suspensory ligament damage

horsemadmandy

horsemadmandy

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Sep 14, 2005
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wootton bassett
Hi - I have a friend who is looking for a companion home for her pony with suspensory ligament damage. What are the chances of a pony being rideable again with enough time to rest ? I will be trying to find a local home for the fella so would like to know a little more about his injury. Many Thanks
 
I know a horse with a injury like that, who over time healed well enough to be a hack, he made a very good recovery and even pops over the odd jump.. but it took a long time, a year or so I think..
 
I think it greatly depends on the severity of the damage. A friends pony had minor damage to it, healed within 6 months enough to be brought back into gentle exercise, within 18 month was back out hunting....a friends horse had more damage and took a year to get back to decent hacking but has been on/off lame ever since unfortunately :(
 
horsemadmandy said:
Hi - I have a friend who is looking for a companion home for her pony with suspensory ligament damage. What are the chances of a pony being rideable again with enough time to rest ? I will be trying to find a local home for the fella so would like to know a little more about his injury. Many Thanks
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HOw longs a piece of string?! Sorry, not helpful but I have rather a lot of (bad) experience with suspensory ligament damage.
Our beautiful tb Joe who is no longer with us damaged his a few years ago. The injury recovered but then he damaged the other leg (this is quite common apparently as they put more strain on the "well" leg)
After years of interspersed box rest, vet visits, scans and gradual return to happy hacking and tiny amounts of schooling he finally damaged it beyond repair. This is not a happy tale and I am sorry if it comes across as gloomy, but the long term outlook for a damaged suspensory ligament depending on the initial damage is not always very good.
It is advisable to have it scanned to see the extent of the damage - then you know what you are dealing with. Over the years it became a weak spot for JOe and eventually his fetlock dropped and he had to be pts. His poor conformation did not help him - so on that basis, each case is of course individual.
I would recommend your friend follow her vets advice to the LETTER as this type of injury really does only get better following the things you do right at the beginning, ie not doing too much too soon.
I learnt the hard way with JOe, it was often back to square one on more than one occasion. Its hard seeing them on box rest, just like its hard walking them in-hand for 10 minutes a day after they've been caged in for days on end.......not the easiest of injuries to cope with.
Turnout following this type of damage is a nightmare too, I highly recommend sedation initially and turning out with something calm and laid back - ensuring there is plenty of grass to keep them occupied! You can see all the hard work coming unravelled in moments if they get hoolying.
Sorry to hear about your friends pony, but I think yes, in time they can be rideable but you have to take into account that it may always be a weak spot - of course her vet will advise her.
I presume your friend has been told she can't do what she wants with her pony hence looking for a new home for him? It really does depend on the extent of the damage.
 
Just wanted to add; if the injury is quite fresh when she does eventually turn him out again, tell her to ask her vet if turnout boots will help. I wish I'd thought to ask at the time when JOe damaged his first time, but I didn't and apparently they might have helped the recovery - and offered quite a bit of protection in the field. (I know vets can be a tad non-commital but its worth asking).
 
My pony probably has damaged her suspensory ligament. She is currently on box rest on bute butvet is hopeful that she will be able to go back to working as first pony for my children including walk, trot snd canter plus small x poles but as Trewsers said they can't be specific until she has had nerve blocks and x-rays etc.

I did have a loan pony who did his suspensory ligament too and although he was returned to his owner (it seemed he probably did it before i had him as was start of the loan) he had shockwave treatment and box rest and after 10 months was out competing again in trailblazers SJ with his owners friend.

So i am being hopeful and optimistic but i'm not so sure i would take on a suspensory ligament damage without insurance covering the treatment eg. take on a pony who already had suspensory trouble
 
laceyfreckle said:
So i am being hopeful and optimistic but i'm not so sure i would take on a suspensory ligament damage without insurance covering the treatment eg. take on a pony who already had suspensory trouble
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Yes definitely, the insurance was a real god-send for us with Joe. Over the years of course they excluded it (he kept on re-damaging it) but it was great that it was covered to start with.

Lacey - do hope your pony is okay I didn't realise it was suspensory damage. Fingers crossed for a good outcome.
 
Trewsers said:
Yes definitely, the insurance was a real god-send for us with Joe. Over the years of course they excluded it (he kept on re-damaging it) but it was great that it was covered to start with.

