help physio has found some serious problems with my horse

J

jalisco

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hi all,

Really long story but please bear with me.

Bought my horse last january. Picked up in the vetting that he had a sore rump area to press/touch but he had no condition or top line at all and really poor condition so I didnt think that it was significant at the time- he was dipped on the right side.He also didnt pass the flexion tests on te left hind either but flexiion tests are to some not important and he was not hopping lame just one lame step then sound.
was happy with this and price reduced to reflect this.

Got him home and fed him up and was correctly vaccinated, etc. Started to feel well, rearing, bucking and generally pissing off with me.

he evented to novice but very badly as was missing a lot of basic flat work in his education but generally nice horse, so have spent the last year trying doing flat work with him and generally getting him to relax.

Started physio last march and physio has treated in may and august with ultrasound. said his rump was not that bad and was def improving!!! no where else needed work. when i pressed her about having more regularphysio than 3 months cos he has an ongoing problem she said no that was fine.

welllllllllll....... my vet cam out about a month after she had done her last session in aug about something else and i asked his opinion about his back- he was not impressed. Said to get new physio!!

new physio out on tuesday. well the bloody difference. she massages him for 2 hours. gave me a detailed work up of where was sensitive- well where wasnt more to the point. She was more worried about his withers area and said he had a significant shiver over this area as well.

said also his front left pastern area needed to be massaged daily and that if any lameness to contact vet immediatley? never had any lameness so this has come as a shock.

Said to get saddle checked and hes coming sunday. but i really dont think its that but still doing it. If its fne she said i need to contact vet for any underlying pathology.

I was so upset and couldnt sleep last night. so have i been riding my horse and he been in pain even though i thought i had the best possible physio??

Things are starting to add up now like the rearing, and pissing off and also the fact that hes developed a problem loading in he horse box. He is difficult ont he left rein and can get piggish but I never ever though he was in pain- and now im so upset to think that he has been in pain and I didnt know.
He is alos difficult to get on the contact but I just put this down to being confused due to lack of education.

Ireally dont know what to do or think just things keep going around in my head. Can any help? please

if I havnt been clear just ask and ill try to explain better, thanks.
 
Try not to beat yourself up over it anymore you had someone who you thought was right. Yes I know how it feel's as I did put a lot of trust into back people for only to be told theres nothing really wrong. When there was a lot wrong and should of been picked up!!

The main thing is now that you got someone who is going to help get him sortd. It will proply take a bit of time as muscles are odd things to work with and to understand. Since having a massage person out who was very shockd at his back etc. She has done a wonderful job on getting all his muscles relaxed and working corrtley!!

Its a good idea getting saddle check now and in the furtue as he might fill out.

Keep your chin up
 
i know how frustrating these things can be, my tb wasnt being naughty but whilst moving up to novice BD he wasnt right, being very irritable and generally hard work, his final straw was when i went for a hack on the beach, his favourite place and he stopped dead and refused to move, bone scans and x-rays later revealled navicular, kissing spines and bone spavins. so he had every reason to dump me on the floor if he wanted but he didnt! i would follow it up with vet examinations if i were you. mine had physio before i had to scans done and the physio didnt pick up on anything to suggest he had these problems. good luck x
 
Bojangles said:
Try not to beat yourself up over it anymore you had someone who you thought was right. Yes I know how it feel's as I did put a lot of trust into back people for only to be told theres nothing really wrong. When there was a lot wrong and should of been picked up!!

The main thing is now that you got someone who is going to help get him sortd. It will proply take a bit of time as muscles are odd things to work with and to understand. Since having a massage person out who was very shockd at his back etc. She has done a wonderful job on getting all his muscles relaxed and working corrtley!!

Its a good idea getting saddle check now and in the furtue as he might fill out.

