Elbow injury

Question
Hello,
I have an 8 year old Arabian Gelding who, during pasture turnout, sprained his medial lateral elbow ligament. (This is the description on the vet notes). He evidently slipped on a thin layer of snow. I believe he was involved in either horse play with other horses or actually fighting as there was a deep horse bite mark on his neck also. He was xrayed immediately, placed on bute, and anti-inflammatory, 3 weeks of stall rest then hand walking and increased exercise as he progressed. His final exam related to the injury was labeled "resolving sprain". This was in Dec. of 08. He has had very light arena and trail work since recovery no more than 5 days a week. I still see occasional stiffness and/or short stepping on the injured side. Do you think this too will improve in time or should I expect permanent flaws in his movement?

Answer
Jan,

This sort of injury is not uncommon in pasture horses.  At least he didn't dislocate his shoulder when he did it, at least it doesn't sound like it.  But, he undoubtedly has some muscle damage to the shoulder which is probably what is affecting him.  I would suggest you find a massage therapist and get him worked on a few times to get the muscle issues resolved.  He needs to get the muscles straightened out and have some stretching done to get his shoulder to work properly again.  It probably wouldn't hurt to have an equine chiropractor work on him after he gets his 1st massage to make sure he doesn't have any bones in his neck or withers out too.  You've done the right thing with your re-hab work so far and I think the body work and chiropractic care will fix the lingering issues.  Then he should be back to normal again.  Ligament injuries like this can take a long time to heal properly but he should have that healed by this time.  Now just get the muscles taken care of and his skeletal alignment checked out and he'll be fine.  I've worked on a number of injuries like this and the horses were able to return to work afterwards with no lingering problems.  My gelding has completed 600 more miles in competition since he did this about 7 yrs. ago.  

Lyn