SPRAINS AND STRAINS
A horse has thousands of tendons and ligaments in their body.
A tendon connects muscle to bone to aid movement.
A ligament holds bone to bone for structure.
Tendons and ligaments are made up of very strong fibrous matter. When pulled or strained the fibers will swell. If the swelling is not contained more fibers will be sprained or broken. This is why it is so important to box rest the horse and give anti inflammatory drugs such as bute (Phenylbutazone) immediately.
A healthy tendon or ligament.
After a pull, the fiber stretches and possibly tears, causing blood to rush to the area to start the healing process and cause immobilisation by pain and swelling.
If not rested, and no attempts made to stop the swelling of the fibers, more fibers are stretched and torn.
Symptoms
Lameness, in a slight sprain maybe no lameness is seen but this will build up if the horse continues to work.
Swelling
Heat
Treatment
Call the Vet
Stop all Movement
Cold hose and apply ice packs (not directly to the skin as this may cause sores) to reduce the swelling.
Give anti inflammatory medicine, for example, bute prescribed by the vet.
Once the initial heat and swelling has gone down, alternating between heat treatment (to increase blood to the area to aid healing) and cold treatment (reduce swelling) should be done as much as possible.
A very slow and gradual return to work should begin with a 10 minutes walk out. A vet should advise you on this, and scans of the affected issue would be an excellent (although expensive) way to check the healing.
Prevention
Always start work slowly, therefore warming up the horse’s and your body.
Keep up a good fitness programme, and do not overstretch your horse.
Check ground conditions are safe for what you are asking your horse to do.
Final Thoughts
Remember, prevention is better than the cure, and early treatment can ultimately result in less pain, money and time being used.
In recovery slowly is definitely quickly in the long run.