Recovering from Collateral Ligament Injury

[Rubs_Not_Pats]

I have really seen a difference with injuries treated with stem cell vs. IRAP. My horse is returning ahead of schedule and very sound. I know of two others injured at the same time, albeit one suspensory and one tendon and they are not really back to work. My suspensory, was a strain and was not evident after 60 days. We treated both the collateral and the suspensory with both the shockwave and then stem cell.

Weighted rehab and minimal stall rest (30 days) was really stressed to me by the surgeon and the radiologist. We were getting healing, but with bad allignment. I can’t begin to tell you how much fun walking on their back for an hour is…NOT! Anyway, we increased time walking fairly rapidly (like 5 minutes a day) until we got to the hour. We were much slower with the introduction of the trot and now with the canter.

[yellow_rose]

totally selfish post here…

THIS WEEKEND MY VERY SPECIAL HORSE CAN GO OUTSIDE!!!

Oooooooh my goodness… I though this day would never come…

It has been 7 months in a stall… no handwalking… nothing… had a very bad rupture of the medial collateral ligament… it was a catastrophic injury and no one even thought he would be pasture sound, none of my wonderful vets ever said it to my face I know they considered trying to get me to put him down

YEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Maybe some day we will be riding again like you guys!

[3Spots]

Good for you, YellowRose!

How “big” is outside? How are you going to transition him? Any drugs?

My barn was doing stall maintenance last night and they wanted my mare out of her stall while they worked on the adjacent one. They almost turned her out! Yikes! But that would probably be the best way for me. I’d need drugs to watch, lol.

jan

[Rubs_Not_Pats]

ACE IS YOUR BEST FRIEND

Don’t get hurt. They tend to be very psycho after protracted stall rest and things that would never bother them suddenly have morphed into the boogy man. Be careful and if you have grooms at your barn, let them do it and tag along until it looks safe. Getting loose could be the end of all of your hard work and your horse being stalled for 7 months. That is always my greatest fear,injured animal running loose. Walking in an area, like a round pen is best.

On the positive side, congrats! Let us know how things are going along.

[dancersdressagegroom]

Collateral Ligament Injury

The vet did not feel that stem cell would work for my horses injury. He felt that shock wave would be the best. Not sure why?

The problem that I have had with my horse is the rearing and bucking in her stall. It seems to happen after the shockwave treatment. I think she feels good. I am sure it does wonders for her injury. Have any of you had your horse go nuts in thier stalls? What have you done to stop the behavior. The other thing that my horse does is walk the pen all day long. I think she is just board out of her mind.

[yellow_rose]

OK so going outside won’t be that much different from being in a stall… 20’ pipe round pen… BUT at least he will get to much a tiny bit of grass and get the sunshine on his back!!!

and HECK YES he will be DRUGGED… are you kidding me???

Thursday we injected his coffin joint… it took FOREVER when it is supposed to be really quick… all the tissue above the coronet band has hardened like a rock… has anyone else had this done after a col-lig injury??

[Rubs_Not_Pats]

When this first happened, I found a study that showed a corrolation between injecting the coffin joints with steroids and a higher than normal incidence of collateral injuries. Guess what, right during this time, I injected the coffin joint. Now, clearly, I injected the joint because we felt that it was inflamed, so I am chickening and egging here. I am not sure why the vet would inject now or why if what he/she used. Steroids will remove inflamation but will also weaken the tissue and slow healing. It is a cost/benefit analysis.

[yellow_rose]

Hmm… that’s really interesting about the coffin joint injection preceeding a col-lig injury… I do see how it would create a higher risk though

The reason we did the injection post-injury is because since the medial ligament was ruptured, it wasn’t supporting the coffin joint adequately… we tried to prevent arthritis in the CJ by putting a cast on the horse, but the most recent radiographs showed some developing arthritis – so hopefully the injection will alleviate that a bit

[Rubs_Not_Pats]

Yellow Rose,
Your case sounds nothing like those I read about and I am sure that in your case it it probably warented. What happened that caused this injury? What type of work does your horse do? It sounds like it has really been a tough road for you. I have been there with them when the vet says there really is no hope and I have pushed anyway. It has ended up working out. Have faith, go slow and know that all of our good vibes are going your way.

[3Spots]

Well, my mare had her first turnout last night – unintentionally. I got a call from the barn at 10 pm that she was out and had been out for an unknown period of time. The BO found her peacefully eating weeds when they came back from dinner – so it must have been after last feeding at 5 pm. They said she didn’t appear to do any damage and was sound walking back to her stall.

I can’t imagine she would go rip-roaring around with no other horses to play with. Fingers crossed that she ran into the first patch of weeds and never looked up after that.

jan

[Rubs_Not_Pats]

Well Jan,
It seems like the barn owner got her out of that stall in the end! I am glad to hear she seems OK and walked back sound.

[yellow_rose]

r n p –

My horse was injured May 26th on the cross country course at the Virginia CIC** (eventing), about 2/3 of the way around. Just one bad step at a very high rate of speed. He’s a 10 year old Argentine. Poor guy tried to keep going on 3 legs, I had a heck of a time pulling him up.

one of my favorite showjumping pictures of him:
http://albion.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30289087&l=bd39e&id=36201598

Yes it’s been a slow road and really painful at times but thank god for my wonderful vets and fabulous insurance company… seems like now he is getting back on track, he has a forever home with me regardless of his soundness

It is encouraging to hear all of your stories and how well your horses are doing now!!

[Bluehorsesjp]

Yellow Rose,
My horses injury sounds very similar to yours.
I am at 2 months of stall rest with 2 more to go. I am allowed to hand walk however. I think my stall rest is shorter because of my horses age. He is 20 and we are worried about other joints going due to lack of activity.

