Pedigree Query

Got a call from our traine yesterday. Our 2 yo, Bali Hai, suffered a torn miniscal ligament in her stifle and is done for the year. Anyone familiar with this sort of injury ? We'll meet with the track vet today as I really don't have a whole lot of details at the moment but is this a career ending sort of thing ?

I'm knee deep with one with a stifle problem right now as well. You say he/she was diagnosed with a torn meniscal ligament. How was it diagnosed? Via utra sound or MRI? Both can identify but many vets are not experts using said diagnostic machinery for identifying soft tissue trauma. The definitive diagnosis can only occur via arthroscopic diagnostic probe and discovery.

My colt presented stifle soreness a few months back. Initial diagnosis was locking stifle so we internal blistered, he recovered and we worked him only for him to return lame. This last time I requested a radiograph which identified OCD lesion fragments. He goes in for arthroscopic evaluation and removal of fragmaents next week. Only then will I know how extensive any soft tissue/cartilage damage exists. Right now I fear the worst because I failed to discover the primary source of injury early with a simple x ray.. If soft tissue damage is minimal, prognosis for a return to successful training and racing is excellent.

So bottom line it takes an experienced tech to identify the type of soft tissue damage via MRI or Ultrasound with definitive diagnosis via Arthroscopic probe only. A meniscal tear can heal and a horse can return to training but time for recovery and proper rehab protocol is very important. Meniscal injuries heal even slower than regular tendon or ligament injuries because the fibrocartilage has very little blood supply.

The big lesson I learned on my colt is to xray first and eliminate or identify any bone related problems first. Had we done that he would have been scoped already and close to a return to training.

Prognosis for recovery from soft tissue damage in the stifle depends on the amount of damage and, again can only be definitively determined via scoping the area.

False alarm ...sort of. I believe this is a case where the trainer said one thing but I heard something else. It's actually not the meniscal after all but rather the patellar. We'll just bring her home,rest her for the remainder of the year, and come back with her in 2009. There's some calcification which bothers me 'cause it indicates the problem has been around a while and nobody noticed it but we'll deal with that too. Not as bad as I thought I heard.

Mike,

We had a filly that strained a ligament in her stifle last year--don't trust the track vet or trainer approach to inject her and keep going on her in a week or so. We darn near had ours ruined that way. Give her the time off--you'll have to anyway, and it sounds like you're heading down the right path. we brought her home for about four-five months of rest and recovery and she came back completely sound (and broke her maiden in an MSW to boot).

Thanks ZZ . Yeah ; we'll be bringing her home tomorrow for some R & R for the remainder of the year. Probably start to crank her up for 2009 around November or thereabouts.

Anyone ever have any dealings, good, bad or indifferent with Elloree training center in S. Carolina ?

stifle problems inevitably result from asking the horse to do something they're unprepared for. most cases of stifle problems also have numerous other problems involved to due questionable training. gradual step by step training will almost never produce problems in the stifles. And that there be a tendon/ligament tear, whether its pateller or meniscus, both are in the same area, indicates the extent of non-preparation and trauma.

this above is only a generalization which you may/may not apply to your particular horse. If you were talking about a human and speaking of "patella tendon or menisucs ligament tear in the knees, needless to say for a sprinter you'd be talking career ending. Your question is basically a vet question that I'd posit to Haygard Davidson or Riddle. They'll have someone there that knows.

mikec wrote:Anyone ever have any dealings, good, bad or indifferent with Elloree training center in S. Carolina ?

We've been sending our young horses there since 2005 and we have a 2YO filly there now. I've been pleased with every aspect of the care and training my horses have gotten at Elloree--as have my on-track trainers when the youngsters get to them for the next step. Franklin (Goree) Smith is a wonderful horseman. Let me know if you have any specific questions.

Wanted to thank everyone for their input. Took some time to consider everything and decided to make some changes in preparation for next year. Thanks again !

mikec wrote:Anyone ever have any dealings, good, bad or indifferent with Elloree training center in S. Carolina ?

They're top notch in my opinion.

Thank you ! We transferred our yearling over there last week & we'll send our 2 yr. old out there to prep for the track after her ligament heals.