"Bowed" tendon.....questions

[DarkhHorse]

I have just acquired an 8yo OTTB. I was told he has a recent "bowed" tendon.
Both front legs appear to have been pin fired at one time long aqo. There is a lot of heat and filling in the "bowed" leg. It is low on the leg.
History on the horse that I can find;
RACED 2000, 2001, and then no recorded races till last month. Seems kind of odd..... Has work out times that I can find in Aug & Sept of this year. Raced on Sept 23 2006.
Ended up where I got him 10 days ago. I picked him up on Sunday.

I am keeping him confined to my round pen. He is a VERY kind, quite boy. I am wrapping BOTH legs. (1) Should I be wrapping and unwrapping every 24 hours, or 12 hours. (2)How long should the wraps stay off?
He is getting cold water (10minutes) every time I wrap/unwrap.
Any supplements I could be using?
He is on BUTE (1 gram) once a day.
ANY and all suggestions on short term/long term treatment are welcome.

My background is in the medical field (both human and veterinary medicine) I have never had a horse with a "bow" and really want to do right by him.

Thanks for the input.

[FancyHorse]

For a minute there I thought you were talking about my horse. That time off from 2002 to now, indicated he had the injury then. Sounds as if it might have healed, then he re-bowed it this year. This happened to my horse as well, my horse was off for two years when he came to us, we treated him, worked him, then ran him, and in his last race he re-bowed. We are now icing his tendon for 45 minutes a day and we have also "blistered" the tendon to help bring it back. We don't wrap it and he does get hand walked as long has he isn't sore. We also where trying different shoes. We found that shoes with a higher heel helps take the pressure off the tendon and make him feel and walk better.

[madelyn]

If it is low, it is probably the XYZ tendon.

Bute is okay very short term, it can cause ulcers if it is given for more than a few consecutive days. You could also sweat the tendon to get the filling down. Wrapping BOTH is good. But I would take the wraps off for 4 hours or so a day, increasing until they are off altogether. One old trainer I knew about 40 years ago would walk/jog the horse for 20 minutes and then ice the tendon. It completely restored the shape, and I usually will do some variation of that.

[BenB]

get him handwalked on an level surface straight ahead or in a round pin witha concrete surface, after hand walking for 2 times a day the same what madelyn wrote.
When he is behaving better, get him out with a stallionbridle beside a cycle
for trotting on an quiet road using earplugs.

When your paying attention and spending time, it will heel although his race career has ended.

Succes

[MT Horses]

Hi Everbody
I just got a 3 year old gelding
who bowed a week ago
he is currently being iced twice a day and wrapped with DMSO
when I get him home around Nov. 7
will the above advice work for him as well???
THanks a bunch

[fort_falcon]

WOW wrapping WITH DMSO - I was always told not to do that, but if it works then thats just hundreds!!!

Bandaging is always a good thing, whether the horse has problems are not.

We always change the bandages every 12 hours if a horse has to remain bandaged 24/7.

DH - is the horse unsound? and is he sensitive on flexion of the tendon? If no then you don't need to worry about giving him bute - it shouldn't be used for more than 10 days consecutively - altough I'm sure you know that already. If you like you could put him onto Arnica which can be used for as you like. Keeping him confined to a small ring is a good thing to begin with, but don't be afraid to ride him - in the paddock as long as you're going on a level surface in large circles you shouldn't have a problem, keep him out of heavy going though, the firmer the surface the better - road work (if he's not lame or sensitive) is really good for horse that have had tendon problems. All our "tendons" do their warm up work trotting along the granite road that runs parallel to the tracks, instead of in the designated trotting rings as the sand is very heavy.

You can never go wrong with Icing although we don't do it for as long as 45 mins, we usually only go about 20 mins, my employers mother - who trained very successfully for 30 odd years maintains that icing is only good for the first 3 days after the injury, after that the 'window" period closes. I don't know how true that is, but we only ice for the first three days, after that we use a cooling mudwrap or gel in conjunction with supportive stable bandages.

with regard to supplements you could try putting him on Comfrey - if you can get it - it's very good promoting good health in bones and tendons, you can (if you can get it fresh) actually wrap the tendon with warm comfrey leaves. You dip the leaves briefy in water that's hot enough for your hand to be comfortable then apply the leaves directly to the leg, use clingwrap, cellophane, or any plastic immediately over the leaves and then bandage as normal, you can do this for as long as you feel you need to - again as a herbal remedy it has no nasty side effects that you have to contend with.

Keeping th horse on a low protien food will also help, as you know the fresher they become the more likely they are to injure themselves!!!

Anyway, I hope this has been of some help to you.