victoriaocarroll
Well-Known Member
Hi All
Firstly I want to say that my vet, and my horses multiple therapists are all working on him and essentially the advice I will take will come from my vet but I just wanted to throw my story out there in case it rings a bell with anyone who can offer up a suggestion.
The Horse
7 year old 17.2 warmblood, bought from Holland where he had started half steps at 6 and was doing a green change but mainly medium level work. Close spineous processes but 3 vets said on the xrays they really didn't look like they would be causing issues. Otherwise fine on the 5 stage vetting with full xrays.
The Initial Issue
2 months after getting him I felt he was lame and after a vet and my trainer signing him off as sound I got a second opinion and in late November last year he was diagnosed with mild PSD to near front and off hind suspensories. We underwent a very slow and careful rehab and without going into too much detail he had shockwave, extended box rest, controlled rehab exercises, arc equine, physio every 4 weeks, rob Jackson saw him, acupuncture, ice vibe boots, equilibrium pad, back on track rug....you catch the drift, I did everything to fix him!
The bigger picture
And fix him I did. The suspensories are now pretty much totally healed, he is completely sound when we nerve block and all the signs he was showing before have just about disappeared. But he still isn't right. We had also done some shockwave to his SI region because PSD is often secondary to something else and we thought perhaps it was his spine / SI region.
Fast forward a couple of months and he was almost back to full work. He still seemed stiff to me but not lame and we went out competing last month (ele level dressage, training medium / advanced medium at home). At that stage he was 8 months post the mild PSD diagnosis. But he started not being able to hold his canter left and kept bunny hopping behind. He swings his right hind out on a circle rather than stepping under. His right hind quarters were incredibly tender and he didn't like his saddle being put on. It got to the stage that he couldn't even trot forward, on either rein. And he goes in and out of being fine one day to not being able to canter another day, to being fine to canter but can't trot the next.
I've also noticed his right stifle clicks a lot but numerous practitioners have told me that's nothing to worry about. The big thing now is his right stifle / pelvis collapses in downwards transitions and often out hacking, particularly when we're going down a hill. This collapsing pelvis is always on the right side and happens both when ridden but also on the lunge, regardless of the rein he's on.
The Treatment
Following Rob Jacksons first visit we did a lot of strengthening exercises, carrot stretches etc and he was manipulated. But it didn't make much difference and Rob said on his most recent visit last weekend that few horses have flummoxed him like my boy does. He was put on Equitop Myoplast to help build up the muscles. I thought these 'new issues' were back related so got his close spineous processes injected. One week afterwards, I commenced riding and he was even worse, which is when he could hardly move forward at all. The muscles around his SI were also inflamed as the bump was more prominent than normal. The vet considered SI disease, and on the same day he was injected with Cortisone to the SI region with the provision that if it didn't work, we would go for a bone scan. He also had his right fetlock, hock and stifle xrayed / ultra sounded and nothing came up. He also nerve blocked his suspensories to see if the PSD had returned but they had no effect on him and previous ultra sounds suggested his suspensories had pretty much healed. I also got him a new saddle JUST in case. He is also turned out overnight now and the 'bump' in his SI region has disappeared. He has had corrective shoeing since he was diagnosed with PSD and I've had three separate saddlers check his saddle, in case one of them spots something the others didn't.
We commenced riding, one week after the hock / stifle injections, and he did get better, albeit very slowly. We are now about a month after the injections but he's still not right. This collapsing pelvis is more prominent, he has lost the swing through his body, he doesn't want to bend through the neck at all and his steps have become really choppy.
I'm waiting to hear back from my insurance company to see if they will pay for the bone scan but I thought I would write our story on here to see if it flags anything with anyone. Rob Jackson fears the bone scan will return an 'inconclusive' result. My vet, physio, acupuncturist and chiro really don't know what is going on with him but maybe someone on here went through the same thing and has an alternative thought? He is my horse in a lifetime and I know many would have given up by now but I really REALLY want to try to fix him. I've had him for just over a year and 11 months of that I've been fighting to get back the horse I bought (and yes, I had his bloods run when I bought him).
If anyone can help, I'd be over the moon to hear your thoughts. TIA!
