Horse has serious Suspensory and DDFT tears. Looking for advice

[CJB]

Thank you, thank you, thank you, everyone for all of your experiences, info and support. I can’t tell you how grateful I am.

@HappyTalk That’s good info to know – just another thing to keep an eye out for. You mentioned ACell and wow, there have been some amazing results with that treatment. Was the actual treatment fairly easy to do?

-Has anybody else had experience with ACell?

@OnePerfectRide Sounds like you’ve had a long and rough go at it. Thank you for sharing your experiences, it really helps me to hear about different cases and what seemed to help/give relief. My farrier is going to consult with my vet, so we’ll all be able to touch base and talk about some options.

@GaMare You’re very kind, thank you. I’m sure your boy is eternally grateful for all the hard work you put into his care.
And wow, thank you so much for all the information and advice. All of what you gave me is very helpful.

The locations of the tears are just above the fetlock area. In terms of the bute dose, he’s on the one gram right now, and is starting to try and use his leg more. He’s still having trouble moving around, but when I walk him a short distance he is starting to drop his heel – which is promising. So he’s doing quite well on the lower dose for now. My farrier is going to visit my vet this week to consult with, so hopefully we’ll be able to figure out a plan that will help my boy.

@purplnurpl Thank you for the really good info and kind words

@btswass I’m so sorry about your horse. That must have been heartbreaking. Thank you so much for the really helpful tips and sharing your experience. Is there anything else you found to work for keeping him from getting stir-crazy because of being in a stall for so long?

@FoxyRoxy1507 & Cindy’s Warmbloods: Thank you for sharing both of your experiences. You guys have had some really long journeys that are still ongoing. I’m sending lots of healing thoughts to your ponies

Thank you again, everybody, for the kind words. You all have sure had a rough go of it. I’m so sorry for those of you who have had to go through such tough times, and to those of you who are still going through them, I’m sending lots of good thoughts.
Oh, the things we do for our ponies. They sure give us our highest highs, and our lowest lows.

I’m just a big sponge right now – so please keep posting about your experiences – it’s very helpful and I appreciate it so much.

[HappyTalk]

@CJB;8013799

Thank you, thank you, thank you, everyone for all of your experiences, info and support. I can’t tell you how grateful I am.

@HappyTalk That’s good info to know – just another thing to keep an eye out for. You mentioned ACell and wow, there have been some amazing results with that treatment. Was the actual treatment fairly easy to do?

Sorry for the late answer. I used the ACell probably about 10 -12 years ago. I do not even know if they still manufacture it. It was injected into the lesions via ultrasound. It was painful for him and his legs swelled from the treatment. He was kept in bandages and on stall rest for a couple of days. He was then turned out to pasture for about 6 months. He was gradually brought back into work and actually went on to do competitive trail riding which is pretty strenuous. He is 27 now and I still ride him. I did not do a follow up ultrasound until several years later.

I also used ACell as treatment for a injury to the peronius tersius in another horse. Since this was an off label use, the company actually gave us the drug for free to use as an experiment. This particular horse was injected and then put on stall rest with hand walking. After about a week, he broke away from me and ran around like a madman and I was sure all of the good had been undone. We then turned him out to pasture and hoped for the best. He was ultrasounded about 10 weeks after treatment and the lesion had filled in with scar tissue. i never had another lameness issue with that particular injury.

[HappyTalk]

It appears that it is still manufactured and distributed through Patterson Veterinary . Here is an old COTH thread about it.

http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?259069-A-Cell-Vet-or-Vet-Stem-anyone-have-experience-with-theses-treatments

[jawa]

What is the cost for this type of treatment?

[CJB]

Just thought I’d give an update and ask for your opinions again.

It’s been 5 weeks since the injury and we’ve seen huge progress. I’ve got better info now, so his injury isn’t necessarily classified as a “tear” it’s “damage” to the left hind Suspensory and DDFT. The damage is in the suspensory branches – and more damage to the inside branch than the outside. At the 4 week mark, we took him in to get re-ultrasounded and the vet was very pleased with his progress. They said the inflammation of the suspensory was down by at least a third. And by comparing the ultrasounds, we could see that he’d made huge healing progress. And as you guys know, my boy was hopping around on three legs. He is now walking amazingly. If I wasn’t looking really hard, I might not be able to tell that he’s hurt – he’s looking that good.

My dilemma now is that I’m wondering if I should go with a treatment option. I’m calling my vet tomorrow to talk more extensively about what to do, but I’d like to pick your brains a little bit.

Most of our options are out of province, which I don’t think is possible for me right now – but my vet can do Stem Cell here. And because of you guys, I talked to her about ACell. She’d never heard of it before, but was very open to researching it. She found that it can be special ordered and would be open to doing it, but because she’s never had experience with it, she’s hesitant.

The cost we’re looking at with stem cell is around $3000 and ACell is around $1000.

Now the reason I’m a little unsure of what to do is because my vet has said there is no significant tear to inject into, so we’d more be injecting into the general area that has damage. He’s healing so well on his own right now, so that’s why both my vet and I are hesitant to mess around with that.

I know nothing will be a miracle. The dream wound be for me to get on his back again even if that’s just walking, but we might only get him pasture sound – it’s still too early to tell.

Should I go for Stem Cell or ACell? Or just give him the time without interfering?

