Proximal Suspensory Surgery Advice - Updates at end

[dbamford]

Cody, so sorry to hear about your situation! I don’t have as much experience with front suspensories, although my horse has injured his check ligaments mildly. I think the location, lower suspensory, might be a challenge, jingles for your horse, so sorry you are in the suspensory club. Most of ours on this post have been high, hind suspensory issues, and most of us have done the surgical repair. Let us know how your guy does, every case is a little different.

On Venture’s recovery front, he is looking very good, we are cantering and continuing to add time. I need to start jumping again next month, but am a little nervous to take that step…it will be 1 year post-surgery on Sept 1.

Hope all others are well. Quietanne, sounds like the little mare is doing FANTASTIC!! Congrats.

[Samantha37]

I’m so so sorry that we have so many new members to this “club”

My horse pushed through bad suspensories as well and now the difference in how well willing he is to really use his hind end is astounding. He is at about 5 months post op and had another recheck yesterday… my vet is VERY pleased with how he is coming along and said Echo is further along than he expected him to be! We are now adding some canter work and “real” trot work. He also is allowed to jump under 2’. That shocked the daylights out of me but my vet said that little jumping is no more stressful on the hind end than cantering around a turn. We jumped our first cross rail since March 6th yesterday and it felt AMAZING. I was almost crying.

For some reason I am most nervous about adding circles back… not so much the canter and cross rails (!!!) but circles. LOL! Guess we all have our things.

Echo also flexed almost completely negative on his hocks. He has significant changes but we injected them and did the loading dose of Pentosan 5 weeks ago and he is feeling really good. Yippee!

He is coming along incredibly well and I just really hope things continue the way they have been… I’m starting to get very hopeful that we will be able to do a horse trial or two next year. Fingers crossed!

[kiwifruit]

Just to update my situation. My vet suggested shockwave for three treatments and some anti-inflammatories. Went for my second shockwave treatment two days ago and vet thought he looked better but still had a slight lameness. Wants me to continue to ride him and do one more shockwave treatment in two more weeks when we will make a final decision on the surgery. Unless he makes a huge improvement, I will problably do the surgery at the end of October. Although he thought Dr. White was good, he suggested New Bolton and Dean Richardson since I’m only 45 minutes away. Said it was a pretty common procedure. So I have a couple of questions for the members of this thread. Anyone use New Bolton and Dean Richardson? Also what does this lameness feel like undersaddle? It is so slight to me when I’m watching him on the lunge line. More pronounced when flexed. My horse has more damage on the left hind leg than the right but when I ride him, I feel like he might be off on the right front. Is that because of the diagonal pairs? And the canter to the right is much more worse than the left. He tends to prop in the downward transition. Does this seem right? The reason I ask is that my horse also has issue with his front feet so I don’t know if I’m feeling the front or the rear being off. And it is not off, it just does not feel right. Does that make sense?Argh. Vet suggested new horse. Yeah. Thanks!

[Samantha37]

Hi kiwifruit (I think I know you from NWF…?)
I don’t know about this surgery per say but New Bolton is great and I would take my horse there for anything I can think of.

My horse’s lameness was quite vague and is also worse on the LH than RH but I believe that is due to his LH hock being less fused and therefore more painful than the RH hock. He felt very awkward under saddle- that is the best way to describe it He felt like he was trying to hold himself stiff in the hind end I guess to protect it. He did feel slightly off on the RF as well. It was much more pronounced on a circle/ around turns in the ring. I did not really ride him while he was lame and we were trying to figure it out except bareback hacks so I couldn’t tell you about the transitions.

He had the surgery 5 months ago and we just started cantering. I’ve noticed a marked difference in his willingness to use his hind end and work over his back.

[quietann]

Mine also had the diagonal issue; her RH was fine. In fact the vet thought part of the reason the LH got stirred up in the first place was that her RF leg conformation leaves a lot to be desired (offset cannon bone, toes in, big splint) so she was compensating on the LH.

[quietann]

Happy update!

Here we are doing a poles exercise yesterday. Feronia has become bored with dressage, and so have I, so last week I asked the trainer (who does the jumpers, but has a good dressage foundation) to let us do poles. It went really well, so we did a harder exercise in our lesson this week, and will continue to basically do what the trainer’s jumpers do in these lessons, just with poles instead of jumps. (I also take a dressage lesson every week, from a different trainer.) It’s very good for getting her to bend her hocks and use her butt a bit more.

Feronia is an ex-eventer (only did unrecognized but went through Novice, with other riders, and could have gone higher if not for the soundness issues, though not with me because she could get pretty wild going X/C and I am a wimp!) We can’t jump anymore, but man, the poles got her attention in the best way! The trainer is very impressed with her – she’s game and brave and just eats this stuff up.

One thing I love about her is that she makes me laugh. At 00:07, saying “Aw do we hafta do another turn before the poles?” (but note the trot I got when I said no), at 00:28 me throwing in a much-needed “easy, easy” as she was getting, um, quite enthusiastic, and at the end when she moves her hoof to get it just right for a square halt. The last made me giggle.

