Recovering from Collateral Ligament Injury

[Bluehorsesjp]

Hi All,
Haven’t updated in a while.
My horse and I continue to walk our snow packed driveway for 30 minutes everyday. Some days he needs ace, other days he is fine, I just have to read him correctly before I take him out.
Today he got new shoes. They took him out of the 3 degree wedge and put him back into a 2 degree. But when I went to walk him this afternoon he was CRIPPLED. Not in the injured left front but in the right front. Turns out he had a hot nail. Poor boy. A little bit of drama for me however. He doesn’t look great soundness wise right now. Cross your fingers it was just the hot nail and not the angle change.

My recheck is supposed to be at the end of January. Because the vet is 4 hours away I might bump it back until mid February. I figure that won’t hurt anything. But I am ready for the next step regardless of what it is.

Rubs so glad to hear you actually talking about jumping, albeit cross rails that is still great progress! I am so excited for you.

[Rubs_Not_Pats]

OMG, OMG, OMG!!!

WE JUMPED!!!
WE LUNGED!!!
WE ARE STILL ALIVE!!!
BEST OF ALL…WE ARE STILL SOUND!!!

Sorry about the caps, but I had to shout, It’s been so long! Rubs was a gem today. One lunge and she was her normal quiet self again. I was so happy I could have cried when we finished our lesson today. It was ironic because, this weekend I was about to give up because she was so psychotic. I am going to bring the Game Ready back to the barn and ice her after she jumps and she will just do a few days a week over little X’s and one day with poles. Right now. I will only let her do a lunge weekly. It was funny, while she galloped, there was no bucking. I guess she got that out during my last lesson. Thank you all for your support through this, I will keep updating our progress when we hit milestones, either good or bad.

Shirlrock,
Talk to a specialist about injecting the coffins in light of this. There was a study that showed damage to collaterals after coffin injections and any steroid will weaken fibers. On the flip side it does reduce inflammation.

[3Spots]

OMG back at you, Rubs. If there is anyone who deserves this comeback, it’s you. You’ve been so good about all this. I am very, very, happy for you!

I haven’t done anything since our first fumbled attempt at trotting her in a tight circle (in the wind, when she was feeling “up” and by someone who normally doesn’t lunge her). Since that time, it has been raining or windy or otherwise inhospitable to trying again.

But, Monday we added 1 min of trot to her routine. I didn’t ride her , nor was I there, but the gal riding said she felt “stiff” but was sound. I expected she would be sound, since even the time of diagnosis, she was sound in a straight line, but I cringed a little at “stiff,” even though I know how subjective that can be!

The vets all seem to say to exercise 5 days a week – but exercise books for humans say to let muscles rest 48 hours before repeating. Anyone try trotting every other day, or did you do it everyday? I think I am going to go with every other day for right now. I have just started exercising again myself and I am definitely sore and appreciate the day in-between!

[system]

thanks for that rubs i will disscuss that tommorrow with the vet. i am glad your ned is doing so well and i will keep reading up on you all is a core lesion the same as a tear ?

[Rubs_Not_Pats]

I did the every day thing with Rubs 6 days a week and it was a nightmare, she is 60 miles from my house! I do Physical Therapy for myself every other day and I believe every other day is actually more painful. I also think consistant work builds strength.

[SimpleSimon]

@3Spots;2940468

Anyone try trotting every other day, or did you do it everyday? I think I am going to go with every other day for right now. I have just started exercising again myself and I am definitely sore and appreciate the day in-between!

My prescribed trot-schedule is every-other day. I can have more than one walk day in between trot days but at a minimum it was every-other day.

Congrats Rubs!! You must be on Cloud 9!

[Rubs_Not_Pats]

Ongoing Rubs saga day 324 (just kidding but probably close)

So Rubs jumped again today and was very good. We actually did a small course of single X’s. My trainer was trying to get me to focus more on counting out and focusing on my next jump and lo and behold I come around the corner and I am essentially making a u-turn. I didn’t really focus on the jump so much as I knew where it was. As I go cantering up, I realise, it’s no longer an X but a 2’3 verticle! O,K, so I yell at him, " ah, trainer, is that supposed to be a verticle?", at which point he is yelling at me to keep her going, as she is stalling at my indecision. Needless to say, I clamped down, she jumped…Long and big. So what did we learn? Look before you leap and if you biff, you get do overs!

Rubs continues to do well. I think the consensus is that I need to start asking her more questions and stop babying her. She will break or she won’t. We are still very careful about footing and amounts of work we give her but all in all we are zooming light years ahead of where I expected to be at this point. I should clarify, from the beginning of the month, not from the injury itself.

[3Hanns]

Rubs- I am soooo happy for you!!! I knew you all would get here.

