Horse with (probable) backpain - what can I expect from bone scan?

little_flea

little_flea

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My horse who runs away, presumably in pain, when ridden, is going for a bone scan at Rossdales. Vet thinks the problem is to do with loading of the spine when a rider is on, as the horse works well on the ground when longlined/lunged. He shows no signs of any lameness.

I know it is a bit pointless to speculate at this point, but just wondered if anyone has had similar experiences/investigations done and what was found, and what the outcome was?
 
I'll start with the most depressing scenario...

Lame in all four legs - hocks and front feet, the back pain secondary through compensating.
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Hope someone else comes up with something more cheerful for you.
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Aw sorry, its probably not that bad, and I thought loads of people would suggest more positive stuff! I wouldn't be surprised if there is bi-lateral lameness, and if its hind leg lameness, which often presents itself as back pain, there are lots of things the vets can do to sort it.
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bone scans look for hot spots, or exostosis, any new bone formation or inflamation etc. stuff like kissing spine etc, or wither fracture.
any more details?>
when did this start?
has he been ok previously?
what was his workload?
have you had saddle checked by a qualified master saddle fitter?
teeth?
is it straight away when you get on, or at a certain point in schooling?
is it linked to pace, turning etc?
is he willing to work properly at all?
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sorry for the q overload!
if its pain related, i would have thought there should be a sequence of events that would be repeatable happening before he goes?
 
Flame - it's ok, I am prepared for the worst :-(

greygates - this has gotten progressively worse for the last couple of months - as soon as horse started running through the bridle he had osteopathy, several painful areas were detected (withers, right shoulder, thoracic lumbar region) - horse had time off ridden work, but worked with longlines and lungeing (no problems with this) - osteo gave all clear to bring back into ridden work, and immediately it was clear that things were not right.

Got vet out who found trapped nerve in poll, released it, but problems persisted. Horse shows no signs of lameness according to experienced vet. He watched horse being ridden, clearly uncomfortable. Took horse back into stable and there was soreness at back of saddle region which had not been there previous to riding - vet put local anastaethic into relevant muscle groups, horse was ridden again, but no improvement. This points to a problem with skeletal/spinal loading but not easy to know what is the primary cause, and what is secondary (such as the trapped nerve in the poll)

Teeth are fine, saddle was fitted 6 months ago so could probably do with being checked again but vet does not think it is anything to do with saddle, plus the horse has two saddles and displays the same behaviour in both.

To be honest we haven't ridden much since this behaviour started as it is dangerous as well as well as obviously painful to the horse, but from what we know it is erratic - gets gradually worse the longer you ride, but that could be fear/stress. It can be in any pace, but obviously more likely in trot/canter. We haven't had the horse for very long so it is hard to say what is normal and not. When we first got him, he was very happy to work and still is, from the ground - it is the weight of the rider that appears to be causing the problem.
 
Get the hind suspensories scanned if you can. Bilateral hindlimb lameness is very hard to spot and often manifests as back pain. Also, I'd get a full lameness work up done at Rossdales before you go ahead with the bone scan. They're very very experienced and may spot something previously missed. It's not hugely expensive and may pinpoint the problem before you go ahead and have the (very expensive) bone scan.
 
I don't know anything about loading of the spine, but my horse has been suffering from severe back pain from withers to tail, much worse under saddle, and has this week been diagnosed with bilateral proximal suspensory desmitis. To make matters worse he has also damaged his sacroiliac region.

Good luck, and I hope it is nothing too serious.
 
Thanks everyone. I am prepared for it not to be very good news when Ollie has had the scan/investigation. Unfortunately the scan is not until another two weeks so there will be some more sleepless nights before then...

RonaldoToo, I am so sorry to hear about your horse.
 
Hi,

Mine had a bone scan at Rossdales 4 weeks ago, she had her back, pelvis and hindlimbs scanned - showed a couple of hotspots, 1 in her sacriallioc joint and hock. You could quite clearly see the difference between both sides on the x rays.

They really are very good there and will explain it all to you, my mare thought she was in heaven when she was put into a heated stable under lamps before the scan as they need to keep the body temperature correct.

She is now having a year off and was sent to the stallion 2 weeks ago, but hopefully will come back into work next year.
 
Hi it's hard not to speculate, when a horse shows severe reaction to back pain, but keep your spirits up. My horse was diagnosed with KS and operated on successfully just coming up to 2 years ago now and has made a complete and full recovery. She progressively went downhill before the op to the point where she couldn't be ridden and could only bunny hop on her back legs - now she's back better than before. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you and let us know how you get on. It nevers fails to amaze me how much they can correct now. KS would have been the end of a horse not too many years ago. But I do sympathise - it's horrible having to wait and trying not to worry.
 
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