This bears repeating. Get the ultrasound.
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Iām the paranoid type, so Iāll definitely take it slow.
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If itās a suspensory strain - even ājustā a strain, youāre looking at restricting turnout and a long, gradual increase in exercise. Like, starting with handwalking. It wonāt be quite as long of a road as a tear, but youāre looking at months.
My suspensory horse appeared sound very quickly, and still looks sound.
Maybe you find something, maybe you donāt. Get the ultrasound.
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The vet didnāt seem all that concerned, but I have texted her to ask if she could ultrasound it just to be sure. At her visit, she said this wasnāt the type of injury heād need a long layoff for, but yāall are saying something totally different. She is willing to come do one to settle my worries.
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baseline data is always good.
I too take the approach of a generous rest and slow rehab. Sort of a pay me now or pay me later approach. Every horse benefits from some time off and walks in the trails , if available
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Best case, you ultrasound and see nothing, and can come tell us we were all worry warts!
Iāll say Iām not a vet, but 2 vets missed the issue with my horse entirely, and told me just to rest him a bit and then work him through his āweaknessā. We only found the problem when I insisted on ultrasounds for peace of mind. So, YMMV but Iāve personally learned to pursue a solid diagnosis even if we end up just bute and resting anyways.
Fingers crossed itās nothing at all for your horse and you can be back to work asap!
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Itās okay to listen to your vet. You donāt need to have an extra vet appointment for an u/s unless you want to. You donāt need to appease CoTH.
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True. But listening to some hard-earned experience from fellow horse owners is invaluable.
Vets walk out the door after an appointment. Horse owners have to live through the daily rehab process with all its ups and downs on their own after the vet leaves.
As a horse owner, one should want the correct diagnosis to do the correct rehab. Anything less makes no logical sense and could cost much more money and time in rehab in the end.
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I agree that it is okay to listen to my vet, but I also believe that advocating for ourselves and our horses is the responsible thing to do as well. Iām not concerned about the expense for an ultrasound, and it will ease my lingering worries.
Sheās aiming for Thursday farm call. He seemed sound as can be last night while I was watching him in the pasture.
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IMHO u/s of any ligament/tendon injuries is well worth a baseline. Too many horses have been barely lame with major tears, and some have been really lame with teeny tiny lesions. Knowing where youāre starting lets you figure out where you are in the physical healing process down the road, not just the degree of lame/soundness
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I can not tell you the amount of times I felt we needed to check into something more and then have a vet talk me out of it. Itās burned me badly so many times.
I tell the vets that my peace of mind is worth the money and that I truly hope that I am being a little paranoid and Iām wrong.
Best of luck!! I do hope itās super mild as they think.
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UPDATEāvet came back out yesterday to do the ultrasound, and brought along another senior vet with her (due to some other tasks they were going to tackle for the barn owner), and they gave him another lameness exam. Sound on pavement. They did flexion tests in the arena footing where he was so positive on the initial visit and there was no real notable lameness detected in those flexions, aside from some slight hock soreness he worked out of each time (heās due for his normal hock injections) in both legs. Both vets agreed that they felt an ultrasound would be unwarranted, as theyād have to U/S his entire leg basically. They were both unable to detect any localized area of concern. They both agreed that he appeared very sound and mustāve just ātweakedā it last week.
Their plan: one more week rest, followed by two weeks under saddle W/T, then return to normal light riding as usual.
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Well thatās a great update!! I mean we all have certainly tweak something that hurt badly and ended up being nothing before. Definitely possible!!
Fingers crossed that he comes back into work well.
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After the two weeks off, I did one ride with nothing but walking, one ride with walking and a small amount of trotting, and one ride with WT. On the 3rd ride he appears off on video. Iām so deflated.
She said to stop riding and she will come ultrasound to search for something this week. I really thought he seemed fine. Appears completely sound in pasture and at walk under saddle. Trot fluctuates between ok and gimpy.
Man Iām sorry to hear that. But it certainly sounds like a soft tissue issue. Strain/sprains/tears behave like that.
Jingles for answers, good prognosis, and soundness!
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Iām sorry. Hopefully the Vet will find something simple.
Sending healing vibes from Colorado.
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Donāt feel too bad. The good thing about lower limb is that with the right imaging, there is a decent chance of finding it. Hopefully there will be enough gimp to narrow down with blocks first, but if not, then you can just start imaging. I mean, if you are talking about below the hock, if they ultrasound, theyād probably look at everything anyway (my vets would) the first go round. Then if you find something, do very specific blocking to confirm the findings on another day. Downside is with the hind leg if flexions arenāt helpful and you donāt find anything below, and thereās not enough lameness to block, do you ultrasound the stifle, etc.? Or are you talking MRI territory?
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Thanks guys. Local vet says 2 more weeks pasture rest, followed by one week walking under saddle before reevaluating at a trot. But lameness expert down in Ocala (Dr. Arik Adamsāvery well respected) says to keep walking him under saddle for couple more weeks and then reevaluate the trot. So I donāt know who to follow. LOL
Even when pasture resting an injury, daily hand or tack walking is beneficial to provide the stress needed to tell the body where and how to align the healing tissues. Movement in turnout is irregular and occurs in short bursts that may not provide the consistency needed.
I rode when walking my suspensory injury. Iām hand walking my stifle injury because he finds the landing phase most uncomfortable and I donāt want to add my weight to that. Same horse - he lives outside with a buddy. I still do walking physio.
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This makes sense. Thank you.