And to think that 6 months ago, I was contemplating whether she needed to be retired…

[dbamford]

Quietann

Wow she looks great!! When I think back to about 6 months ago and where you were, what a difference. Congrats!!!

Venture and I are in a similar happy spot. He is much more willing for canter departures than he EVER was, and overall very happy. The leg is staying quiet, and I watch it like a HAWK. We even did a small cross rail gymnastic and have been doing pole work for about a month once a week. I am very happy with his progress.

Hope others are having similar good moments.

What are folks thoughts on bringing back into jumping–rehab wise. I am starting with small gymnastics, but love to hear other folks perspectives…

[quietann]

Thanks, dbamford I am just thrilled with how she’s doing, especially given that this is where we were before her surgery. She is a super-fun horse, a bit “in your face” about stuff, very smart and very, very honest.

I do wish we could jump, even the small stuff, even though she gets pretty high (and this trainer is very good with getting hotter horses to slow down a bit and use their brains.) I think I’m a better rider when faced with obstacles; dressage tends to make me pick-pick-pick at her and we both get frustrated. But between her suspensory and my collarbone hardware, we really shouldn’t jump :(.

I can’t really give you advice on bringing Venture back to jumping but it does sound like you are on the right track.

[colliemom]

Happy update here as well. Leap had his first post-surgical ultrasound check at VEI, and Dr. Allen said “keep doing what you’re doing, he’s coming along fine.” He’s up to one hour plus under-saddle walking (as long as Mr. Colliemom can stay away up there!) still under mild tranquilizers since he’s a bit high naturally. He had another shockwave treatment, and will get another one next week, and will hopefully be released to short trots then.

Fingers crossed we continue to make progress, as so many others have!

[quietann]

colliemom, that sounds like a good update! Walking under saddle does a lot more than we think it does.

Do you have a horse with a faster walk he can follow? Feronia can be lazy at the walk so sometimes we go for long walks following the speedy little Icey mare Perla and her owner… Feronia likes Perla and will try to keep up with her. (She’s about 12.2 hands and has the fastest walk in the barn; she even beats out the 17.2 monsters whose stride is about 3 times as long as hers.)

[kiwifruit]

Hey all

I’m in the process of deciding to do the surgery and where. I have a question about insurance. I was told by my insurance company that they would cover the surgery but not the neurectomy that sometimes goes along with the faciotomy. So did any of you who had both the neurectomy and faciotomy have an issue with this? If so, how do the differentiate between the two in price?

[Samantha37]

That is weird. Markel gave me zero trouble about any of it. They’ve paid out over $6k for diagnostics, the surgery including PRP, Tildren and rechecks. I’m sorry to hear your company is giving you trouble I don’t know how they would split the cost- mine was listed as one on the invoice.

A quick update on Echo- he has sx on 4/7 and is now walk/trot/cantering and we are introducing a tiny grid tonight to help continue building up his hind end. We recently did Tildren and it seems to be keeping him very comfortable in terms of his arthritic hocks. We are at the point were fusing may be necessary so I wanted to give every shot before doing that.

Anyways- he is doing fantastic. He feels way better than he did before the surgery. We did our first little dressage show last weekend- did Intro A & B and took 1st and 3rd. He jigged so it knocked our 2nd score down but I’m really excited to to Training Level at the next show in a couple of weeks. I can’t believe I’m being able to show him this year after the horrible news in the spring.

Here are some photos from the other day:
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r222/ssilver3722/Echo/310871_10100333868337100_12903550_49285727_817504506_n.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r222/ssilver3722/Echo/294715_10100333869454860_12903550_49285752_205929884_n.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r222/ssilver3722/Echo/297861_10100333867448880_12903550_49285700_1729300923_n.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r222/ssilver3722/Echo/317111_10100333869155460_12903550_49285746_1937440821_n.jpg

MTA: Quietann- I have just now been able to view YouTube at work and just saw your videos- the difference in your mare is amazing!!! Wow! Way to go

[kiwifruit]

THanks Samantha. Glad your guy is doing great! I have scheduled the surgery at New Bolton with Dean Richardson for later in the month. He is recommending the faciotomy and the nerectomy but no stem cell or PRP. Now I just need to figure out insurance. My insurance company is emphatic that they will not pay the nerectomy portion of the surgery, which is fine but I just don’t know how that is going to work out. I called New Bolton and they were pretty perplexed by it too since they do the procedure at the same time in the same area. I hope the have a “price list” for these things and can do ala carte for the surgery. Hope I made the right choice for my guy. He was never really lame but just uncomfortable and not pushing thru the hindend the last few years. We shall see!

[Samantha37]

I was so traumatized after the surgery that I really regretted doing it but now- SO DON’T REGRET IT! He is going better than he ever has- his canter has improved tenfold and I’m sure just judging by his performance under saddle that he is feeling a lot better, too. It is funny because I just said to my friend last night that I made the right decision.

I wish you the very best of luck- keep us posted!

