“Rehabbing” very old suspensory injury

[fivestrideline]

I have a friend whose horse injured a hind suspensory ~8 years ago. They chose not to do anything besides retire and turn the horse out, as the horse lives at home and his owner was busy anyways. Now they are lightly considering bringing him back.

I was wondering what the best course of action might be, for my own curiosity. Would an ultrasound of a horse that’s been sitting for 8 years be worth it? To see what they’re working with? I’ve done the traditional fresh suspensory rehab, but nothing this old. Obviously they want the best for the horse, but I’m just wondering what the timeline and special considerations might look like. Months of handwalking and then tack walking like a fresh injury, or a more general back-to-work routine of a very out of shape horse?

FWIW he’s apparently sound in turnout, and has plenty of room to rip snort around. I doubt anyone would know he’d had an injury, if they didn’t know his story.

[Highflyer1]

I would definitely consider ultrasounding first, but at this point I would expect that it’s either 100 percent healed or it isn’t. If it is he is it’s probably fine to start back up slowly like any unfit horse (although I would be very cautious introducing deep footing if he’s been living on grass for years and just do a few minutes at a time to start). If it isn’t, it’s likely chronic and isn’t going to heal 100 percent or hold up to more than the occasional very light hack no matter how much or little tack walking they do.

I guess if they are considering doing ring work or jumping or going for an hour plus trail rides with trotting and cantering I’d probably ultrasound. If they are going to go for a walk on a nice day I probably wouldn’t worry about it.

[fivestrideline]

@Highflyer1

I guess if they are considering doing ring work or jumping or going for an hour plus trail rides with trotting and cantering I’d probably ultrasound. If they are going to go for a walk on a nice day I probably wouldn’t worry about it.

They want to sell him, or lease him, and I guess the hope is to do hunters or dressage.

I was thinking that at this point there’s no healing the injury, but managing it. I just wasn’t sure if any sort of strategy would change the outcome (besides a smart return to work and avoiding deep sand) or if it’s more of a “see what he can hold up to” situation.

[Highflyer1]

I would definitely ultrasound him in that case.

[Bonnie2]

I wouldn’t go to the expense of ultrasounding. If the leg looks pretty normal and the horse appears sound chances are all the ultrasound would show is an area of lower quality fiber patterns, ie a “scar”. Bring him back to work sensibly like any horse that has been on a long vacation and disclose the previous injury. Hopefully Dr. Green has done the trick. Best of luck!

[Laurierace]

I wouldn’t ultrasound now. Just start slow and see how it goes.

[Turfqueen]

Just curious, what was the injury to the hind suspensory?

I think I would get an ultrasound just to see what’s up, especially if you have old images to compare.

[fivestrideline]

I believe the horse was at the trainer’s and just came up lame one day. It took a lameness locator to find it, they have the original dx ultrasounds and that’s it. They brought the horse home, did some NSAIDs and turned him out.

I have no idea if it was a strain, tear, thickening, etc. but it wasn’t bad enough for the vet to recommend against Dr Green.