Help and advice wanted please any ideas what I could be facing.

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SALLYT

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A bit of back ground gelding 12 years old owned for 10 months, suffered with slight tightness accross his back which was put down to ill fitting saddle had 2 visits from equine phsyio . He never felt particulary tight through his back and has never been lame.

Todate he has been producing his best work under saddle and was due to compete on my first dressage test in June, lateral work great.,shoulder in, leg yield and travers.Then last week whilst hacking to my lesson on the right diagonal he felt strange sort of a lollop, unbalanced, hard to describe. Any how once I'd got there 5 or so mins later he was fine and did everything he was asked to do , no lameness or anything. I hacked him back just walking and he appeared fine.
Gave him the weekend off and went to ride him Monday night, he wasn't right at all, not pariculary lame but again on the right diagonal it just wasn't comfortable. I got off trotted him up and we couldn't see any lameness, but as we walked down a very small incline back to the stables he didn't want to use his off hind correctly.

The vet came out on tuesday and couldn't identify any lameness on the trot up nor doing very tight circles of 8, lunged him and again looked ok. I tacked him up and rode him on both diagonals , the left felt ok, the right felt awful, she then noticed he was toe dragging slightly.
Checked his back and noticed that he was reacting too much and feels his problems are a sore back, we are going to the equine clinic for shockwave therapy.

My mind as usual is on overtime and I'm worried incase its something serious, I'm a glass half empty kind of person.

Anyone experienced anything similar or have any thoughts as to what it could be.
 
It could be something, it could be nothing. Difficult to say over a forum.

At the end of the day you have got to do what you think is best and following your vets advise is obviously sensible.

Personally I would give the horse a fortnights rest and then reassess before going down the route of shockwave. Shockwave doesn't come cheap and I would want to be sure that it was actually required before doing it.
 
I think what you are saying makes sense about resting him, however will that pee the vet off if I don't carry out what they have recomended, although she didn't specify a time period.

Incidentally has anyone got a ball park figure if my insurance company decided not to play ball.
 
If your vet is a professional then it shouldn't pee them off at all, unless they have concerns that the injury is serious (in which case surely they would have told you and also performed diagnostics scan/xray etc).
Shockwave cost me in the region of £180 a session (you usually need 3-4 sessions each 10 days apart), although that included the vet coming to me with portable machine plus sedation - if you are going to them I would expect it to be a bit cheaper.
 
Mmmm I think i will give him a week off and see what he is like then, she certainly didn't give me the impression the injury was serious, it wasn't until I rode him that she could see any discomfort.

She also said to ride him , although no schooling and I went out for a small hack with my friend last night and he was little bit tight to start with but within 10 mins or so was striding out as normal.

Ouch could be costly if the insurance doesn't pay.

Thanks for the reply
 
I wouldn't rush to treat him with shockwave immediately. I had a horse prang his back last year and he was miserable and in pain. He had the full work up (Xrays, ultrasound) and we never did get to the bottom of it. However, he had 1 week of bute, 3 weeks of rest - rest in a teeny weeny paddock so he couldn't hare around and make it worse - and then was gradually brought back into work. No lunging just hacking in straight lines which is kinder on their backs. He's fine now - no pain at all.

I think when it comes to backs, horses very often get better on their own but you just have to stop riding them (imagine trying to mend when you're carting around the extra weight) and stop them from throwing themselves about. Is he a long backed horse? They're more prone to injury and just pranging their backs generally.
 
No he's short coupled, I am going to give him some time off and see if he show some improvement, because he was fine one day and then in discomfort the next. There has been no gradual decline.
Then if he's still the same ask the vet to come back and have another look and try to assess him alittle better.

Just going have to strip fence the paddock as he is a good doer and has put on weight already with the grass and by not riding him I dread to think what size he will get.

Again thanks for the reply, it just helps to put things into prospective and not over react.
 
[quoteIncidentally has anyone got a ball park figure if my insurance company decided not to play ball.

[/ QUOTE ]

Will had SWT for a suspensory injury last year. Usually they prescribe 3 sessions a fortnight apart followed by another scan. They have to be sedated which hikes the costs up. I think each treatment worked out about £100, NFU footed the bill with no quibble.
 
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