My horse had a complete rupture of the medial ligament. We did do a coffin joint injection prior to getting an MRI that really diagnosed the problem. I am a bit worried about having steroids injected into an area with a ligament tear, but it was before we understood the true nature of the injury.

Other than putting your horse in a cast did you do any other treatment, stem cell, shock wave etc.

What were your horses clinical signs? After 6 week in a stall/small pen my horse was a 1/5 on pavement. But sound on soft ground. He was a 2/5 on a turn. My vet felt optimistic because my horse was pretty good clinically.

I am just constantly trying to get more information about this injury.

[yellow_rose]

blue –

Mine was like a 4.99/5 when it first happened… It was a shock that he could hobble pathetically to the trailer, even with the insane amounts of painkillers he was on… There was so much swelling and bruising it was hard to diagnose at first, so he got a full bone scan and an MRI which revealed severe rupture of the medial collateral ligament.

We put him immediately in cast and was in it for 40 days, strict rest, didn’t set one foot outside of the stall. Pulled the cast off, he had a pretty bad rub, so we put him in the hyperbaric oxygen chamber for 6 treatments to prevent a portion of the coronet band from dying. He was still a 4/5 lame.

More stall rest… no handwalking… nada, did 3 rounds of shockwave. At that time he was about a 2.5/5. Last week he got a coffin joint injection.

Now he is walking comfortably… pretty stiff, but maybe only a 0.5 now. Walking pretty sound with a gimp every now and again.

So excited… going to pick up the pipe corral today!!!

[Rubs_Not_Pats]

Yellow Rose and Blue,

Your injuries sound very different than mine. Mine was not a complete tear. Plus, being able for some unknown and inexplicable reason was 100% clear on U/S. This made it much easier to see progress we were or were not making as we went along. Please keep us all posted on your horses and I will keep you up to date on Tuna (Rubs). I hope Laney’s owner keeps us posted as well, as she is a little ahead of me in the recovery phase.

[3Hanns]

Hi Everyone- Rubs, thanks for thinking of us. Laney is still doing great For those of you who don’t know- she had a 70 % tear in her RF collateral ligament which was visible partially via U/S. She had shockwave (I think 5 treatments), special shoeing, was handwalked, and on stall rest for the first 3 mo., then walked undersaddle for about 2- after than her follow up u/s showed complete healing, so we then SLOWLY added trot work, then canter.

Today, about 15 months after her initial injury, she is still sound…she has been in consistant normal work (I work her 6 days a week, for about an hour a day) now for about 6 months (can’t remember exactly). She is extremely fit, and very happy. It is amazing how fast their fitness/ muscles come back! She does almost everything she used to do and some things even better. I still do not jump her, but that is me being paranoid…I feel she is not ready yet, vet cleared her to jump long ago, but something inside me tells me to wait…We have been focusing more on dressage as I want her to use her hind end more & stay off of her front.

She does start out stiff, and needs a longer warm up…but she has always been that way…One thing that has always seemed to help her during the recovery and after is having her RF trimmed shorter in the toe (squared off).

This is not a fun club to be in BUT… THERE IS LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL FOR ALL OF YOU GOING THROUGH THIS…

I wish all of you a speedy recovery- feel free to ask any questions…

[dancersdressagegroom]

Collateral Ligament Injury

3Hanns,

I think we have the same injury. Was yours at the coffin bone? My horse seems to be recieving the same course of treatment. The coffin bone is also involed in my horses injury.

Your story gives me hope I feel ready to give up. Please tell me more about what happened to your horse.

Dancer

[3Hanns]

Dancer- I am not sure if it was at the coffin bone. Laney’s injury was on her RF where the pastern connects to the hoof- we did both xrays and u/s when diagnosing, and her x-rays were OK, the tear was visible on the u/s, but did go into the hoof (which could not be seen via u/s). I chose not to MRI, as the vet felt most of it was visible, and the treatment would be the same.

I am not sure how she did this- vet thinks just a “bad step”. I have a feeling she possibly had a smaller tear when I purchased her( I had only had her about 5 months before she was injured), No lameness showed up during the PPE…but she was not in real work before I bought her…w/ harder work, I think it showed up & got worse. I feel this way because she is moving MUCH better now as opposed to when I first bought her, and is much more forward than she has ever been.

There definitely is hope…her tear was very big- 70%…I do baby her…never ride in bad footing, push her too hard- and I CRINGE whever she trips or stumbles, I think she recovered faster than I did :lol: I am just so thankful she is finally OK

BTW- She did have her coffin joint injected towards the end of her re-hab. There was a time when the u/s showed total healing, but she was still a tiny bit lame in tight circles to the left…so vet recommended this…I am not sure if it helped or not, because she also had a different shoeing done around the same time. Like I mentioned earlier…I feel squaring off her toe made (and still makes) a huge difference in her movement…her foot conformation is not great, she has one heal that is much higher than the other.

Don’t give up hope…I know EXACTLY how you feel…I truly believe in the hand walking, SWT, just keep up all of the work, and you’ll get here too…I wish you all the best

[3Spots]

3Hanns,

What triggered you to trim the RF with the shorter, squared toe? And do I understand that it is just the RF that is trimmed this way, and the LF is trimmed more normally?

jan

[3Hanns]

3spots-

her RF was the injured foot, and this is also the foot that has the higher heel. Her toe seems to grow longer on this foot, and this trimming seems to balance her out more, as she seems to “stub” her toe when it is long, thus making her more uncomfortable and more prone to re-injury. This is something the vet recommended, and has seemed to work for her foot conformation…I honestly notice a big difference in the way she goes…It probably has to do more with the way she is built than the injury, but thought I would mention it in case anyone has similar high/low heel issues…

Hope that helps!