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Re: [RC] collateral ligament injury - Chris PausMarlene, My gelding Star strained his lateral collateral ligament on his left front foot several years ago. I just used tincture of time to heal him (after getting an ultrasound diagnosis). I gave him about 6 weeks off and then started back to light riding, working up to harder pace and intensity. He came back sound. His first ride after his injury was in the Ozarks on hilly, rocky terrain and he finished fine. He's never had a bad step on that leg since. My other gelding, Zab, last winter strained an outer branch suspensory ligament on his left rear. That was much worse to heal. I did keep him confined to the round pen for two months. Used bute for two weeks as the swelling was severe. The vet, who rarely prescribes bute for anything, said this swelling needed to come down. I wrapped the leg and used FArnam's cool green jelly.. amazing stuff! We did another ultrasound at 3 months. His leg still was puffy, but there was no fluid around the suspensory. The vet said Zab might always have a windpuff around there now. I took him to a CTR on Sunday and he did fine. Vetted in well, never a misstep on the ride, vetted in at the end just fine. No deductions for that leg. It does take time, but these things heal. chris --- Marlene Moss <marlene@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: Hi, Has anyone had a horse injure a collateral ligament (just above the hoof capsule to just below, connects P2-P3)? My husband's horse was trotting down a slight hill, around a corner and her inside front slid on some recently moved dirt for erosion control. I saw it out of the corner of my eye, it didn't look like a big deal, but she was off. So he led her home and we've been checking her in the round pen every few days. It seemed to get a little worse (head bobbing turning to the right) and she seemed very tentative where she is normally a big mover. The last couple days it seemed a little better, hardly any head bobbing, but just not moving normally. We finally made it to a vet with her (Dr. Barbara Page, who is well known for working with lameness) and she did an ultrasound to confirm the injury. She prescribed stall rest for a month with 5 minutes of hand walking a day, then a re-check to determine where to go from there. Quite a bit different from out 24x7 on 40 acres of fairly steep hills and we'll have to keep her in with another horse or it will NOT be stall rest! Has anyone had an injury like this - how long did it take to heal? One thing I thought of after we left was that I have a TENS unit which I know some people have had success with helping tendons to heal. Any thoughts or experiences on using that for this injury? I'll be calling Dr. Page tomorrow to ask, but would like to hear about other's experiences as well. We will do whatever is necessary for a safe and complete recovery, but the prognosis isn't clear yet. Thanks for any advice or opinions! Marlene Marlene Moss www.KineticEquineAnalysis 719-351-5037 (cell) 719-748-9073 (home) ===== "A good horse makes short miles," George Eliot Chris and Star BayRab Acres http://pages.prodigy.net/paus ============================================================ Many of the endurance riders in our top echelons of competition, now and in the past, exemplify the 'common man' not the hierocracy. It is this possibility, this chance to come to the fore, that makes endurance competition of the Aussie/American type so much more desirable to part of the world. ~ Bob Morris ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/ ============================================================
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