It was suggested to me to listen to the horse first podcast with Dr. Audrey Declue because my horse was diagnosed with bilateral proximal suspensory desmitis secondary to conformation. I listened to the podcast about suspensories and then decided I needed to listen to the rest of them from the beginning to get a more well rounded idea of what she was talking about.
First of all, I’m very confused at the wide range of treatment modalities and how conflicting they are depending on where you’re at in the world. Mainly the idea of turn out versus stall rest. Dr. Glass from Texas A&M specifically said having him be turned out 24/7 is what prevented these injuries from ever healing in the first place. Secondly he had 7 weeks of 24/7 turn out with no riding and he came back absolutely worse than before. This was before his diagnosis because he had a wall resection done and I turned him out.
This podcast is helpful because on one hand it’s giving me hope that he might have a future, but on the other hand I’m having to reconcile with the conflicting information about what’s going to make him better versus what my vet is telling us to do. I’m down for doing the small paddock rest because it’s something different and doing the same thing and expecting different results is the definition of insanity.
Dr. Declue remarks on how stall rest is bad for horses mentally and physically because it leads to muscle loss and that will dispose him to even more injury and destabilize his joints. I just don’t know how I’m expected to maintain his muscles when we can only walk 10-15 minutes twice a day. We go back on December 1st for a repeat ultrasound to see if we are on the right track. He got a round of PRP, one shock wave session, and adequan. The vet suggested multiple rounds of shockwave but at $700 a treatment every other week that’s just out of my price range. Is it going to be the same price everywhere? I need to start calling around to other local vets to see about it. I’m using back on track hock boots and quick wraps to promote blood flow.
Dr. Declue talks about body lameness and treating the body not just the limbs. That suspensory issues are secondary to more issues up high. My horse did present as an SI case and I was expecting that to be the issue. His vet said primary SI issues are very bad and we don’t want that but honestly what he has seems just as bad to me! From a biomechanics standpoint I know my horse had back pain because the suspensory connects directly below the SI and acts as a lever system to create pain and tension. Dr. Declue says that after rehab when you go back to ride and the lameness comes back, then you treated the wrong problem. I’m so worried about this. My horse has had chronic pelvis issues and we still don’t know what that is or how many secondary issues we can blame on the suspensory desmitis. His body worker says his right hip has always been pulled forward on that side. This has been present ever since he was started 2 years ago. (Has been prophylactically treated for ulcers and is currently being treated as a precaution for those that know about the right sided problems and ulcers)
I’m hoping that as I continue to go through these podcasts that I’ll get more information because she says once she treats the body the lameness goes away. But she never says what she does to treat the body. She never talks about what conditions of the back or pelvis can cause these issues in the limbs. I’m on her episode about rehabilitation. She discusses lunging with the purpose of rhythm and relaxation which makes sense (we are far away from that yet). She’s made some leading remarks about treating inflammation as the cause of body lameness. Perhaps I’ll get to it in the podcasts but I want to know if any of you know what she’s talking about when she says the treats the “body lameness”. What is the lameness? What is the treatment? If there’s going to be something higher up than the suspensory in my horse it has to be somewhere in his pelvis or lumbosacral area.
(I understand for liability reasons she can’t totally divulge treatment plans. But how it’s coming off sometimes is “I have the secret and it’s for me to know and you not to find out!” Which seems contrary to me since it’s called the horse first. 
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