Subluxation in a Horse Hock

 As the title indicates, the last 2 and a half months have been pretty damn eventful when it comes to Winnie! I am going to start from the beginning and give you guys a full update on what is currently going on!

It started when we first arrived at our new yard! We noticed that Winnie was a bit stiff on her back end in the school and assumed this was a combination of being unfit and off balance. She'd had so much time off and we'd thrown her back into a gruelling timetable so it was probably too much. But after a few weeks she wasn't really improving.

And then one day I took her down to the school and she started prancing around like an idiot. So me being the scaredy cat I am decided just to lunge. All was going well and then suddenly she bucked, did it again and sprinted forward and suddenly was super hobbly. She looked totally crippled and I had a major panic. We took her back out to the field and called the vet. 

(Please note our vet asked for an update before coming out here and below, hence why we have videos to email to him)

He came and said she looks stiff on both legs so to get the physio out and loosen her up then see what happens. We did that, she had the physio and afterwards it was VERY obvious she was having issues with her hind left. She was lame on it and so I got back in contact with the vet. He gave me 2 weeks of Bute. We tried that and she seemed to be getting better, especially with extra cold-hosing it twice a day. So we asked for a bit more bute which we were given. At this point though I came to realise that it wasn't a small injury and was starting to worry that I would never be able to ride her again.

We then went away on holiday and again she slowly improved and we were pleased. But the day we got back the winds picked up, and it was cold, and if there is one thing that Winnie hates, it's wind. She ran around the field at full speed, along with the other horses. She stopped after a while and seemed okay, but I double checked with the vet who just suggested more bute. But the next day we came up to the yard and her hock was HUGE. It had swollen to easily twice the size of normal and looked like it was popping. So with every step she took the joint popped outwards. She was barely putting any weight on it too, but she wasn't panicking or struggling at all, just didn't want to do much on it. So we called the vet out AGAIN.

The vet came out and take a look at her. She checked the joint and Winnie wasn't happy with it being touched. She checked her hoof and lower limb and there was no heat, digital pulse or abscess. She moved the joint and there was no little movements or crunching in it, but Winnie still didn't want to put weight on it. So she said it was either a tendon issue which would require rest, a small fracture which would require even more rest, or a big fracture in which case there would be nothing they could do and we'd have to do what was best for her.

To say I broke down would be an understatement. We got a date for an x-ray a week and a half later and I spent that whole time practically in tears. I text my sister and parents all the time wanting reassurance. I felt like I was counting down to the day I was going to lose her. I cried and worried constantly. 

X-ray day came and I was crying before they even arrived. But eventually they turned up. He had her walked up and down first and then a little trot, then instantly he said "And how long has she had the subluxation"...

I was like... what? And he asked again, "how long has she had the subluxation?" I said we'd noticed it recently and what was it. And he said:

There is a tendon, that runs down the back of the leg and over the hock. On either side of this tendon there are 3 smaller ligaments. Subluxation is when one or more of these ligaments is ruptured and the "popping" we can see is the tendon moving back and forth across the hock bone, because she no longer has the ligaments to hold it in place.

He knew it was a SUBluxation rather than a full luxation because then if she had lost all 3 ligaments on one side of the hock then the tendon would fall to one side of the bone, and then you wouldn't see it popping across. 

He also reassured me that this is not an injury that would normally come from over work. He said this type of injury would most likely be something that has gradually happened over time, and then her sprinting around the field just been the thing that finally ruptured it. I think it probably started last year when she tried to battle the gelding in the field next to her. She landed wrong with one foot in a hole and was lame for 2 weeks, but I can't quite remember which leg it was. 

By this point I started to feel more reassured, it was sounding less and less like a break. He was surprised that she wasn't panicking at all with the injury and said quite often a horse will kick out repeatedly with the bad leg because the sensation of the popping can be really off-putting. However Winnie was fine, totally un-phased other than being uncomfortable on it.

Winnie was sedated and in a stable. I was given a lovely fancy uniform to wear so as to not get any issues from the x-ray machine. The vet x-rayed her leg and it was as he thought. She had ruptured one ligament, and another one was hanging on my a thread. Her bones were totally fine, and he did a tendon scan too, which showed the tendon remained intact! 

The Red circle is where the bone is a little lighter, this indicates where the ligament is missing from, it should be the same colour as the rest of the bone.

Winnie has been sentenced to 6 months box rest, which is actually quite difficult when you don't have a stable... But that will be a future post. 

Honestly, of all the outcomes we could have had, I firmly believe this is probably the best. Yes, I can't ride her for 6 months, but she's still here, and there was a whole 2 weeks where I really thought I was going to lose her. There are a couple of other things that she will also live with long term, the main one being that she will now forever struggle with lateral work. The hope is that she will be able to come back to walk, trot, canter, hacking and jumping, but difficult dressage moves will be basically impossible for her. But to be honest, I wasn't going to be canter-pirouetting anytime soon anyway! 

Just to finish off I thought I'd give you a run down of the signs and symptoms that Winnie had with this particular injury, mainly because I can find next to nothing about this online! 

Symptoms:

• Absolute none. There was no change in her behaviour and no obvious symptoms that I noticed. She was her same happy, hungry self!

Signs of subluxation in a hock:

• (Early sign) Feeling very short cornering in trot and off balance on straights when ridden
• Fine in walk but short in one leg on trot, then almost bunny hopping in canter.
• Happy to walk and canter but not trot. She would skip it when moving up the gaits in the field.
• Heat and massive swelling all the way around the hock.
• Resting the leg whenever she was standing still for an extended period of time.
• "Popping" of the joint.
• Sweeps the leg underneath her when bringing it forward in walk.
• Continuously kicking out with the leg (this is not something Winnie did but I was told this is a very common sign)

I hope this helps someone! For me it was so scary to see these signs but being unable to find anything online that gave me any hope for anything other than a break or a fracture. Obviously I am not a vet, so please don't use this to diagnose your horse! This is just our experience and what has happened through the process.

I will keep everyone updated on how things go over the next 5 months! (We are already 1 month in). And I hope you will stay with us as we battle through it all!

Katy xoxo