Ideas on Suspensory damage...

I'd like some ideas onmy gelding's diagnosis to his suspensories (treatments that help healing, whether or not he'll be back to normal). He has been recieving shockwave- but, any ideas?

Results from ultrasounds to his suspensories:
"LH Ultrasound: NAF at origin. Body is enlarged with poor margin definition and plantar bowing, NSF at medial branch of the suspenory, enlargement with minor insertion avulsion."
"RH Ultrasound: NSF at SDF, DDF, OSL, SSl, and medial branch. Lateral branch has moderate desmitis with avulsion and tearing."

Tags: Injury, Suspensory, Vet, horse care, horse health, horse injuries, suspensory damage

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Permalink Reply by Sarah Knight on December 30, 2009 at 7:37pm

Leading them around under saddle was huge for a couple of the horses I worked with, also with the short turn outs, sedation was a must.

I am a huge believer in game readies. WORTH EVERY PENNY. What they do is combine ice and pressure in away that ice packs and leg wraps can't. They're about 5000$ to buy, I have no idea how much to rent. but are well worth it. I wouldn't say they solved my issues, but they sure aided in recovery. I saw absolutely huge differences in the swelling before and after using it. We had quite a few lame horses in our barn that benifited. If you were to invest in one (or see about gettng a few owners or the barn in together) the benifits go beyond injury. Using it after work is really helpful as well, espescially if your boy recovers, but still has scarring and other issues from his injury. At shows I found it helped to keep horses sound for the long weekends. It also seemed to make a huge difference with horses that intermittent lameness with no good diagnosis. (I also enjoyed using it on my legs after a long day on my feet!) Also with the amount of money we spend on horses, in the long run, i think its a very good investment! I think it saved me a couple of lameness exams.

http://intl.gamereadyequine.com/
http://intl.gamereadyequine.com/science/CaseStudies/SuspensoryDesmi...

massage therapy might not be a bad idea to look into, i don't know how much it would do with a suspensory injury, but i know that favoring a leg will throw everything else off and working out some of the kinks may help him feel better in general, especially if he's on stall rest for a long time. My horse had a bone deformity and I was definately able to see an improvement in his gait after every appointment. Also a massage therapist can show you some good stretches which can also help. My attiude is treat it just like you would a high performance athlete.

Good Luck!!! I've seen a couple of horses make a full recovery back into work after a suspensory damage.