# check ligament injury - what are the symptoms



## VRIN (5 May 2010)

In typical 'horsey person' fashion I feared the worse with my horses slight swelling and imagined all sorts of scenarios.

Obviously I have consulted the vet and fingers crossed all is well but having trawled the internet discovered it is really difficult to find any useful information on check ligaments.

Can anyone give me an idea of what the symptoms might be, where the check ligament is etc...


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## VRIN (5 May 2010)

.. if poss, pictures would help..
many thanks


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## MegaBeast (5 May 2010)

My friends horse has "done" a check ligament recently.  Was hopping lame, and a large swelling (egg sized) came up on the side of the tendon just below the knee.  Ice treatment until the swelling came down enough to be scanned and then the injury was confirmed.  Although the swelling was huge the prognosis is pretty good in this case, 8weeks box rest before being scanned again then starting walking work. 

If you're really worried I'd ask your vet to scan it


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## kerilli (5 May 2010)

it's below the knee, i think it is sort of 'sacrificial' in that the check ligament often goes before the sdft or ddft. 
slight damage - horse losing a bit of its jump, changing legs before a fence, in my experience. 
that's as far as it's got with mine, thank god.
lameness, heat, swelling if damage gets more severe, i believe.


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## MegaBeast (5 May 2010)

Also, the horse I was on about was owned by a novice, she was having trouble with getting right lead canter, vet had a quick look, and she trotted/lunged sound so told to carry on.  I got on to try and resolve canter issue as horse is known for being cantakerous and she had become very crooked, and basically the injury occured that day.  I felt dreadful, but was one of those niggling things, no heat or swelling in the leg, trotting sound and it needed the work to bring out the problem, sadly, not really realistic to scan when there was no indication of any particular leg being problematic.


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## kirstyhen (5 May 2010)

Just below the knee at the back, slight swelling and some heat. Mine did his fairly severely but never had much swelling or heat.

He was hopping lame for a couple of days, barely weight bearing, then recovered quickly to almost sound, which is apparently very common - often people think they are sound, jump on and go for a gallop, which is when the horse completely breaks down. Worse on the soft than hard.

We were convinced it was in the foot, the Vet mentioned Check Ligaments but blocked the foot first. Horse immediately became very lame as they lose control of the foot and begin to over extend the ligament again. Horse was scanned straight away and the hole was discovered.

The reason we were so convinced it was the foot is the swelling was so tiny behind his knee I never noticed it. He had more heat in his heel than he did behind his knee, even the Vet agreed!


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## measles (5 May 2010)

We have been through this and one was hopping lame and the other virtually sound.   Swelling high up and heat, and true extent of injury doesn't show on scanning for at least a week.   Prognosis is good if you take your time and don't rush things.


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## VRIN (5 May 2010)

vet doesn't think it is a tendon. 

There was a slight swelling on the inside as you run your fingers down the back of the leg. No lameness. Swelling went down after horse out in small paddock. 

He just seems now to have what feels like an enlarged vein which you can feel (again on the inside) as you run your fingers down the back of his leg. You could actually see it pulsing...


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## SamuelWhiskers (5 May 2010)

My boy had a large pulsing vein once in the same place and it was indicating something going off in his foot! Abcess at that point.

2nd time it happened, earlier this year, that same vein was up and also a tiny bit of swelling on the inside of his leg, just beneath the knee, turned out, after he was scanned, to be slight 15% damage to the super digital flexor tendon, so he's been on box rest and controlled exercise for the last 10 weeks! 

If its not the foot, i'd get it scanned, my boy was only very slightly lame and after a week, wasn't even lame anymore! 

Hope your horse is ok


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## only_me (5 May 2010)

could it be he has just knocked himself?

hoping nothing serious xx


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## SuzySue (5 May 2010)

My boy did this in July last year, no lameness with it ever.  It kind of filled in more than swelled, if you get my meaning - he has stick legs and you can feel every bone easily so the swelling filled in the gaps.  Just below the knee at the back, mainly on the outside.  He was on box rest and strip grazing all summer, and over the winter I had him on daily turnout on his own so he couldn't charge around with the others.  He had about 3 scans in all I think.  In the New Year I started riding him again and have taken it very slowly - he's now hacking out for an hour at a time, walk only, although he's started to add a few trots in on his own )  He's now out 24/7 with 2 others and copes ok if they have a run around.

I check his (and the others) every time I'm with them (2-3 times a day - bit paranoid!!) and if it seems a bit soft the day after I've ridden him I leave him until it's gone hard again before riding him again.  Vet says he'll always have a slightly filled area now due to scar tissue.

Good luck with it - time and rest is the key I think.


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## millitiger (6 May 2010)

my friend's horse did a check a few months ago- no lameness at all but the leg was hot and had tight swelling.

it was only a slight tweak- he had 6 weeks box rest, 6 weeks field rest and then back into work gradually.


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## Stoxx (6 May 2010)

A friend's horse has a check ligament injury at the moment.  The first 48 hrs are crucial, don't let your vet fob you off with 'we'll leave it for a week before scanning'.  Her horse is responding brilliantly, the vet is over the moon with how it is looking after only 2 weeks.  They injected her with HA and she has been using a game ready machine on it three times a day.


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## Mbronze (6 May 2010)

My horse has a suspected check ligament injury at the minute. She basically fell over, we think because she over extended the check ligament. Came crashing down with a large crack to her knee, couldn;t weight bear at all. 
I actually thought she had fractured her knee, so we were stuck in the sand school so I called the vet out and she very gingerly walked to her stable but kept buckling at her knee. Vet gave her intravenous painkiller then arranged for scans and xrays next day.
We had the scans and xrays and thank goodness nothing was fractured but there is some fluid behind her check ligament. 
So for the last 2 weeks we have been hosing it 4 times a day for 10 mins a day, walking her for a max of 5 mins a day and using magnetic boots. The fluid seems to have gone but we are going back to the vets for further scans on Monday (fingers crossed)


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