[dbamford]

Yeah, I have to echo Samantha’s comments. Venture is doing really well. We actually did two jumping clinics in the last few weeks (we are still not doing more than 2’3") and I have a schooling CT this weekend. I have been so happy with his progress, but I still get nervous about that leg. So far so good. He seems very happy, and even, and much happier at the canter and in his dressage!

kiwifruit, that is so strange about the surgery. Like Samantha I have Markel and they covered everything. They do understand that it is not the neurectomy for navicular, right? I know some with baulk at that, but not at the upper suspensory, since as Samantha said–these two surgeries usually go hand in hand…

[Samantha37]

I’m glad to hear Venture is doing well! How far out of surgery is he? I can’t remember and am too lazy to search the thread right now lol

I actually had my first jumping lesson- and real jump school on Echo last night. He was terrific! It poured down rain while I was warming up but he felt so good we just kept going. He never took a bad step and was so so happy. I think he really needed the break from flat work mentally. He has been cleared for low grids and hill work as well so I’ll start adding hills to our schedule although probably only jumping every other week.

Here are some videos if anyone is interested.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/9YJGJdE7pD4

http://www.youtube.com/embed/D1QBYxlhajc

http://www.youtube.com/embed/N4r6n8O_Fck

http://www.youtube.com/embed/g2D1WgN44sE

MTA: I agree w/ dbamford about checking making sure the ins company knows it is not the hoof neurectomy, kiwifruit.

[quietann]

Samantha –

Cool videos! Echo looks nice and relaxed.

My insurance (through AIG but I can’t remember the actual name of the “horse” subsidiary) covered everything for 7 months from when she was first lame, including her surgery, treatment for Lyme disease, many lameness exams, ultrasounds, meds etc. It was about $6500 all told.

Adventures with my mare continue… In general she’s going well, but something is still bothering her hindquarters, enough that she can have trouble holding the canter. Vet just put her back on Robaxin since neither he nor the chiro could find any joint issues, and they think it could be just muscle tension. That said, in yesterday’s lesson she only fell out of the canter when she wasn’t balanced (usually because my balancing half-halt was not well-timed). We even did a little bit of counter-canter (a few strides at a time).

She’s also had her pellet amount doubled, because she was losing weight and being pretty sluggish. Definitely took care of the sluggish as she’s now a bit feisty.

One brag: I rode her in Intro A and Intro B at the barn schooling show a few weeks ago, and while I won’t say these were great tests, look at the pretty ribbons! This was our first show of any sort in two years and my dressage instructor wants me to try a Training Level test at our next schooling show.

We have been trail riding a lot in the state forest that adjoins the barn. She’s a great trail horse except for water crossings, where another horse to lead is a huge help. I know from the two people who evented her that water crossings were really her only X/C issue. We did have one trail ride with others that got very long (2 1/2 hours riding, 1/2 hour hand-walking the horses back to the barn after Feronia had a meltdown over a threatened split-up of her “herd” and told me She. Was. Done. Thankyouverymuch. so I got off of her.) We got lost, really lost, and then found what we thought was the most direct path home, but it turned out to have a 30 foot ravine with dark scary water to cross at the bottom. Miss Boss Mare refused to get anywhere near it and then had a fit when it looked like the one horse who would go through was going to head back to the barn separately!

[kiwifruit]

Well my guy came through the surgery just fine. He went to New Bolton and they did the faciotomy and the neurectomy on both legs. Surgeon said 60 days stall rest then a progressive program. He comes home tomorrow. So what should I expect in terms of aftercare for the next few weeks? Any suggestions or hints from those who have experienced this? I know drugs will be my best friend!

[quietann]

[QUOTE=kiwifruit;5914458]
Well my guy came through the surgery just fine. He went to New Bolton and they did the faciotomy and the neurectomy on both legs. Surgeon said 60 days stall rest then a progressive program. He comes home tomorrow. So what should I expect in terms of aftercare for the next few weeks? Any suggestions or hints from those who have experienced this? I know drugs will be my best friend![/QUOTE]

Is that 60 days of stall rest with no hand-walking or hand-grazing? I’m pretty sure everyone else here has started brief hand-walks within a few days of surgery; my mare started her handwalks while she was still at the vet hospital, the day after her surgery. She got 5 minutes 3 times a day for several weeks, and I’d let her graze a little if she was calm. The walking increased gradually over time.

And yes, unless you have an exceptional horse, drugs are your best friend!

(BTW, if you did not see it on the thread Samantha37 started, about returning these horses to showing, Feronia got two blue ribbons yesterday for a 71% score in Intro C and a 69.49% score in Training 2 at my barn schooling show. I did give her bute the night before, because she’d had a long ride and demanding lesson, and the morning of…)

[Samantha37]

I had what was supposed to be 60 days of stall rest with hand walking/grazing allowed. I did not have to use drugs- mine respected a chain extremely well and was really very well behaved. I did have to get on him and turn him out before the 60 days, though, because he developed horrible hock sores that we couldn’t get under control despite every effort. They were causing distal limb swelling so my vet thought the lesser of two evils would be getting him out more so I walked him for about 5-10 minutes under tack at about day 45 and at about day 50-55 we turned him out for a few hours a day in a tiny paddock. Other than that the rehab was pretty much what everyone else on here has described. On Sunday he went back to normal turnout (12 hours) with his friends- he has been on full turnout for a few months but by himself.

Good luck!!!