Lacey - do hope your pony is okay I didn't realise it was suspensory damage. Fingers crossed for a good outcome.
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That's ok Trewsers, yes definitely long long term is a bit of a worry and without insurance she would almost defintly just had box rest and then probably been a pasture ornament even this time around, bit like the situation of the pony in OP's post. Although vet did say if we didn't go down the 'treating route' she may recover with just 2 months box rest and extensive rest at grass (about a year all told) but wouldn't neccesarily know until she was brought back into work and then she would either cope or not cope and be at beginning again.

It isn't definite yet, vet won't say for definite until she's had nerve blocks and x-rays but it looking that way as it has a thickening when felt and the other hind doesn't.

Luckily she is a angel on box rest although must admit that she is more mechanically lame since she has been on box rest and 2 sachets of bute a day so i'm not that hopeful of her being sound after she's done 2 weeks box rest so reckon investigations will need to be done.
 
laceyfreckle said:
Luckily she is a angel on box rest although must admit that she is more mechanically lame since she has been on box rest and 2 sachets of bute a day so i'm not that hopeful of her being sound after she's done 2 weeks box rest so reckon investigations will need to be done.
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Thats not so bad if she's okay with box rest - Joe was always so good. He coped really well until one time we had to walk him out in-hand and he really flipped - 16.2hh of horse isn't good on its back legs!lol
Its so hard for them though isn't it?
 
Trewsers said:
Thats not so bad if she's okay with box rest - Joe was always so good. He coped really well until one time we had to walk him out in-hand and he really flipped - 16.2hh of horse isn't good on its back legs!lol
Its so hard for them though isn't it?
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she has been so good so far. Even non horsey OH has been fine with seeing to her. My little boy has been in hospital for a few days with his MCADD so hubby got thrown in the deep end! (they would normally be out, Harvey is) She has been very polite so far and her only odd time was when i took her out of her stable just to give it a proper muck out (put her in another stable) and when it went to putting her back in hers she stood for a few minutes with a despondent look and refused to move, but soon relented. One of the reasons i have persevered with her is simply because her temperment is so good and hard to find in a kids pony. On the plus side farrier and vet have said the effect of her last lami attack is now 100% better and she probably doesn't need shoes as she is growing good feet at last!

ETA: Yep, i definitely think 12.2hh on box rest is easier lol
 
Thank you so much for the advice - I guess I need to ask more questions - I know he has had inpatient vet treatment and box rest but other than that I do not know the extent of his injuries - They will know so I will ask exactly where the damage is - Such a shame that this has happened to him and I would take him on myself if I had a field and a stack of money x
 
laceyfreckle said:
she has been so good so far. Even non horsey OH has been fine with seeing to her. My little boy has been in hospital for a few days with his MCADD so hubby got thrown in the deep end! (they would normally be out, Harvey is) She has been very polite so far and her only odd time was when i took her out of her stable just to give it a proper muck out (put her in another stable) and when it went to putting her back in hers she stood for a few minutes with a despondent look and refused to move, but soon relented. One of the reasons i have persevered with her is simply because her temperment is so good and hard to find in a kids pony. On the plus side farrier and vet have said the effect of her last lami attack is now 100% better and she probably doesn't need shoes as she is growing good feet at last!

ETA: Yep, i definitely think 12.2hh on box rest is easier lol
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Aw, hope your little lad is okay! Glad pone has been okay for your hubby too, she must be a good sort. Thats great if she can do without shoes too!
 
horsemadmandy said:
Thank you so much for the advice - I guess I need to ask more questions - I know he has had inpatient vet treatment and box rest but other than that I do not know the extent of his injuries - They will know so I will ask exactly where the damage is - Such a shame that this has happened to him and I would take him on myself if I had a field and a stack of money x
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Fingers crossed that the injury isn't that bad and he can come sound again and resume light work. I know what you mean about if you had the field and the money - its a shame for them isn't it? As I said, it needn't be the end of his career as such, just depends on the damage done. Good luck to your friend and her horse.
 
TBH, when the horse came onto the yard, and a SLI was suspected, we all felt he would never come sound.. she bought him off a dealer, he must have been buted up when she tried him, as at that time he was sound..
He also had a terrible time with foot abscesses, I mean over a twelve month period he had one after another some times even two at once! And at one point the vet even suggested PTS, as he had so much going on at once..
In a way, I think the amount of time he ended up spending on box rest due to the abscesses probably helped his SLI heal, but she had a terrible time of it, she was a first time horse owner, and she'd had the worst start in ownership..
 
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