Any physios here? - Help with soft tissue injury

[sonjafoers]

One of my horses has been unsound for about 5 months now & I really don't know what to do.

It's a very subtle issue and some days is not noticeable at all, other days it can be felt when going downhill or sometimes after trotting. It is an unsound stride in the off hind, almost like it isn't coming through properly.

I first got a feeling something wasn't quite right when we had a refusal at a hunter trial in April, which is totally out of character and then I started intermittently thinking she wasn't quite right but I couldn't put my finger on it. She had been hunted all winter so I called the osteopath to check her over ( was told she was completely fine ) and I decided to give her some time off. I gave her 8 weeks and then started riding her gently in walk and she seemed sound, but then when I started trotting I could feel the odd wonky stride.

I then had the osteopath again who still told me she was sound & couldn't find a thing so I had a saddle check and ended up buying a new saddle as due to the time off she had gained weight & hers was a bit tight. The farrier also wasn't noticing anything when shoeing her off hind so I thought I was going mad.

Fast forward a few weeks & she was still the same so I called the vet who thought she had the odd short stride from the leg in question when lunged but couldn't pick up anything when walked & trotted in a straight line. She passed the flexion test with flying colours so the vet referred me to a physio.

The physio found she was unlevel in her pelvis and did some treatment including some laser and told me to continue riding in walk & trot. She gave me some exercises to do which I have been doing religiously for 4 weeks and I thought there was a slight improvement.

On Wednesday the ohysio came out again and also noticed an improvement but still the odd unsound stride in trot. Her pelvis had remained level. She gave her some treatment and told me to continue exactly as I have been and she would return in 8 weeks.

I gave her Thursday & Friday off but when I rode her yesterday she was very unsound, more so than previously so I put it down to the recent treatment. Today I have ridden again and she is still the same - lamer than she was before the physio.

Can anyone tell me if this is normal for a short time after physio treatment or should I be very worried? I have emailed the physio but as it's a weekend I don't expect a reply.

Sorry it's long.

 

[be positive]

I am not a physio but have seen this type of scenario and it has eventually been found to be a hock problem,not shown initially by flexion but confirmed by x-rays,The horses were compensating by holding themselves and physio relaxed the muscles which then caused a definite lameness.
I would in this case get the vet back, I sorry this is not what you want to hear and hope other people might have some other suggestions.

 

[sonjafoers]

Thank you for replying be positive. The physio did say that if she had to pinpoint a joint she would say it was a stifle problem but as the vet had examined her and done flexion tests she felt it had to be muscle - however she did say that if things were much the same when she returns in 8 weeks we will have to go down another route.

Part of me is wondering whether to turn her away for the winter and see what happens - she is happy to canter around the field with the others looking totally sound and is very forward going when ridden so I don't think she is in any real pain tbh. The rest of me thinks she will be bored stiff and if she hasn't improved when brought back into work I have just delayed the next step anyway.

 

[popularfurball]

How old is the horse?

My suggestion would ask be stifle based on the intermittent-ness - it really reminds me of my little shettie who has slipping stifles - they don't often fully go, but sometimes he takes a funny stride when it doesn't quite move right.

Other things he does is drag his toes sometimes, and he can seem reluctant to pick his back foot up - its that he can't, so I have to pull it up, rather than getting cross or upset about it.

I would probably ask for another vet to come out the person who is best placed to know normal is the owner - and sometimes that is forgotten unfortunately

 

[sonjafoers]

She is 11 and has never been lame in the 9 years I've had her so it's a bit of a worry.

She doesn't drag her toes or wear her shoes unevenly, the only thing that happened about the time all this started is that someone else took her hunting twice and after this she developed a patch of white hair under the saddle which went when her coat changed. My saddler said this is due to pressure so the rider was balanced differently to me which caused pressure in a place she wasn't used to. I'm not blaming this person at all as it could have easily happened in the field or something but it's the only thing that changed around the time it all started.