Keep your chin up
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thanks for that, i really appreciate ur support and kind words.
Just shocking that my horses welfare has been compromised by a professional like that. hes such a sweet horse who hasnt has the best start in life anyway and for this to happen has really upset me esp if it turns out to be something worse than the saddle. but i will wait this saddler comes and workwith physio and hope that he will be ok. thanks x
 
china said:
i know how frustrating these things can be, my tb wasnt being naughty but whilst moving up to novice BD he wasnt right, being very irritable and generally hard work, his final straw was when i went for a hack on the beach, his favourite place and he stopped dead and refused to move, bone scans and x-rays later revealled navicular, kissing spines and bone spavins. so he had every reason to dump me on the floor if he wanted but he didnt! i would follow it up with vet examinations if i were you. mine had physio before i had to scans done and the physio didnt pick up on anything to suggest he had these problems. good luck x
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I thinks ur right there, hes insured so it doesnt matter money wise just to give him the once over just to be sure. hes such a sweet boy like yours on the ground thats why the rearing, pissing off etc is so so strange. like ur quote about - horses dont have motives just reactions. i think thats excellent explaination of horses in most things they do. thanks
 
mine has been on going since may and its been a long hard expensive slog, mine is insured so i went through with the tests but wasnt expecting so much to show up haha! his bill is currently at £3000, the most expensive part being the full body bone scan at £1000, he stayed in horspital for 5 days, the bill when he left was £2000. i pay for his remedial shoeing and send my invoices off to the insurance and i get the difference paid to me. he had a re assessment last week and the vet is mega impressed with him so im happy. with everything wrong with him i was expecting the worst really. he will have treatment for the rest of his life now which i will have to finance after next june when the insurance stops but hes worth it ;-) see what your saddler says aswell, i had the saddler out a few days before the vet and rode him round and he stoped and didnt move and she said that the saddle had dropped slightly but it wasnt bad enough to make him react like that. get a good recomended vet and it makes your life so much easier! oh and you can claim physion on insurance to. well you can with nfu anyway.
 
Dont feel too hard on yourself. You're not the first and definitely wont be the last person to put your trust in a 'professional' only to realise they werent really that knowledgeable in the first place!

I had been having problems with my boy, bronching, bucking, reluctance to move forward, fidgeting when mounting. He even put me into hospital after one of his bucking fits! I too had a physio who said he had tightness across his withers and a dropped pelvis but to get his saddle checked, which I did, then carried on riding, again came the bucking, tenseness and just not a happy horse. I knew something had to be wrong as he was such a sweetie on the ground. In the end I took him to the vets who diagnosed kissing spine.
I felt awful that I had still been riding him when he was in so much pain, I even did a dressage test!

But I have found the problem and now I can start treating it.

I would definitely take him to the vets to get him checked over. There maybe nothing serious wrong but wouldnt you rather take him and find out?

xxx
 
I also know how you feel, Ive refused to pay my physio bill after being charged £80 each for 2 sessions, to be told they would state their reputation on the lameness being below the hock. All treatment was based on this for 4 months, even though i had my doubts when he exibited pain whilst being treated in the glute area (which i was told was compensating pain)

Turns out he had stifle OCD, so she couldnt have been more wrong, im just gutted that the pain was prolonged by the wrong diagnosis. I felt and still feel so guilty.



You can move forward now you know what direction to go in, although it doesnt feel like a possitive thing, you now have the ability to get the correct treatment and have a happy horse once again. I wish you all the best (((hugs)))
 
Hi,

I'm not sure where you are but please check out this website!
http://www.equinetherapyservices.co.uk/

This is my instructor Julie, I have got a testimonial on there but I'll tell you a bit now.

I have always for as long as I can remeber been in pain with my back, had migranes all sorts and nothing worked for me except Zero Balancing and EBT when I was on a horse, I love it! I have found that although Chiropractors and Physios are usually all very very good at their jobs they only deal with the one area that they specialise in i.e. Bones or muscles where as Julie and this particular therapy deals with both in a different way.

It is very possible that the problem is exactly as your physio has said but it is also very possible that the horses problem stems from perhaps emotional tension held at bone and muscle level maybe from a past experience the symptoms of which can be helped with physio but the cause will have been left untreated and still could manifest itself.