Firstly I want to say that my vet, and my horses multiple therapists are all working on him and essentially the advice I will take will come from my vet but I just wanted to throw my story out there in case it rings a bell with anyone who can offer up a suggestion.
The Horse
7 year old 17.2 warmblood, bought from Holland where he had started half steps at 6 and was doing a green change but mainly medium level work. Close spineous processes but 3 vets said on the xrays they really didn't look like they would be causing issues. Otherwise fine on the 5 stage vetting with full xrays.
The Initial Issue
2 months after getting him I felt he was lame and after a vet and my trainer signing him off as sound I got a second opinion and in late November last year he was diagnosed with mild PSD to near front and off hind suspensories. We underwent a very slow and careful rehab and without going into too much detail he had shockwave, extended box rest, controlled rehab exercises, arc equine, physio every 4 weeks, rob Jackson saw him, acupuncture, ice vibe boots, equilibrium pad, back on track rug....you catch the drift, I did everything to fix him!
The bigger picture
And fix him I did. The suspensories are now pretty much totally healed, he is completely sound when we nerve block and all the signs he was showing before have just about disappeared. But he still isn't right. We had also done some shockwave to his SI region because PSD is often secondary to something else and we thought perhaps it was his spine / SI region.
Fast forward a couple of months and he was almost back to full work. He still seemed stiff to me but not lame and we went out competing last month (ele level dressage, training medium / advanced medium at home). At that stage he was 8 months post the mild PSD diagnosis. But he started not being able to hold his canter left and kept bunny hopping behind. He swings his right hind out on a circle rather than stepping under. His right hind quarters were incredibly tender and he didn't like his saddle being put on. It got to the stage that he couldn't even trot forward, on either rein. And he goes in and out of being fine one day to not being able to canter another day, to being fine to canter but can't trot the next.
I've also noticed his right stifle clicks a lot but numerous practitioners have told me that's nothing to worry about. The big thing now is his right stifle / pelvis collapses in downwards transitions and often out hacking, particularly when we're going down a hill. This collapsing pelvis is always on the right side and happens both when ridden but also on the lunge, regardless of the rein he's on.
The Treatment
Following Rob Jacksons first visit we did a lot of strengthening exercises, carrot stretches etc and he was manipulated. But it didn't make much difference and Rob said on his most recent visit last weekend that few horses have flummoxed him like my boy does. He was put on Equitop Myoplast to help build up the muscles. I thought these 'new issues' were back related so got his close spineous processes injected. One week afterwards, I commenced riding and he was even worse, which is when he could hardly move forward at all. The muscles around his SI were also inflamed as the bump was more prominent than normal. The vet considered SI disease, and on the same day he was injected with Cortisone to the SI region with the provision that if it didn't work, we would go for a bone scan. He also had his right fetlock, hock and stifle xrayed / ultra sounded and nothing came up. He also nerve blocked his suspensories to see if the PSD had returned but they had no effect on him and previous ultra sounds suggested his suspensories had pretty much healed. I also got him a new saddle JUST in case. He is also turned out overnight now and the 'bump' in his SI region has disappeared. He has had corrective shoeing since he was diagnosed with PSD and I've had three separate saddlers check his saddle, in case one of them spots something the others didn't.
We commenced riding, one week after the hock / stifle injections, and he did get better, albeit very slowly. We are now about a month after the injections but he's still not right. This collapsing pelvis is more prominent, he has lost the swing through his body, he doesn't want to bend through the neck at all and his steps have become really choppy.
I'm waiting to hear back from my insurance company to see if they will pay for the bone scan but I thought I would write our story on here to see if it flags anything with anyone. Rob Jackson fears the bone scan will return an 'inconclusive' result. My vet, physio, acupuncturist and chiro really don't know what is going on with him but maybe someone on here went through the same thing and has an alternative thought? He is my horse in a lifetime and I know many would have given up by now but I really REALLY want to try to fix him. I've had him for just over a year and 11 months of that I've been fighting to get back the horse I bought (and yes, I had his bloods run when I bought him).
If anyone can help, I'd be over the moon to hear your thoughts. TIA!
