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My daughters 4-H pony injured his deep-flexor tendon as it attaches to the coffin bone on his right hind, the vet thinks. It has been since Nov. that he has been lame. He has had the joint cortisoned 2 times, once in Jan. and last Monday. My shoer says that if the cortisone works, it is a joint issue, not the tendon. The vet said to start riding him this weekend for 2 weeks, bring him back adn see how the pony goes  after the vet flexes the ankle. He flexed it in March. and the pony went off almost sound. Monday when the vet flexed it he went off almost dead lame. The vet seems to think it has been enough time for the tendon to repair and that it is not a tendon issue anymore. He seems to think that cortisone every 2 months for the rest of the ponys life(he is only 11) may make him rideable for a light weight rider. If the tendon is still damaged, I don't want to injure it if it has a chance of healing. Anyone familiar with this type of injury?  He has hard lumps on each side of leg just above the ankle joint. Beccy in Ut