Laney is doing great too…I did canter poles w/ her the other day, and she was so excited!!! She nearly bucked me out of the saddle she was so excited :lol:

I see jumping x’s in our future! I know she is fine to do it, but I am just so paranoid…but when I saw how excited she was to jump (she LEAPED over the poles :eek: )…It makes me realize I need to let her start jumping again.

Thanks for the updates!

[Rubs_Not_Pats]

I am happy to hear that Laney is continuing to make progress too! I have to say those first few times with the poles were horrible. It was like I had a psychotic Grand Prix Jumper in a jump off going down to the last fence! It was a constant fight between her looking to jump up in the air, buck, run sideways, etc. My husband, a small animal vet realizing I was going to get hurt, she was going to get loose and our year off was going to be ruined, kept telling me, she needed some outlet. He really felt we were not letting her be a horse. He was right. Life became immensely better after the lunge and none of us are now in immenent danger of being hurt through anything other than my bad distances and poor planning!

[Flying_Hearts]

Please help me to figure out what to do next, I’m at a loss and need some good advice. Here is a quick version of my horse’s history. At age 2, my WB/TB gelding hurt himself in the field - not sure when exactly, he did crash through a 3 board fence and it was around then that he first went lame. Off and on (and off and on and off and on) lame for the next 6 months at least, if not longer, with no good diagnosis from a variety of vets. Some vets are just dumb I think, no offense meant to the good ones

He got much worse in April 2007 (very lame at walk), finally got a diagnosis that made sense - torn collateral ligament in the hoof, OR torn deep digital flexor tendon in the hoof. But no suggestions of how to proceed with treatment, only stories of all the horses he’s known with this injury who didn’t recover…
So I started him on stall rest in April. He showed significant improvement (sound at walk) by mid may, but then he escaped and ran around and went lame again. Started stall rest over again on May 25, 2007. Started handwalking 5-10 minutes a day on December 10 (at 6 1/2 months stall rest). Started him on ace powder 2xday at this point because he was starting to spaz out. With how much he was being crazy in his stall, he made his leg puffy again and before I knew it, he was a little off at the trot again. I quit handwalking him as it seemed to only excite him more to get out, and started letting him into a 17 x 24 area for a few hours a day about a month ago, and have been recently letting him out in there all night.
He is now lame at the walk again, 8 months after we started stall rest, and probably a year and half or so since the original injury.

What are my options now? Stall rest/small enclosures don’t seem to be working. He’s too hyped up. I can try resurpine, although it scares me to death to give him something like that. I have the option of moving him one mile down the road and turning him out in a big flat field. I don’t know if that is going to help him, since when it first happened he was out 24/7 and that was when he would get better, worse, better, worse. Also, I know it will be scary for him and he’d probably have to be super tranq’d for the first few days there - he was born at my old farm and has only been moved once to come to my new farm.

Any suggestions?

[SimpleSimon]

FH - is it possible to take your horse in for an MRI? At least that way you’d know exactly what you were up against. It isn’t cheap or without risk but at this point it might give you a better idea of how to handle his recovery.

[Flying_Hearts]

An MRI is not an option for me financially. Unfortunately. But, I’ve been told that regardless of what it would show, the treatment is going to be the same so in a way it’s a waste of money, unless you are doing one to check on healing progress.

[3Spots]

Flying Heart,

My vet at Alamo said that a medial tear of the collateral ligament of the coffin bone is usually the problem if it’s in the hoof and all xrays and flexions are clean. Somehow I was consoled by it being a popular injury – gave me hope that they knew how to treat it. Nada! Time and rest and hope for the best.

If your guy is too rambunctious in pasture, maybe a smaller turnout would work? You want him to walk around and move, but not torque it.

My vet also recommended eggbars for 8 weeks to stabilize the foot, and of course, firm, level ground.

jan
jan

[yellow_rose]

Flying hearts… If I were you I would without a doubt put him on reserpine. It really is very safe to use and very effective. Especially with a horse that is so young, and, well, this sounds really bad, but still has a “future”… you want to heal this injury best you can for his future soundness

Mine ruptured his medial collateral ligament almost a year ago, injury was also in the hoof. LOTS of stall rest, no hand walking, for a good 8 months. Keeping them quiet is very important to healing this type of injury as it is very slow. He is 11 now and it is doubtful that he will ever return to the same level of competition (former upper level event horse), since he is being rehabbed slowly correctly like the others in this saga of a thread we are pursuing other avenues of work, trail horse extraordinaire… mommy-proof horse… maybe if I am lucky a dressage horse for me…

My point is that I wouldn’t just turn him out and hope for the best, he sounds like a nice young horse that if rehabbed properly will be sound or at least managable

