossed they help.
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Wanted to report back on the Denoix suspensory shoes. They went on last week. Weather has not cooperated so have not tried under saddle yet, but for our in-hand walking maresy seems to like them quite a bit. She is much more forward, in a nice way.
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Thank you for sharing. Still trying to figure out shoeing for my suspensory rehab. Any chance you can share a photo?
Been there done that with suspensory rehab–mine ended in retirement for my horse, but he was already 23 and had had high and low ringbone in both fronts. Stall rest seemed to speed along the bone remodeling (no movement). Mine had a sizeable core lesion in the main branch of hind suspensory, in the lower third. No bone involvement. It was compromised enough to result in a dropped fetlock on that side, but it stabilized as he healed. I followed my vets protocols to a t–strict stall rest with daily wrapping/poultice, cold hosing, ice boots, slowly working up to walking, etc etc. I also put him on SmartTendon…not sure if it did anything, but it made me feel like I was covering all of my bases, and he did heal surprisingly quickly, per my vet (given his age and he also has PPID, controlled on meds).
Question to all of you–a barn friend of mine has a horse with a hind suspensory injury now. She didn’t seem to understand all of the details, or just didn’t want to share, but it sounds relatively severe (several small tears and lesions). Horse is a quiet type, but…he’s still a horse. Her vet (NOT one I use) has allowed him to stay turned out on zero stall rest, since he has severe separation anxiety from a friend if he’s in the barn alone. This same vet allowed another suspensory injury (small tear in that case) to stay our on turnout as well after just a few days of stall rest. This seems to run counter to everything I’ve heard regarding best practices for these types of injuries…is it the newer protocol to limit stall rest when possible? Neither horse is back in full work yet, but both have owners that would like to return to regular work, not retirement prospects. Just curious what others have done…
My horse is suspected to have an upper suspensory injury (hind leg) and both the local vet and a renowned lameness vet from Ocala both say that turnout is acceptable considering he is a large horse and accustomed to being on turnout 24/7 and he would actually probably move less on turnout than spinning circles in a stall in an empty barn. I have to provide a disclaimer also though that his private pasture is flat, firm sand, and does not get slippery, etc. No mud. So that helps too.
But I mentioned that on here and got the same reaction you are describing about how unusual that is for treatment protocol. This lameness expert is very well respected and people travel from other states to go see him. He was fine with turnout.
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My vet is fine with turnout as long as she doesn’t run.
But that has been helpful for us. She has a 10x16 stall and an in/out that is around 15x30. She’s had access to both from the very beginning. She can do a few trot steps in her in/out, which she does on occasion. She could squeeze in a canter stride or two if she really wanted to, but she hasn’t. The in/out also lets her see her sister.
Yes I think the newer protocols are to do only the minimum amount of pure stall rest, then have the horse quiet, limited turnout sooner rather than later (at least, I remember hearing more about prolonged, months-long stall rest with only hand walking years ago). Decisions for when this happens depend on the specific injury and vet, but that’s definitely what I’m seeing in my vet hospital-and-horse-rich part of the country. Obviously they can’t go tearing around, but the goal is to get some movement and stretching.
Mine was mildly sedated during the initial turnout period to ensure she stayed quiet. Obviously if a horse has separation anxiety being stalled, then turnout may well be the quieter option, anyway, regardless of sedation.
I think that is really old school. Turn them out for 9 months to a year. It’s safer for the handler.
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