I’m hoping to find a horse owner who has experience with intersesamoid ligament tear in a horse they did not put down. My vet tells me there is no known way to deal with this injury and none of the ones I have spoken to have ever seen it in a hind fetlock. Nor have they tried to manage the injury. It’s a career/life ender generally found in the front fetlocks of youngTBs after racing at top speeds.
I have a large Irish/Zengersheide 18 year old Advanced horse for my son. He came in lame from the pasture that he had never been in. Hind fetlock blew up. The normal treatments did not work. Vet shipped to hospital on suspicion of septic joint. Joint flush didn’t improve him. Went back for MRI and found intersesamoid ligament tear. Which shocked everyone. I guess it just doesn’t happen in mature horses and it doesn’t happen on the hind end.
It’s an easy case for putting him down, they said. But since he is the type of horse that just wants to be sound and was always sound, I decided to give him a shot at being a pasture mate or beginner lesson horse. Especially since all the vets say they have ZERO experience with this. Who is to say he won’t improve? It’s been 4 months. He’s walking sound. Tack walking 30 minutes a day. Small paddock with a buddy a few hours a day. He doesn’t flex that fetlock at all. So when he gets a little feisty he prefers canter to trot. Giant right hind visible in pic.
I’m looking to hear from anyone who may have dealt with this. It’s a needle in a haystack, I know. You can only find it on MRI.
