Proximal suspensory ligament pin firing

[Kera1235]

I got a 5 year old OTTB and he had some pin firing on the back of his right hind leg just below hock. My vet said she believes he has an old injury in his proximal suspensory and he would most likely need surgery to be sound and comfortable. We are going to try shockwave first to see if we can get him more comfortable on it.
Has anyone had experience with this type of injury or how to treat it ?

Thank you for your advice.

[NancyM]

Is the horse currently lame? Is the pin firing old? Or fresh?

[Kera1235]

The horse is currently lame. The pin firing is old. Not sure exactly when it was done, as it was done when he was still on the track.

[No1]

They probably pin fired the horse for a curb, which is the plantar tarsal ligament, not the high suspensory. That’s very common.

Did your vet block and ultrasound the high suspensory? If not, I’d do those things before spending any money on treatment.

[Kera1235]

That was my thought as well… I’m going to try to press her to ultrasound it… she quite honestly looked at the leg. Watched him go and told me that was the problem.

[No1]

Get your vet to block the horse or take him to someone who will. You could spend a lot of time and money treating and imaging areas that aren’t the cause of the lameness.

[RedFox5]

If you have access to other vets in the area it might be worth reaching out to them also. And it’s okay to push and tell them you want diagnostics done like blocking, ultrasound and anything else that would give you peace of mind that you feel is worth the cost. I got an ultrasound on my guy when he was the very slightest bit off during a lesson. Turned out to be a month old tiny hole in the suspensory. (He had a small puffiness and what looked like a nick probably from rough housing his buddies). It’s okay to want to investigate and not jump into treatment though magnawave I will say is awesome. It’s doing wonders on my guys hocks and body