Collateral Ligament Injury
Blue,
My horse is in a 24 x 16 pen. The vet said she could be in a 24x24. She walks all day long. Even are cold days when I hand walk her she is very quite. I think being outside in a good size pen helps. My horse is only four.
Dancer
Blue- We have all had moments like that, itās impossible not to w/ a horse who has all of that pent up energy from being on stall restā¦sounds like you are OK. I know how scary it is to watchā¦and I am totally w/ you on ālooking too hardā when evaluating soundness. I STILL do it even though my Mare has been sound for a while nowā¦
You may also want to try handwalking w/ a bridleā¦this worked well for me for a while. Actually we moved on to under saddle walk a little early because vet felt it was OK, and Laney is way more calm under-saddle than on the ground.
Also- I would look into special shoeing optionsā¦this really helped my Mare. Preferably w/ the vet and farrier communicating on the exact location of the injuryā¦
Hope you have great progress in 2008!!!
Blue,
I am glad to hear it sounds like you are O.K.
I personally, had my little freak out session yesterday. We are sedating Rubs so she is not psycho. It is cold and windy here. We were doing poles and twice she tripped over them. The first time, she hit it with her other front foot at the trot. But the second time it was her bad foot and she rolled the poll and then tripped and was a step before her knees before she caught up with herself at the canter. It scared the beJesus out of me. She was sound but, I really didnāt even begin to thing about how easy everything could be destroyed. It was like a hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach. We will not sedate her anymore if she is doing poles. Hopefully her spooking and acting stupid will not be worse. These guys are so hard to manage.
Funny how we cringe when they take a bad step! :sadsmile: Actually it is not funny but you know what I mean! Even now with Bodie being back in work for over a year I gasp when he steps funny! I was not there when he injured himself so I have no idea how he did it but I imagine it was a bad step!
Everyone be oh so patient, especially during these winter months! Bodie is a wild boy so I understand anyoneās need to use ACE!!
Wishing you all great luck and jingling of course!!
I think the hardest part for me right now is the emotional roller coaster.
Itās all very well and good for me to just go through the motions of the day
Get up and go out to the barn, do chores, walk my horse for 30 minutes, put him back in his stall with hay and a pony pop, go to work, come home move my horse over to another stall, clean his stall, bring in the turned out horse, feed, go in for dinner.
It is monotonous and yet comforting in itās sameness.
I donāt really have to think about my horses prognosis as our recheck isnāt until the end of January and right now there is nothing I can do except for the day above.
But having him get loose, watching him take a bad step, or maybe a short step is devastating. It brings me back to the fact that he might never jump again, he might not be sound enough for flat work, he might just be a pasture puff. And the whole cycle starts again.
For me this is the worst part of this injury. A rehab from colic surgery, yep I can do that. A rehab from a suspensory injury, yep I can monitor that and do that. But this injury seems so, well foreign and unknown. and not visible.
Sorry for the ramble, but I know you all understand this to a certain extent.
I am looking forward to a healthy recovery in 2008.
Oh Blue, I know exactly how you feel! My schedule is much the same, get up, do chores, walk Brio, go to work, come home, do more horse chores, and go in for dinner. And it is incredibly tough rehabbing a horse from this injury, my horseās injury is also in his hoof so there is no way of checking progress - itās all guess work. Sigh.
blue you made me cry just now!!!
this injury definitely is the hardest that I have ever dealt with ā the not being able to see or feel progress is heartbreaking
Collateral Ligament Injury
Today it was very cold out and they were putting up a shelter at my barn. My horse was bucking, reaing, running in circles.in her stall. It upset me to watch this. I feel like all the work I have done went down the drain today.
I donāt know how you are suppose to stop this kind of behavior. Like Blue said this is such an up and down injury. One day I feel like we are going to make it and the next I feel like I have a pasture ornament.
I guess what is meant to be will be. I am doing every thing I can to help her recover.
[QUOTE=Bluehorsesjp;2896726]
I think the hardest part for me right now is the emotional roller coaster.
ā¦
But having him get loose, watching him take a bad step, or maybe a short step is devastating. It brings me back to the fact that he might never jump again, he might not be sound enough for flat work, he might just be a pasture puff. And the whole cycle starts again.
ā¦
I am looking forward to a healthy recovery in 2008.[/QUOTE]
Blue - I know all to well what you are feeling. I discovered that my horse was lame on 1/26/07. It took a little while to discover why he was lame - initially we thought it might have been a bruise. As a result, he did not start his stall rest right away - ended up in stall rest by mid to late Feb.
However, the Dr at WSU gave permission for a small turn out "not to exceed 30ā x 30ā " at the beginning of June. Watching some of his antics at times (he was good for the MOST part) made me hold my breath.
