tendons

[ceej]

Oscar had a tendon injury and spend a year off work. vet has declared him sound now and when he comes to me i will still take it slowly but I am wondering whether he ought to be in soem decent boots?

I am generally of ths ilk that if you wear support all the time your muscles become weaker because they dont strengthen themselves and that you only really need them when facing additional stress, but because he has had an injury do you think he ought to wear themall the time, or when doing flatwork, etc?

can anyone recommend a decent pair?

[fimacg]

Are you keeping Oscar then? I thought you had decided you couldn't , I must have missed the next bit.

A friend with a novice event horse who suffered a tendon injury used to used neoprene turnout chaps for when in the field, and the stretch and flex boots when bringing him back into work after a year off work, he went back to eventing as well.

[ceej]

yeah theres another thread on members only....it didnt seem to matter how much I said no it just kept happening! Mind you, not all in place yet - coudl go tits up!

I like the stretch and flex ones - hmmm he's look lovely in white!!!

[racaille]

Not sure ... I'm assuming the injury was a strain rather than a knock? I think boots only protect against knocks so I'm not sure how much good they'd do and I sort of feel that leaving them alone is best but making sure you do far more warm-up than you might usually. personally I don't like to see horses worked systematically in polo bandages for instance (unless playing polo, obviously!)

[duckles]

Not sure if this will be of any help but a friend of mine had a horse with a tendon injury. He was on box rest for ages and then off work for a year. The farrier had to something with his shoes, i forget what. At first she was really fussy about wearing tendon boots when she rode him. - but can't remember seeing them on him for ages. For the first year after he came back into work, he could go a bit lame from time to time, but now hes fine. The only thing she has to watch is jumping on hard ground, so she just doesn't do that. He couldn't do a lot of jumping but can hack, hunt etc he did riding club eventing as well. He was about 6 (I think he got the injury) and the vet originally advised her to put him down! SO he has more or less fully recovered- and has been lame free for 3 or 4 years.. I think his injury (and a lot of others) can be caused by too much work too young.

[hollyvj]

Hi Ceej. Don't know if this will be of any help, I asked my vet wether to boot my horse after his injury and she said it wasn't necessary as they could support the tendon he injured.

[brigadier]

Hi Ceej
its one of those areas where you do get a lot of different opinions. I personally would boot up for lungeing to prevent knocks (which is regardless of injury or not) and I would bandage if I was doing jumping or fast work but not for usual work such as hacking etc. If you look at racehorses with 'leg trouble' (nearly always tendon) they will always race/jump them in bandages so research must show that they support/protect the legs. More money is invested into research with sport injury with racehorses so I would follow their lead.

[ceej]

Dec 8, 2008 19:08:55 GMT duckles said:

Not sure if this will be of any help but a friend of mine had a horse with a tendon injury. He was on box rest for ages and then off work for a year. The farrier had to something with his shoes, i forget what. At first she was really fussy about wearing tendon boots when she rode him. - but can't remember seeing them on him for ages. For the first year after he came back into work, he could go a bit lame from time to time, but now hes fine. The only thing she has to watch is jumping on hard ground, so she just doesn't do that. He couldn't do a lot of jumping but can hack, hunt etc he did riding club eventing as well. He was about 6 (I think he got the injury) and the vet originally advised her to put him down! SO he has more or less fully recovered- and has been lame free for 3 or 4 years.. I think his injury (and a lot of others) can be caused by too much work too young.

my god this IS oscar!!!

[ceej]

yes I think the general feel is not to over boot, which is what I was thinking - allow him to strengthen his own tendon but use boots when added stress...which is the gist of what I get from most posts here....

how is yours holly? how did he hurt yours do you know?

[hollyvj]

He's getting better, he's now on controlled exercise.
He's got a conformation fault on the hoof of the leg he injured which has put extra strain on the tendon added to age and perhaps a bit of looning round the field. After this and with his age I'm thinking of just letting him become a happy hacker.

[brigadier]

nothing wrong with a happy hacker!

[spotti]

Happy hackers are the best! (especially if you're happy when hacking)

As for the boots thing, I'd agree with Racaille - stay away from boots unless absolutely necessary. I think as long as you take things slowly and allow him time to warm up and strengthen the tendon on his own then he should be ok (please bear in mind I have no experience with tendons lol). I'd maybe put boots on for lungeing or jumping or lateral/fancy flatwork but general riding I'd leave him be...

[Becca]

I'm not a boot person, bernie has legs of steel (touching anything wood like) but i agree with the general feel that boots for harder work and lunging are all you would need.

My friends mare did both her suspensory ligaments (ok not tendons but still) and has never been booted for it, she is a happyhack/mad arab

[flyingfox]

i always put brushing and over reach boots on mine, just incase he catchs himself, which he did quiet a bit last winter. i think it seems to be a personal choice. am sure your vet would be best person to ask.