Suspensory Injury Rehab, Prognosis, and Help?

Mine injured his hind suspensory 8 1/2 years ago. High and partial tear away from the outer sesamoid.

I treated the swelling for a week before calling in the vet (who appreciated having the acute swelling reduced so she could see better with the ultrasound). We started with 60 days of stall rest with hand walking. We also did shockwave every two weeks, three treatments. Yes, it was expensive, and I picked up extra work to pay for it.

Daily protocol included cold hosing twice a day, with clay poultice under paper and standing wraps day and night until the heat was gone. Hand walking twice a day for 10min, increasing quickly to 20 min twice daily. I too very quickly moved to saddle walking (though mostly saddle-less) but not because my horse was better behaved. It was just more interesting.

I kept the injured leg wrapped all the time, and the other hind as well. After the heat went I started using Back on Track no bows during the day, and poultice wraps at night. At some point I quit doing poultice wraps, and left the sound leg unwrapped during the day (still wrapped it at night).

Initial turnout was in an area 4-5 times the size of his stall. He stayed in that while I increased his saddle time, and started trotting a bit. Then he moved to a larger but still small paddock for a month or so while his workload increased. He lived out 24/7 for the last week or two in that paddock, then went back in with his herd.

I did have a follow up ultrasound after the 60 days of stall rest and the vet said his suspensory looked like that of a horse half his age. It healed very well, and I was conservative in his return to work.

Complications during recovery included mildly bruised front feet (he was turned out in boots during the day, and had iodine & Epsom salt poultices to harden his feet) and a sore back (he wore a Back on Track back pad at night for a week or so).

He has not had an issue with the old injury, and I stopped worrying about it somewhere between two and three years afterwards.

Honestly, I would stall her with Reserpine. The first time you turn her out, you may need to stack some Ace on top of it so she doesn’t go crazy when turned out for the first time.

This is a serious injury, and healing could take a year or more. Six weeks in, you wouldn’t necessarily see improvement. Sending best wishes for your horse’s recovery.