Fractured tuber coxae causing sacro lumbar issues (long post)

[Ktgslng]

Hi everyone,

I am new to the forum and was hoping to find some success stories of anyone who has a horse with an old fracture to their tuber coxae (point of hip). It is a very common injury with hitting hip on door going in/out of stable.

I bought my 5yr (rising 6) 15.3 WB mare almost a year ago. I had full 5 stage vetting done with bloods (which have expired!!) which she passed with flying colours. She had been backed as 3yr old and turned away for year - she had just started back in work and could wallk, trot and canter happily.

Within a few weeks of owning her she seemed very stiff when schooling on one rein. I didnt think much of it at the time as she was youg so i just put this down to lack of training.

Her schooling progressivly became worse over the next month or so, so i had vet come out who said she was a bit saddle sore and, although the saddle fitted pretty well, suggested i try another type.... this took some time and she had some time off, physio and new saddle eventually fitted.

She was slowly brought back into work and appeared to be even worse than before, very reluctant to go forwards and now was bucking severly at every upwards tranistion. She felt even more wonky by this point.

I had the vet out another 2 times before he diagnosed her with an asymetric pelvis, possibly caused by fracture. My heart sank.

This was later diagnosed via an ultrasound scan and i was advised to start a rehab programme of intensive lunging in pessoa, over raised trot poles, grid work for 6-8 weeks.

This was extremely tough on both of us and unfortunalty did not make any difference to her way of going.

Following this she has now had an ASID injection in her L5/S1 (sacro/lumbar junction) as it appears her wonkyness is causing her to have issues with flexing through her back and engaging her hind quarters.

Unfortunatly we are 4 weeks in after injection and i still see no improvement. After talking with the vet his view is i need to ride her through it/condition her to use herself properly and build up the correct muscles again.

I am really looking for any advice / stories of success / anything i could try to help get her back to functionaing properly.

My only positive thought is that if it is an 'old injury' - which the vet has said it is.... she was at least conditioned well enough at one stage to pass a 5 stage vetting....

I am currently working on walk-trot-walk transitions but am taking my life in my hands every time i ride.

The vet has recommended i ride now rather than lunge as it was clear she was not engaging properly and straight under lunge - she was managing to evade using herself properly...

Any advice, success stories from similar problems, much appreciated!!

 

[be positive]

As the problem is chronic it will take time to resolve, my horse had his SI injected last summer, vet gave little hope of return to full work, my physio is slightly more positive and became very involved with his rehab, after the injections he walked in straight lines only for weeks, with daily inhand work and various physio exercises to get his using himself properly.
I spent hours each day on him, strapping, massaging, doing the stretches, walking over raised poles etc and still had a lame horse, I thought he was never going to come sound but he did after several months the muscles take time to build up correctly in order to stabilise the area, I guess the longer they have been "wrong" the longer they take to come right, mine certainly looked no better after 4 weeks but he was obviously in less pain as the steroids reduced the inflammation, I would give it time, get a good physio on board, if you haven't already, then put in the hours, if you can, doing as much as possible to get the muscles functioning properly.

 

[Whydowedoit]

I'm sorry not to have a success story for you, but was interested to read your post as your mare's problems sound almost identical to ours. ( five stage vetting passed with flying colours, no problems until a few weeks after ridden work started, no improvement after physiotherapy, SI injections etc). Our vet is somewhat mystified, so I am wondering if he may have missed the true cause of her problems.

I am, though, very surprised that your vet thinks you should ride, as it does sound very dangerous to do so. We have been advised not to ride our horse, (although circumstances are different), and to lunge her in a Pessoa for 5 mins each rein so that she can build up muscle correctly. I think if you are concerned that you're taking your life in your hands when you ride, you should say so to the vet and hopefully find an alternative plan.

 

[Ktgslng]

Thanks both for your feedback!

Good to hear of someone who has had to take so much time with rehab but did finally get an improvement.... By biggest concern is spending the next 6 months - year (however long it takes) but not getting anywhere with her - after the amount of work it takes.... I also have a retired horse who i also care for on DIY (ive had her for 17 yrs - shes 31 now), plus a 2 and half yr old son and work part time - so you can imagine how hectic my schedule is!!

