At a loss- lower back sore/refusing jumps/undiagnosed lameness

[maletto]

some of you may remember the videos I posted of my 9yo gelding when he was lame (here: https://forums-secure.horseandhound...se-can-some-experts-take-a-look-at-these-vids)

long story short, vet x-rayed, showed nothing, recommended Physio under sedation which gave no improvement, horse not suitable for nerve block as needle-phobic, so went to RVC for bone scan.

had bone scan of back half, ultrasound and x rays, all showed clear & was sent back sound. RVC recommended to stop Physio as it hadn't made an improvement and to try acupuncture & resume ridden work (didn't do acupuncture-see above re needle phobia).

had saddle fitter out and said VSD was fine and I bought a new jump saddle- tried jumping twice since (absolutely tiny, max 2', bearing in mind he was bought as a showjumper having been there, done that before I bought him 2y ago) and the horse runs out or refuses more often than he jumps. also still has sensitive/sore back-if you poke once anywhere, no reaction, if you stroke hard down the spine, reaction in the lower back/forward of SI region both sides. still won't work into a proper contact/over his back, as he's been in the 2yrs I've owned him.

am completely at a loss-with RVC saying they can't find anything I don't know what else to try! am waiting for usual vet to call back to discuss but wondered if anyone had any ideas in the meantime.

are there any conditions which don't show up with the diagnostics we've done so far? what would you do in this situation??

ps sorry for information overload, just didn't want to leave out anything that might be relevant!

 

[Primitive Pony]

You can have laser acupuncture - my horse has had acupuncture this year for back pain and it has been incredibly effective, but no needles involved.

Re: saddle checks, second opinion?

Looked at the videos and your horse's walk looks familiar to me, having had two horses with SI problems - how's his canter?

(My horse has had KS and pelvic problems which were related, have had some amazing results with him recently with a holistic vet, as I couldn't bear the thought of steroid injections again, and found the vet when investigating acupuncture for pain relief - if you're interested, PM me, I won't post chapter and verse on here!)

 

[frannieuk]

Hi, not sure I can offer anything helpful, but I'm going through a similar thing with a mare of mine, and having watched the videos, mine has a similar (although not as pronounced action behind). Mine literally went 'wrong' overnight, and although didn't show up lame, she started rearing. Vet straight away (this is not a reary horse!) who diagnosed sore back, rest, physio and then back into work after physio. Problem didn't resolve so I had her xrayed and her spine is fine. She's since been to Liphook following a conclusive bute trial, and had bone scans and nerve blocks and nothing conclusive found, so they've medicated the fetlocks and stifles and sent her home. 4 weeks off and then 4 weeks of walking and then she's to go back to Liphook for more tests/MRI etc. She's slightly bilaterally lame behind (worse on the right) but they can't pinpoint where and is reluctant to flex over her pelvis, and thus she won't bring either hock underneath her and almost waddles behind. She also now has a very weird muscle definition over her right butt cheek - hard to describe but it's almost lumpy and there are 2 'holes' where the muscle seems to have died, both about 1" deep and 3" diameter. The vets don't seem at all concerned by this but I wondered if it was caused by injury or even that she tied up or something. I (and my farrier and YM) edge towards some sort of soft tissue injury, SI or even muscular. I've decided that she can go back to Liphook to see if there's any improvement from the medicating of the joints, but after that, she's going to be turned away for a year. From my perspective, the bone scan has ruled out anything substantially horrible, like arthritis, OCD etc, so it points to a soft tissue injury, and in my opinion, the best thing for that is time which I am lucky enough to be able to give her.
I hope you manage to get an answer from your vet and I'll be following this thread with interest. Good luck x

 

[stilltrying]

I had a similar situation with my horse a few years ago - culminating in a trip to newmarket for a bonescan. Whilst he wasn't ever lame, he was unhappy to push forward behind and was always sore in his back in the lumbar region. Things came to a head when he collapsed during a SJ round, he just sat down like a dog, like his back end just gave up.

Anyway, to cut a VERY long story short, vets never got to the bottom of it. He came home and got worse, started refusing to walk downhill. I decided to change saddles, (his saddle had been checked recently by a pro) and swapped to a wow saddle. He was a different horse overnight. The peeps at wow said he had such big shoulders that a traditionally tree'd saddle was restricting his movement, causing tension behind. The more work he did, the worse he got. His shape changed dramatically once we changed saddles and he developed loads more muscle behind his shoulder / saddle.

The only other area that never got investigated, that has been suggested since as a possible cause, was the front feet. For other reasons he is now barefoot, still in his wow, and happy. So my issues were presumably all saddle / saddle + feet....its very difficult when you dont get a diagnosis as its always in the back of your mind that there is something wrong. Good luck!!

 

[Kelpie]

have you considered ligament damage? there are an awful lot of ligaments around the SI area, so even if there is nothing on the bone scan, there could still be a ligament issue in the area?