[digihorse]

As he seems to be doing well healing without agressive and invasive treatment, I’d be most tempted to let tincture of time be the prescription.

I’d also get myself a set of the BackOnTrack Quick wrap boots. They do wonderous things for keeping circulation in an injured leg. Circulation = healing capabilities.

[Beckham03]

My horse had an actual small leision on his suspensory. I did PRP, shockwave, acupuncture, and he wears BOT boots at night. He has been given the ok to return to work when the weather clears. What about something like shockwave therapy?

[Laurierace]

[QUOTE=digihorse;8049977]
As he seems to be doing well healing without agressive and invasive treatment, I’d be most tempted to let tincture of time be the prescription.

I’d also get myself a set of the BackOnTrack Quick wrap boots. They do wonderous things for keeping circulation in an injured leg. Circulation = healing capabilities.[/QUOTE]

This is what I would do as well although I would go with the no bows instead of the quick wraps to provide a bit of compression.

[riopony]

I’m sorry to hear about your guy! Last year mine had a small tear in his right hind DDFT (higher up). We rehabbed that for about 6 months and dealt with an SI problem. As we were rehabbing that this fall/ winter he did a high suspensory in he same leg. There was some confusion (my fault most likely) when this happened whether it was the SI or not but he was a 3+ most days. He wouldn’t raise his left foot for days (to protect his right) and 2 grams of bute 2x a day didn’t help. Once I stall rested, wrapped and put him on Previcox it got much better. We go for a 6 week check up soon.

Not much help but I feel your pain! We are going the traditional R.I.C.E method. I bought an equi-fit ice boot. Way better than cold hosing this time
Of year!

[judybigredpony]

I am not a vet…but I am surprised your Bet did not offer you any other options…I.e the IRAP or shockwave, internal blister and Why he re injured this leg on stall rest.
I also am surprised he does not have you icing, clod hosing and Surpass for pain n swelling relief.
There are alternatives to Bute…Banamine being one. You need to get him weight bearing.
Poultice with plastic wrap traps the heat on the leg…using it with brown paper allows the clay to do,it’s job, pull the heat into the clay and away from the leg…when used with plastic the clay can to dry and dissipate the heat. You know when the leg is cooling out the clay will stay wet in spots.
Possibly your Vet knows the expenses associated. Also has he discussed the prognosis and ramifications as to potential,of this horse going back to a full,show jump career? I would be asking some hard questions …

[joiedevie99]

I’d be hesitant to put anything in it if you are seeing good healing. My vet does not recommend using an injectable unless you have a hole to put it in. Also, it is not without risk. I had a horse ultrasound worse after IRAP than before. It really pissed off the area - and, IMHO, slowed down the healing by 2+ months. That’s not to say I wouldn’t use it again in the right situation on another horse - but I wouldn’t use it on that horse again, or without consideration of the risk.

Personally, I’ve seen huge healing improvements with therapeutic ultrasound. I bought my own machine for about $700 online and we use it daily. My vet rents them as well. I’ve also seen good improvements from shockwave if your vet has it.

[CJB]

UPDATE

UPDATE
Hey guys! Thought I’d do a little update.

So as you guys know, I had a three-legged horse in early Feb. The outlook wasn’t good considering he had damage to his Suspensory and DDFT in his left hind (from a fall or slip on ice in his paddock).

We’ve at about 11 weeks since the injury, and have made incredible progress.

Here’s what I’ve done:
• We decided not to do any treatments since he is healing very well on his own. I would never be against treatment. But in this case, nature, an awesome vet and farrier, a very determined owner and an incredibly strong horse is what we went with.
• I am out every single day. I’ve only missed one day out of 11 weeks because of a freak snowstorm.
• I’m also calling my vet every week to check in and get advice.
• Vet suggested we slowly wean him off of Bute and wrapping, which we did a while back.
• He’s still in a stall as of now – we’ll probably be looking at a very small pen in the next while.
• Once he could walk, we started handwalking. We went from one circuit of the arena, to up to 40 minutes of handwalking gradually over many weeks.
• I am now able to walk undersadde!!! I seriously thought I would never get to be on him again, so this is truly a blessing. Our routine (as vet recommended) is: 30 minutes of walking undersaddle and 5 minutes of trotting. We will be building this up as he hopefully keeps progressing.
• And I’m doing 15 minutes of icing after every walk/ride.
• We’ve been taking him into the vet every 3-4 weeks and have been doing ultrasounds at every appointment. The vets can’t believe the progress he’s made. The vet called it a “catastrophic” injury and says that he is healing wonderfully. She said I’ve taken better care of him than they could

Even with all this good news, I’m trying to not get ahead of myself. I know we are still very early on in this injury and I really don’t know where this is leading. Right now, I thank god that my horse can walk and am grateful for every second I get to be on his back.

If anyone has any questions about his injury, or wants to know more, I’d be happy to answer.

And if you have any advice for the stage we are at right now, I’d love to hear about what you’ve had luck with

[AKB]

Well done! I hope he continues to heal rapidly and uneventfully.

[Big_Grey_hunter]

I don’t have much advice, but jingles for a full recovery. If it’s any hope, I had a horse with repeated tears in both hind SDFT and DDFT make a full recovery after 2 years of hell. I’m glad I didn’t give up on him, as he’s been the perfect horse for my mom. Rehab is mentally and financially draining, but don’t give up!