Does anyone have any experience with this injury??? If so, what was your treatment plan and success?? I am devastated. 
Hi Melissa. Yes, I have more experience with this particular injury than Iâd like to have. My TB sustained a partially severed superficial flexor tendon in 2003. I decided to have it surgically repaired and although he was initially doing well out of surgery, the area soon denegrated to infection (while at the equine hospital) and the tendon upon ultrasound was showing as completely severed.
We finally got the infection under control (which also involved his tendon sheath) with gel amikacin injected into the site of the infection. He was basically kept in a stall from mid-July 2003 to March 2004, with rehab that included lots of handwalking. He did not have a wedge at this time.
He was finally cleared for light turnout in March, and then very light under saddle work (straight lines only) in May. He was still âoffâ at the trot under saddle, and although the vet said this was because adhesions were breaking near the injury site (supposedly a good thing), I had a hard time (mentally) riding a horse that was lame. Also, he didnât keep shoes very well because of that âoddityâ in his gait, so trying to keep him from being foot sore was a constant struggle on top of everything.
I finally decided to retire him as I just couldnât seem to get him 100% sound. I wish I had a better more uplifting story to tell you. I was told at the time that I was extremely lucky that he ended up as sound as he did. It is now 2013, so perhaps (or at least I hope) theyâve made some advances in treatment for this injury.
Youâre more likely to get responses on the Horse Care board.
Hope things turn out well for you.
Please see my response in Horse Care. I had a mare with a severed SDFT and an 80% tear of her DDFT. That was 10 years ago. Mare is now 17 and going strong - competing in Beginner Novice horse trials and has won a couple of them! Will be happy to answer any questions! It was a LONG recovery but SO worth it. I do know we had the best possible outcome and her recovery was better than anyone expected the day she was injured. However, my vet also said that most horses donât recover as well because their owners/vets donât give them the chance to recover (that is, they give up too soon or immediately accept the fact they will only be pasture sound.)
[QUOTE=inca;6960187]
However, my vet also said that most horses donât recover as well because their owners/vets donât give them the chance to recover (that is, they give up too soon or immediately accept the fact they will only be pasture sound.)[/QUOTE]
^ This!
Most owners are not as âpatient compliantâ as they need to be when it comes to tendon recoveries: those Iâve seen, want to take the horse âout of the boxâ too soon or are not willing to use as much medication as needed to keep horse âquietâ.
Itâs a long road & there are no guarantees either way, some vets would have you believe that if youâd only complete new $$$$ technologies, youâd have the recovery you want; other vets are less convinced (the data is NOT that clear cut, there are some excellent outcomes, others not so much).
As with any procedure there is always the individual patient component, some are just metabolically âbetterâ at healing âŠ
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[QUOTE=alto;6960349]
^ This!
Most owners are not as âpatient compliantâ as they need to be when it comes to tendon recoveries: those Iâve seen, want to take the horse âout of the boxâ too soon or are not willing to use as much medication as needed to keep horse âquietâ.
Itâs a long road & there are no guarantees either way, some vets would have you believe that if youâd only complete new $$$$ technologies, youâd have the recovery you want; other vets are less convinced (the data is NOT that clear cut, there are some excellent outcomes, others not so much).
As with any procedure there is always the individual patient component, some are just metabolically âbetterâ at healing âŠ[/QUOTE]
Just in case there is any question, the above was NOT the case with me. I did everything in my power to slowly bring my horse back. It just simply wasnât going to happen. I would also say that dealing with a partial tear is not in the same ballpark as dealing with a full severing of the tendon.
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My mare had a completely severed superficial digital flexor tendon AND an 80% tear of her deep digital flexor tendon. We were not sure she was going to live at first because if she had foundered on her other hind, there would have been no choice but to put her down.
That being said, not every case as severe as hers is going to result in a full recovery.
I didnât mean to imply that anyone posting here did not give their horse the required time and care. Just that in my vetâs experience, owners and vets tend to write a horse off with an injury like my mareâs, instead of going through the VERY long and time-consuming rehab process. Not everyone can deal with a horse on stall rest for 9 months nor has the time or ability to hand walk every day for 5 or 6 months. It is a major, major commitment without a guaranteed outcome.
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[QUOTE=inca;6961134]
My mare had a completely severed superficial digital flexor tendon AND an 80% tear of her deep digital flexor tendon. We were not sure she was going to live at first because if she had foundered on her other hind, there would have been no choice but to put her down.
That being said, not every case as severe as hers is going to result in a full recovery.
