Tear in collateral ligament in stifle
Figured I would update in case anyone else goes through this.
Horse improved over the course of a week but was still LAME so farm vet came out to see him. Definitely LH but it was hard to determine where. X-rays of LH ankle were clean. X-rays of L stifle were clean but when the vet blocked the L stifle he improved to about 90% sound.
Vet recommended rest and retirement (considering horse’s other chronic and expensive issues this recommendation was warranted) or… go to hospital/New Bolton and get an ultrasound of L stifle.
I thought about what to do for about 2 days and then set up an appointment at New Bolton.
By the time he got to New Bolton (almost 2 weeks post injury) he was pretty much sound. He pranced around their indoor like a magical unicorn. The vets looked at me like I was totally crazy.
Jogging on pavement did show some front end soreness. The vets told me they saw nothing behind. So we blocked one front and he looked better on that one and worse on the other, and then we blocked the other front and he looked better overall. Definitely some mild front end soreness there.
New Bolton asked me if I still wanted to proceed with the ultrasound of the L stifle. I did, thankfully. Found a tear in the med collateral ligament and he ripped off pieces of bone when he tore it (very small pieces of bone that cannot be seen on x-ray). Tear is on the smaller side and way high up on the inside of the leg.
New Bolton recommended rest and rehab and I asked if there were any “active” treatments we could do. They weren’t sure, due to the location of the injury, that they could inject PRP but they ultrasounded again and said that they could try. We moved forward with the PRP and it was successfully injected into the tear in the ligament. Due to his autoimmune issues (lymphoma) IIRP was not recommended.
Re-x-rayed the stifle to have a baseline on file bc eventually they often see arthritis were the little pieces of bone ripped off, so we will need to monitor that going forward.
Complete stall rest for 3 days while PRP “sits there” and hopefully does it job and then he starts with 5 min hand walks daily increasing by 5 min every week. Re-ultrasound stifle in 8 weeks.
X-rayed both front feet and they looked good for a 12 year old who raced and is now a jumper. He has thin soles, low heels and long toes. I have not been completely pleased with how his feet have looked the last 8 months or so but had not gotten all over my farrier bc he was sound. However about 5 months ago I suspected front hoof soreness and had my vet put hoof testers on him. We got nothing from the hoof testers so I let it go as horse was still happily galloping around courses up to 1.30m. But now its clear he needs some shoeing changes, and of course I’m thankful thats all it is (although I know these shoeing issues can often take time to resolve, thankfully we have time as vets think it will be a full year of rest and rehab before they will be able to say if he can go back to previous levels of work).
I have a vet out at Michigan State who I have been consulting with on all issues regarding this horse and she now has all the info about this injury and we will talk this weekend. I’m interested, as always, to hear what she has to say and will update if anything interesting comes to light.
Horse loves his stall and has been on stall rest before so I really have no concerns there. If any horse can get through this its probably this one. fingers crossed.
edited to add one more thing bc I think its important.
While he was at New Bolton for his lameness eval the vet who manages his lymphoma stopped by several times to see him, talk with me and to be available to consult if needed. At the end of the day she joked to me that I should be an animal communicator bc they didn’t see his hind end lameness at all (he wasn’t showing it that day) and that she was happy I stuck to my guns about the stifle ultrasound. She reiterated that as his owner I am his advocate. So, to all the owners out there, you are your horse’s advocate, they can’t speak and they need you to speak for them.
