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  Discussion on Suspensory Desmitis in a weanling
Author Message
New Member:
Cmcrill

Posted on Tuesday, Jul 12, 2005 - 10:11 pm:

I had the bad luck of having my weanling filly develop bilateral foreleg proximal and midbody suspensory desmitis after running around excessively on hard/frozen ground last winter and probably slipping. It was undiagnosed for a few weeks which probably contributed to the problem. She was on stall rest for 2 months, then 2 months of handwalking, and most recently 6 weeks of limited turnout in a small pen. She has improved at each checkup by ultrasound and has not had recurrent lameness since diagnosis. She was rechecked today (now 6 months since the injury) and still improving but not 100% so we are going to keep her on limited but increased turnout. She has no major conformational problems and is a warmblood/thoroughbred cross. There is no sign of any other tendon or ligament damage.
My questions are: anyone else have experience with suspensory injuries in horses this young? Any information on prognosis in a horse this age - i.e. should it affect her when she's older? Of course she has 2 years before she'll be ridden. Would anyone have tried shock wave or A-cell treatments with this case?
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Jul 13, 2005 - 9:49 am:

Concerning the prognosis, your progress suggests things are going well but treatment options and long term depends on the degree of disruption in your filly's ligament, something we don't know. Can you accurately describe the amount of damage and what does your vet say?
DrO
New Member:
Cmcrill

Posted on Wednesday, Jul 13, 2005 - 9:15 pm:

At initial diagnosis, the filly had "marked enlargement" of both front suspensories. They said the ligaments were almost doubled in size compared to normal (normal being .8-1.2 cm in diameter and her's were around 2.0 cm.) At the 2nd checkup, 2 months later, things were improving but not as quickly as they had hoped. At this point we started handwalking. The 3rd checkup, another 2 months later,showed continued improvement but still with enlargement of both front suspensories, but I can't quote you the numbers. Her most recent check was yesterday, 6 weeks after initiating restricted turnout, with what they said was the most improvement so far, significant improvement in the fiber pattern but still enlarged. The vet, Dr. White at Virginia Tech at Leesburg, said he thinks she will never be normal on ultrasound exam, i.e. they will always be somewhat enlarged, but he expects full functional resolution and has always thought the prognosis is good. With continued improvement, I have not elected any other treatments and he has not favored any, but I wanted to know if you had another opinion. Thanks very much.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Jul 14, 2005 - 9:24 am:

What a small world, Dr Nat White was one of my professors at UGA many years ago. It sounds like there was no tearing just over stretching. I would take what Dr. White says to the bank Connie.
DrO
New Member:
Cmcrill

Posted on Thursday, Jul 14, 2005 - 11:14 pm:

Thanks very much, that's good to know. Have you ever seen this type of injury in such a young horse?
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