Rubs ---- jeaaallloouussss . My fatty cushings-esque gelding jumped over a puddle in the paddock today, does that count? Good for you

[Rubs_Not_Pats]

Yellow Rose,
You are too funny. We have had another jumping lession and lunge since my last post. I really need to get her down to a workable level. The running sideways thing isn’t too fun and I am so afraid if she gets loose, we are toast. On the flip side, she is going great and jumping really well. I am now getting questions about her coming back in HITS Tucson at the end of the circuit but I really want to wait till fall (why break her now?). I may work her back up and then give her the summer off. She was just part of a feature with her rider, Brenna Bollig about her and a half sister Czia (her name is In THe Czone (Zone)) in COTH last week. I am so happy, I could care less that all we are doing are crossrails. Who cares, I have a sound and obviously exuberant horse!

Flying hearts, look back at my work program, all of Rubs story is on this thread. I did everything possible and had it all reviewed by specialists. The damn animal has a GP, 2 Surgeons, a Radiologist, a Masseuse, and an accupuncturist plus a slew of consulting veterinarian friends. Some of this stuff helped, some was useless.

Reserpine is your friend, use it WITH Ace, turn out is not. Please understand controlled exercise is what is needed. Stall rest isn’t going to do it either. I was told to go with half rounds for shoes. I would go to a rehab facility or a place where there are people who can help you. Skip the ace granules and go for the injectable, give it orally. It can get better, keep faith. I was so there last year.

[Bluehorsesjp]

Rubs you and 3hanns are beacons for the rest of us.

How long was your stall rest before you actually started walking under saddle.

Right now we are at 4 months of stall rest with 30 minutes of hand walking. My recheck is this month. But we are snowed in at the moment, so we might go to 5 months before I actually get to see the vet.
I do get to go to Tucson for 3 weeks so I might end up at 6 months of stall rest and hand walking before I sit on the boy. sigh We are both very tired of hand walking down the snowy driveway.

[Rubs_Not_Pats]

We had a little incident

Well Rubs was looking a little psycho after two weeks of biting at the trot and handwalking due to the rain. I had the barn lunge her and ride her on Friday. She was great. So I set up my lesson for Saturday. Uh, not so great. A loud trailer came by and babies were screaming and Rubs short circuited bad. So, I took her to lunge. I could hardly hold on and I couldn’t stop her. She was running so fast it is amazing she didn’t fall over. I freaked out, thinking, this has to be it for her. She galloped in a tiny circle for a long time before I could stop her. Anyway, I skipped my lesson. The trainer rode her Sunday and she was great and STILL SOUND! When we talked about what happened, the feeling was if she was not lame, chances were she could start jumping more. YIPEE! So I continue marching on, with our goal being the regular working division in late July/August followed by our jumper debut. I am really beginning to think there really is hope here for a useful horse.

[system]

Hi there, am so relieved to hear the success alot of you have had. My horse has been lame on and off for the past year but every time i took her to the vet she would trot up practically sound, i thought i was going crazy until we got him to come to our yard to see her, this was a few weeks ago, he thought it was just a bruised sole as so suggested a weeks box rest. Following this she was no better infact she was now very lame in walk. He took her in for a few days to carry out some tests and now feels that she has damaged her collateral ligaent of her coffin joint, he did not recommend MRI, as i live in ireland we would have to send her to england for this and it would be very expensive. He has started her on a 8 week course of navilox (prev used to treat navicular, it improves bloodflow to areas and so hopefuly encourages healing) aswell as 6-8 weeks box rest prob followed by further 6-8 weeks box rest. He did not say anything about walking her in hand and as she is quite tempermental im reluctant to do so incase she goes mad!!! I’ve read all your stories and some of you have talked about ultrasound ? is this posible for this injury or does the hoof wall preventthis. I was thinking of putting her in foal and giving her a good year off, does this sound like a sensible idea or completly crazy ? some of you have spoke about different types of shoes to help in there treatment, would this be wise even if shes not in work, she has always worn natural balance shoes in the past. I did a search on the internet about this injury and some info came up about foot pads and somthingcalled a steward pad ? has anyone used or heard of these before ? sorry about such a lot of questions but i really know nothing about this

[Rubs_Not_Pats]

My husband called tonight, he is at a vet conference and ran into the reps for Vetstem. They want to potentially do a story on Rubs and do some other things. Very interesting. We are still jumping X-rails with an occassional verticle in the mix. Not pushing and lunging more. So far so good.

[Rubs_Not_Pats]

So we have been jumping Rubs a bit more and she is holding up well at this point. I think she is doing pretty good considering how much we have been asking. We have been doing more verticles and last lesson they were up to 2’3. If this keeps up, we will be back in the ring by summer.

How is everyone else doing?