And in July I became quite convinced that he would not recover. In August, he finally presented 100% sound and was approved to start under saddle walking.
Looking back, his antics actually make me feel better. If he can now run, buck, rear, leap, twist, turn etc. etc. and still stay sound - then jumping should be nothing. Seriously to watch this horse out in his fieldā¦well, jumping is nothing by comparison.
This is not to say I donāt knock on wood every time I say he is sound (or right now). And not to say I donāt have some trepidation about the future (will he hold up as an upper level eventer). But it does lend me some comfortā¦it is sort of āthe glass is half fullā way of looking at it (and no it isnāt what I first thought - someone else pointed it out to me!).
Hang in there - every time the roller coaster goes down, it comes back up :yes:
Still sound and doing well as of yesterday. So the poles didnāt kill our forward progress. I feel like we dodged a bullet. Whew!
Hi everyone!
After 4 months of handwalk and 1 month of mounted walk, I trotted my mare on a small circle to see if she is still off. She is. But Iām not as down about it as I thought I would be ā probably because you guys have all forewarned me.
In hindsight, it was not a good day to test it out ā I should have listened to my intuition, as the cold weather was making her a little up. She did a couple trot steps and then into a wild canter that my friend brought in quickly before it turned into a buck and run. I thought I saw off trot steps, so another quick check and I reconfirmed that she seemed NQR. In total, only a half-circle worth of trot, but enough for me to accept that she is still off, and enough for me to stop lunging just in case she pulled away. If things had been more controllable, I might have done one more circle to be sure, but it wasnāt worth the risk of losing her.
It did get me to thinking of whether that is a fair test of soundness or not. If that ligament has been healing for 5 months and never been trotted on - would it be reasonable to expect she might be stiff on it as itās not been used? I know some of you were saying the horse was worse after stall rest/controlled movement than before; and that makes sense to me.
In any case, I am going forward with my plan to trot 1 minute next week and two minutes the next week if the first week goes okay then adding a minute a week. Straight lines only. I will also continue to do mounted walk (we are up to 45 min next week).
Anyone think that is going too fast? I just feel like I should continue to give her more exercise to aid in healing, and Iām not sure longer duration mounted walk is enough.
jan
3 Spots,
I think you need to trot some more if you really want to know about soundness. Iād give it a little time. I think we would all still be walking if we judged by the first few days. Rubs even now, is a little weak behind, which doesnāt help. She was at top physical condition when it happened. And when she is goofy, she had a tendancy to throw her head around, thus resulting in us calling her Stephanie Wonder. It really makes her feel off everywhere BUT it is just playfullness and changes in balance. Once she relaxes, you can see she is fine. I would encourage a higher dose of sedation to evaluate soundness at first, because getting away is not good and being psycho makes it hard to evaluate (Stephanie Wonder Syndrome). I did do a number of months of mounted walk before progressing and seriously, I think that was a huge help.
The regular handwalking was not resulting in good fiber allignment. I did 60 minutes of mounted walking for I think 3 months before trotting but my handwalking was much shorter than yours. Are you able to see the lesion on U/S or are you one of those who are unfortunate to only be able to see on MRI? This was a serious break for me, I was so lucky. If you can use U/S, recheck before progressing to the next step.
[QUOTE=dancersdressagegroom;2897633]
One day I feel like we are going to make it and the next I feel like I have a pasture ornament.
I guess what is meant to be will be. I am doing every thing I can to help her recover.[/QUOTE]
I think that is all we can do. I am doing the best I can to help my boy recover. It isnāt as much as some people can do as I donāt have the funds for some advanced treatments, ie stem cell etc. But I am doing the best I can with the assets I have. I have to be ok with that. (And yes sometimes Iām not, but I am getting there.)
Today I am able to see the glass half full like Simplesimon says.
Rubs, glad you dodged the bullet. Keep us updated.
3hann let us know how trotting in a straight line is. I think Rubs could be partially right. My horse can look off at the walk when he is sticking his head straight up in the air and stiffening through his back. Once he relaxes a bit he looks fine.
Collateral Ligament Injury
I was told by my vet when my is sound I could walk her under saddle. The first month 45 mins the next month one hour.
I am hoping that we are sound on recheck and bring in the New Year under saddle.
Hi Rubs,
I think you are right and I need to re-evaluate in a more structured setting, but Iāll wait until the end of the month when Iāll be up to 5 min trotting in a straight line (unless of course, I feel something off before then).
I am one of the unfortunate ones with the tear being too deep for u/s to assess, so itās all being done by clinical signs. In some ways I think itās good that I canāt u/s, that way I canāt worry more!