Unfortunatly lunging was not helping at all as she is evading using herself properly - so riding, where i can manipulate her way of going, is the only option - i just have to keep telling myself its a soft landing :-/ She hasn't decked me yet but think its only a matter of time - If i think about that too much i wont ride her forward so try not to worry about it tbh...

Just really hope she makes a recovery as she is my perfect horse in all respects.... other than shes broken!

I am also hacking as much as possible but can only walk on the roads as again, as soon as i ask for trot, i get lots of bucking.... Not such a soft landing on concrete so not playing at that!!

 

[Swirlymurphy]

We are two months into our rehab programme and are seeing definite improvements. We have the help of someone very skilled, a brilliant physio and great facilities all of which have contributed to the improvements but it has been a long slog. In a very basic nutshell, we have worked the horse to get him soft and straight at all times, keeping head long and low. To start with we did the majority of the work on the lunge (equi-ami) and free-schooling. The riding was very precise and my friend/trainer was the best person to do this as my teenager simply doesn't have the years of experience. It has not been a smooth rehab but overall the trend is upwards. The physio has been coming every two weeks to support him through the change and I have put him on a joint supplement to support him. The flatwork has really come on - his self-carriage and balance is much improved and he can stay straight and soft through all up/down transitions.

Whereabouts in the country are you?

 

[Ktgslng]

Thanks Swirlymurphy.

Always good to hear of people doing same sort of thing and getting somewhere with it.

The vet and I agreed to drop any form of lunging as shes just too clever and manages to avoid using her hindquarters properly - i could tell she was working differently on both reins and obviously not straight so thought best to stop that really....

So currently i am trying to work her every other day (so she has good rest / recovery on days off). I am schooling - then day rest - then hacking - then day off - then schooling again (continuing like this).

So far ive not had anyone out to help me on the ground but do have my coach coming next week. I am really only working on walk - trot transitions in straight lne - Ive resulted to draw reins to encourage her to stretch down (plus helps control her a bit more with the bucking!!) - im not usually a fan of gadgets but needs must in this case...

Are you cantering now?? This is possibly her worst gait as she is really quarters in on left lead canter

Have you had any injections or finding improvement through work alone??

Im based in Essex.

 

[Swirlymurphy]

We have not had any injections as it wasn't obvious where the issue was, and I didn't want to go straight down to the bonescan route. So with my vet, physio and trainer we worked out a rehab plan with a target of 2 months. If we didn't get any improvements within that time, we would go down the scan route. The only gadget we use is the Equi-Ami for lungeing which has really helped, and we give a Hack Up Bespoke joint supplement.

There are some great books out there which can help if you don't have anyone on site regularly - search for Straightening the Crooked Horse and other related books. If you do FB, there is a Straightness Training group (I haven't bought the package as it seems rather expensive but there are occasional hints/tips/case studies which can be of help).

I think apart from the ridden work, what has helped the most has been the loose schooling and the lungeing. With the loose schooling, it has not been about letting him hooley around, but the W/T transitions and keeping his rhythm and speed soft while he finds his balance without a rider. Now he is more in self-carriage and straighter, transitions within the pace are really helping and he can now keep his balance/carriage throughout.

We did barely any canter work for about 6 weeks - mainly because if he couldn't stay straight, soft and balanced there was no point. We have just started canter work (about 3 weeks ago when loose schooling and about 1.5 weeks ago under saddle) and just on Sunday, for the first time, I could see the penny dropping for him and he produced a lovely soft, supple canter, properly using his body and allowing Teen 2 to actually ride him. He could only keep it up for a couple of 25m circles but it was fantastic to see. So we are now working on reinforcing the W/T/C with some fittening work. He's not got enough of the right canter to jump yet, but at some point in the next few weeks, we will be introducing pole work.

Throughout we have kept an eagle eye open for the signs for tiredness. He has a head tilt which comes in when he is tired - initially it would come in within a couple of minutes but now he knows how to move properly, it rarely comes in when loose-schooling/lungeing and a bit earlier when ridden.

The physio has been coming every two weeks and confirms that his a/s is improving, the sore spots are reducing and overall she is really very pleased with him. So we are now on a 4 week rotation and will see how he gets on with polework.

The reason I asked about your location was whether my friend can help as her job is helping sort these kind of things out but she's not in your area.