Julie is fab! She does Craniosacral, EBT, Zero Balancing, Reiki and is a superb instructor. I have every confidence that she could look at your horse and be able to see what the problem is and I think sort it out for you! She would always be my first port of call, its worth a try!

Hope you get it sorted!

Aimee x
 
thanks everyone for all your replys.
Saddler is out sunday and if he says that saddle is fine im just going to ring vet monday and organise a full work up whatever the cost i dont care, its just gone on long enough. I never realised that it could have been anything more than just ordinary muscle aches and pains which a physio could have helped more than a vet could- how wrong was I .
Just hope my horse is ok and that all this is not going to lead up to some very sad new indeed. Just trying to stay positive now.
thanks for all the replys, just proves there are some fab people on here with lots of valuable info!!!:)
 
jalisco said:
thanks everyone for all your replys.
Saddler is out sunday and if he says that saddle is fine im just going to ring vet monday and organise a full work up whatever the cost i dont care, its just gone on long enough. I never realised that it could have been anything more than just ordinary muscle aches and pains which a physio could have helped more than a vet could- how wrong was I .
Just hope my horse is ok and that all this is not going to lead up to some very sad new indeed. Just trying to stay positive now.
thanks for all the replys, just proves there are some fab people on here with lots of valuable info!!!:)
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I think this is a good plan.

There is a lot of self-deprecating here - you shouldn't beat yourself up so much. Honestly, if you'd had problems and ignored them without seeking professional or paraprofessional help then you should beat yourself up - but that's clearly not the case here.

Without seeing the horse there's nothing I can really add, best to wait for your vet to see what he/she finds.

Don't write off the valuable input physios can give, but make sure you check qualifications and experience before getting people in. Most physios are great and highly qualified with good equine experience. Some are not. We use a great local physio for a lot of cases with good success. The key thing is a physio who knows when the horse has a problem requiring further veterinary input and is happy to work alongside vets too. This is invaluable.

Good luck
Imogen
 
oh hun I really feel for you. Been there done that and like you felt my horse suffered for it. This was despite having someone recommended and qualified, also happened with a EDT too.

My horse had back problems, one in the wither area, turns out it was the ligaments inbetween the spine. This sounded like the end of the world too me, however he had injections there and recovered so well the exclusion was lifted off the insurance 2 years later:D
he also had muscle problems in his hind quarters which were eventually sorted out by new Chiro. Like you are already doing a horse needs so much care a vet alone is not enough, the DO need seperate Dentist, and chiro/physio as the vets just don't know enough unfortunately however when you think how many animals they have to train to teach it is not their fault. DRs only have humans to treat and they make enough mistakes!!

You are doing everything right!!!!! fingers crossed for you.

As well as getting saddle checked I would also see if you can borrow a saddle that is similar fit and try riding him in that. Just in case your saddler is wrong, unfortunately as you know it does happen.
 
After reading your posts it has upset me about all your experiences with physios. I have recently started my degree to become a chartered veterinary physiothereapist at Hartpury.

The problem is that anyone can say they are a "equine physiotherapist" as it is not a specific protected role, for instance people who have done equine science could say they are a physio even though they havent had the specific training. However, the role of CHARTERED veterinary physiotherapist is and you can only say this if you are a specifically trained veterinary physiotherapist and this can only be achieved at Harpury or the RVC. Also, as well as being a chartered vet physio we can only treat animals that are referred to us from the vets directly. Therefore to ensure you are gettting the correct physio for your horse I would go through the vets and ask them for you to be referred. The problems out there in the equine world with physios is having a detrimental effect on those of us who have gained the proper training and therefore know how to treat your horses correctly. If you are unsure as to whether your physio is a chartered veterinary physio I would ask them specifically or even you can search for a physio on the ACPAT (Association of Charatered Physiotherapist for Animal Therapy) website, www.acpat.org , as all the ones listed are those that are chartered and therefore recieved the correct training.

Sam
 
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