I am pretty sure she will be sound trotting in a straight line, as she was sound in a straight line at the time of her diagnosis. But it should help strengthen it a bit so that when I try a trot on a circle and she remains unsound, it will be because sheās not healed, rather than just being stiff from disuse.
It sounds like weāve both done about 5 months of walking: you more mounted, and me more handwalking. I want to go forward with the trot for the same reasons your vet wanted you to go forward with the mounted walk, that the fibers should be stressed to better align. I am also a little concerned that if I donāt go on with the trot, the fibers might heal āshortā and not allow her to trot ā like scar tissue when you injure an achilles tendon or dislocate a knee. Donāt know if that can happen, but it seems like it could.
jan
3 spots,
I donāt know if this holds true. I imagine you can get adhesions but I donāt know. I do think most of our problems after we saw the healing on U/S were conditioning related. Rubs feels great now. I have even started some more leg yealding/shoulders in etc stuff at the trot. I know she is feeling better because when we started out bridling her was difficult, now she will bridle and streach down easily. Yesterday, off sedation with me for the first time we did lead changes twice in both directions. But the excitement of the day was her jumping up in the air and bucking. It seems to me a horse in pain and with discomfort wouldnāt do this. It was the āmommy I want to be playfulā kind of behavior, not āMommy Iām gunna kick your a$$ kindā. I do poles with her twice weekly. Sometimes she jumps them. We are still going strong. Itās hard thing not knowing what will be around the corner and if she will be limited and where, But the not knowing when has been the absolute worst. I could have a horse that does cross rails or a horse that does the regulars and I wonāt know till she breaks doing something and that is eating me up inside. I am still fairly careful about sharp turns but we are circling her and serpentining her and starting her back in what would amount to regular lession flatwork. She reverses with a half circle now as opposed to cutting the ring. I think it is all really common sense. It is important to ask only one question at a time. I have been so fortunate with my trainer, who has truely been a godsend throughout this process, watching us and keeping an eye out from the ground. It has really been useful. He can see things I canāt.
Wow all of these stories and advice have made me seriously happy. I bought a horse the very end of august in 2005 only to have him tear a ligiment in December. As of right now, two years later he is w/t and canter a few times around the ring. He tore the right front and handwalked in the barn isle, then started getting ridden by my trainer last winter (at 1 year) and was almost up to canter when he went funny again. I have no idea about timing really. He had a Nuclear Bone Scan done at New Bolton and it showed a little bit in his right stifle and left hock but really in the right front. I got him as a six year old and was going to be my junior hunter. He is the sweetest horse but i am in college and have to sell him. he is 100% sound in front but a little funny behind (only rarely) No one could tell us how to bring him back or how much to do when. He would make a fancy dressage prospect (he wouldnt have to jumpt then) so in a few months we could sell him like that, but he was a great jumper. I want to keep him because what happens if it happens again? will then take the time and pursue everything before just sending him away. You guys have helped with all your wonderful encouragement! Happy New Year
Well itās been a while since my last update and we have bravely forged ahead dispite all the dangers. We are 100% off sedation and doing poles. We have started smaller circles and tighter turns.Rubs continues to look good and is sound. She is a little psycho and I think I will have to lunge her to let her get her bucks out. She left 12ā before a pole the other day, jumped it at like 3ā6 and landed 10ā on the other side before she decided she was a rodeo horse. Clearly, if she is jumping all of the poles, I think we are pretty safe to start her doing little Xās, once we get her calmed down. I am thinking of my safety now! She will lunge with a double line and I hope that the once does the trick as I am not willing to turn her out. My husband says a year of no fun and being cooped up has fried her tiny brain and she just needs to be a horse. Maybe he is right. She was always a really good girl, this is really out of character for her. I guess the pool party with vollyball didnāt help her either (our ring is seperated from a residential neighborhood by a wash, then a large solid fence and a homeās back yard). Then again maybe she is just going through withdrawl from all of the sedation for the last 7 months! 
Great news for you Rubs! I am glad to hear of your progress!!
How is everyone else doing?
new member of the collateral ligament club !!
hi my name is shirley from england and my horse is on week 5 of box rest with 2 x 5mins walk a day. when i put damaged collateral ligaments into my search engine all you lot came up !! and wow what a revelation iam not on my own . you have all given me hope that my horse may come back into work. rocky, my horse is 8 and has had an mri scan and has damaged his ligaments in both front feet.:no: plus hes got slight arthrtis in his coffin joints. he is having them injected on thursday. i will keep reading all your posts for advice as there seems little over here . thanks hope you dont mind me butting in:)
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