Mare Duli recovers with tailor-made brace

Merrie Duli bij de kliniek voor paarden

Duli, a 16-year-old KWPN-mare was brought in urgently in October 2024 at the ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ clinic for Equine Health. After playing and rolling around in the meadows, she was suddenly unable to stand on her right hind leg. Our veterinarians and farriers designed a tailor-made brace for Duli, which allowed her to walk again following a successful treatment program.

After several X-rays and an ultrasound, the diagnosis was made: the inner support ligament of her hock was completely torn off. This caused her hock to ‘dislocate’ as soon as she put weight on the leg. The hock in a horse can be compared to the ankle in humans. The joint is located halfway down the hind leg and allows the horse to bend, stretch and apply force when walking or jumping.

Challenging treatment process

A complete tear of the inner supporting ligament is a relatively rare but serious injury and is difficult to treat for several reasons. Surgery to restore the function of the ligament was very difficult because the hock is a complex and sensitive part of the hind leg - this joint consists of several small joints, bones, ligaments and tendons that together provide strength, stability and flexibility. In addition, general anaesthesia was very risky because the horse has a high risk of tearing the ligament again or even breaking a leg when getting up from anaesthesia.

Therefore, a treatment was chosen where the hind leg was first put in plaster, in order to stabilise the joint. Duli accepted the plaster cast well and was able to put her leg back on acceptably in the stable immediately.

Risks and disadvantages of plaster casts

In humans today, plaster casts are usually not used to treat, for example, torn ankle or knee ligaments. This is because the muscles and ligaments of the leg become weak and the damaged joint stiffens, which can lead to a permanent restriction of movement. There are also risks associated with plaster cast treatment in horses: ‘immobilising’ an adult horse's leg for a long period of time can cause weakness of the tendons and ligaments and stiffness of the joints under the plaster, as well as damage to the skin due to pressure. In addition, with a fully plastered horse leg, there is a risk that the horse may break the leg if it makes a wrong movement with the leg. Poor loading of the affected leg results in overloading of the other legs, giving a high risk of laminitis.

To help Duli in the short term, our vets suggested an eight-week period of cast to minimise these risks. Nevertheless, the risk of chronic lameness remained high, even with such a short period. Fortunately, Duli's owner was not deterred by the uncertain outlook and decided to give Duli a chance for a nice retirement on pasture anyway.

A brace as a solution

To avoid the complications of plaster casts, people now use a brace. A brace allows the joint to bend and stretch, but the joint is supported at the sides, preventing it from ‘twisting’ again. This allows the patient to exercise the leg while giving the ligament injury a chance to recover.

No braces are currently being developed for horses, so it is not common to treat horses in this way. Two years ago, the ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ Equine Clinic treated a foal with a dislocated front knee: she was given a knee brace that is used within human medicine and fitted well around the foal's leg. This treatment was a great success with the foal recovering well beyond expectations. As the use of braces in equine medicine is not yet well known, a on this patient was recently published. As our vets wanted the best chances of a good recovery for Duli as well, they decided to replace the plaster cast for a brace on her too after six weeks.

As no suitable brace was available, our vets and farriers made a brace themselves, which was fitted around her leg. Immediately after removing the plaster cast and fitting the brace, Duli already showed good load and was able to walk well with the brace.

She then wore this brace for a fortnight, during which time she was briefly dismounted daily to train the hind leg. This went very well and so just before Christmas, Duli was able to go home, without a brace, for further rehabilitation.

Building up slowly

At home, her owner continued training the hind leg and Duli's movement was built up very carefully. Two months later (early February 2025), Duli came back to the ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ Equine Clinic for a check-up. She surprised everyone: she made symmetrical strides, could flex her hock well and was minimally lame even at trot. Training continued and Duli was allowed to move freely on a small pasture again. It has now been six months since Duli's accident and she is still doing beyond expectations. She is doing so well that she can enjoy outdoor rides in the sun with her owner!

This patient proves just how resilient horses can sometimes be. Duli's recovery is partly due to the dedication of the vets, farriers and students at the ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ Equine Clinic. But without the trust, patience and perseverance of Duli's owner, this would never have happened.

Want to know more about what the ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ Clinic for Horses can do for your horse? Contact 030 253 1111 for more information.