I didnât mean to imply that anyone posting here did not give their horse the required time and care. Just that in my vetâs experience, owners and vets tend to write a horse off with an injury like my mareâs, instead of going through the VERY long and time-consuming rehab process. Not everyone can deal with a horse on stall rest for 9 months nor has the time or ability to hand walk every day for 5 or 6 months. It is a major, major commitment without a guaranteed outcome.[/QUOTE]
You are rightâŠyou are INCREDIBLY LUCKY with the outcome of your horse given her injury. Iâd say youâre the exception rather than the rule. I think your vet is making a generalization about ânon committalâ owners, and as someone who did everything I could have, it is really offensive. I can rest easy saying there is literally nothing more that I could have done for my horse, including spending over $30k and 2 years of my life trying to rehab him to save him. You say you donât mean to âimplyâ, then follow it up with a paragraph about how not every owner can go the extra mile. Iâd suggest that many owners can and DO (just like you!), and unfortunately it STILL doesnât work out.
OP, I certainly hope your specific case has as wonderful of an ending as some of the stories you read here, but I also want to caution you that Iâm sure many many more folks could come on here and give you their heartbreaking tales. One of the most difficult things for me during my very long process with my horse, was realizing that it wasnât just about how his leg healed, but also how is affected him in other parts of his bodyâŠhow his feet didnât grow right because he didnât walk soundâŠor how he would injure himself a lot afterwards because, again, he walked with an oddity and would âcatchâ himself. He developed arthritis in his hip from being in a stall for 8 months because of the injury, even though he was only 7 years old. I had to really adjust my expectationsâŠfrom wanting him to still be my competition horseâŠto then hoping heâd be sound for pleasure/trails, to eventually just hoping he would be pain-free as a pasture ornament. Ironically, I posted on this BB too way back, hoping for success stories, but I got a dribbling just like you are gettingâŠand then just needed to deal with my own reality, because every case (and horse) is so different. I am hoping that with stem cell treatment, you may have a better outcome than I didâŠso I am rooting for you.
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Really, you are reading WAY TOO MUCH into what I said. You obviously did everything you could and went ABOVE AND BEYOND for your horse. Iâm sorry it didnât have a good outcome.
My vetâs comment was not directed at you or other people like you and it really was not even a criticism. It was based on the reality that not everyone can commit the time and money to a rehab that has an uncertain outcome. So, SOME people and their vets decide up front that the best outcome is pasture sound and proceed accordingly. And frankly, there is nothing wrong with that.
Again, NOTHING I said was directed at you or ANYONE on this thread. It was merely an observation that a vet at a very large university facility said and it was based on his experience.
The point I was trying to convey to the OP was donât give up hope. It can have a good outcome. (And I almost gave up several times during my mareâs rehab and I know how overwhelming it can be.)
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Iâm sorry that your horse did not have a better outcome.
I do know one person that is on year 2 of rehab & has done everything possible for her horse, unfortunately her horse is far from an ideal patient (also does not respond well to the medications currently available) & predicted successful outcome is rather less that 30% âŠ
Melissa D. best wishes for you & your horse.
Iâm jumping on this thread years laterâŠbut my issue is the same. âAltoâ Iâve been trying to find your original story to see more specifics.
I bought a halter broke (unhandled in every other way) 3yr old Clyde/TB mare for a low level eventing prospect. 10 days later (last Tuesday) after a freak accident she severed her hind left SDFT, everything else was intact. She is surrently at VA TECH hospital being treated. I chose not to reattach it surgically (it was $15K) but opted for the preserve her life and have a pasture sound horse option for $5K. Sheâll be there a couple more weeks but is doing well. No tendon sheath involvement, healing well, no infection, is now applying equal weight on both hinds and walking around in her stall.
Iâm super interested in all that I can do to possibly have a light riding horse. I would love any and all the advice/stories/experiences on what works well (length of rest/pasture turn out/ timing, etc) to give me the best possible chance of having her ridable. Iâm completely prepared for her to be a pet, but would love to have a chance at riding her one day. I just want to try to do everything right. I am aware that I can do everything right and still not have a riding horse but would like to my best.
Any advice will be appreciated.
Thanks - Melissa V.
Follow your vetâs advice to the âT.â And be patient. My mare recovered and went on to do Novice horse trials. But, it was a LONG road and there were times it seemed hopeless. I still vividly remember sitting on the floor at the vet hospital crying when I picked my mare up from her initial stay. It was all so overwhelming. I also remember crying when we were supposed to be cleared to start trotting in hand and we werenât.
My mareâs injury was even worse because she had an 80% tear of her DDFT also. It seemed like she wasnât getting any better for months and then it seemed like all of a sudden she started making small improvements. Itâs really, really hard. My mare had a great attitude the whole 9 months of stall rest, which helped a lot.
