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RE: [RC] Causes of Suspensory Injuries - Susan E. Garlinghouse, D.V.M.Yeah, sometimes vets forget that what's interesting to us may be something the client would just as soon stayed in the dark about. :-/ I saw an incredibly cool radial nerve paralysis a couple months ago that had me getting all excited, I had to bite my tongue in front of the client until at least I was back in my truck. (The horse eventually was fine.) There are a lot of typical injuries that show up in different disciplines--- TBs blow ligaments and tendons from galloping (also lots of chip and slab fractures), endurance horses injure front end ligaments and tendons from overwork, reining horses have hock and stifle problems, hunter/jumpers have back problems and front end lameness problems...you get the picture. There are a million reasons why a specific suspensory injury may occur, but think of the suspensory system like a big rubber band attached at the top and holding the fetlock in a hammock down below. There are other supporting structures, but the suspensory is the primary one that keeps the fetlock joint from collapsing onto the ground. All the suspensory ligament has to do in life is go "boing" when weight forces the fetlock joint downward. Too much downward force, either all at once (ie, a jumper landing), or just a tiny bit too much over and over and over (ie, an endurance horse) and fibers start to overstretch and tear and voila, a suspensory injury of one sort or another. I know this is horribly oversimplified, but the details of individual causes would (and do) fill thousands of textbook pages. They all come down to the same thing, though---a rubber band stretched too far. Susan Garlinghouse, DVM, MS -----Original Message----- From: ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Ridecamp Guest Sent: Thursday, December 29, 2005 10:40 AM To: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [RC] Causes of Suspensory Injuries Please Reply to: Sheila Larsen Sheila_Larsen@xxxxxxx or ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ========================================== Well when I was having my horse ultrasounded for a suspensory tear the vet looked up and me and said something to the effect of "You know I always see suspensory injuries in endurance horses from trotting and bows in racehorses from galloping, isn't that interesting." I think it was my glare that then caused her to say, "well maybe you don't think it is all that interesting right now." I do know that several years ago Equus magazine had a very interesting article about suspensory liagments and why they tear. Mmm it was interesting!, what the vet said was correct. Susan Garlinghouse could probably speak about this,but a google search would probably turn something up. All I remember is that it had to do with landing and take off and the pulley system of the liagments. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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