It happened again.

[Bellalily]

Please please go with your gut instinct. Mine went from a happy chap to not wanting to leave the stable, story on another thread. Vet diagnosed stiff joints, a week of Danilon and he was fine, but as I hadn’t got to the source of his pain, when I reduced his Danilon, he reverted to as before. My gut was telling me sore tummy and as another girl on the yard also wondered the same, I added Alfa Oil which apparently mops up acid, increased his hay a tad, starting feeding hay in the field and I have my nut job horse back. YM poo pooed it, but I’m standing my ground. Once I’ve paid this vet bill and they are out 24/7 so bills are lower, I will get him scoped. You know your horse better than anyone, my poor chap was called “old” “lazy” “greedy” and he wasn’t, he was in pain.

 

[J_sarahd]

Please please go with your gut instinct. Mine went from a happy chap to not wanting to leave the stable, story on another thread. Vet diagnosed stiff joints, a week of Danilon and he was fine, but as I hadn’t got to the source of his pain, when I reduced his Danilon, he reverted to as before. My gut was telling me sore tummy and as another girl on the yard also wondered the same, I added Alfa Oil which apparently mops up acid, increased his hay a tad, starting feeding hay in the field and I have my nut job horse back. YM poo pooed it, but I’m standing my ground. Once I’ve paid this vet bill and they are out 24/7 so bills are lower, I will get him scoped. You know your horse better than anyone, my poor chap was called “old” “lazy” “greedy” and he wasn’t, he was in pain.

She has been diagnosed with kissing spine.

 

[J_sarahd]

Decided to resurrect this thread now that she is home. Like I said before, I want to keep this thread as a bit of a diary of our rehab whether people are bothered or not

So, she seems very happy to be home. As I said in my other thread, the rehab yard didn’t end particularly well. I’m also a bit disappointed that when I went to pick her up, they showed me exercises and it was all things I’d been doing for the month between diagnosis and shipping her off to rehab. She was however stretching down a bit better in trot.

I’ve given her a couple of days off to settle back into the yard again. I think she is coming into season (she is meant to be on regumate but they were running out about a month ago and never told me that they’d actually run out so I’m assuming she hasn’t had any for a week at least) as she squealed and pranced around when bringing her in today as she had to walk past one of her field neighbours - a gelding.

The plan now is to just keep going with the rehab - once a week in-hand poles, groundwork and in-hand hacks. Daily massages and stretches. I’m getting our physio out asap and hopefully we can make a plan and I can have a bit of an idea of when I can look to get back on.

I’m still feeling very sad and jealous of everyone riding. I had, and still have, goals for this year that seem a little out of reach at the moment.

 

[Zoeypxo]

Did you find out if she had been ridden in her time away?
I hope things pan out a bit better for you now that shes home

 

[Pinkvboots]

Glad she is home and she looks very happy the rehab yard didn't sound the best but just get her back on the regumate and just get going.

When Arabi needed to really stretch down in walk and trot I found doing in hand work on grass really helped as he wanted to eat the grass so kept his head down most of the time, so I did alot of running around the edges of the crop fields some days it did get a bit exiting some days though.

 

[Hormonal Filly]

She is such a beauty! Don’t be jealous of others, your have your time and it will probably go tits up for them because they’re horses at the end of the day

 

[J_sarahd]

Did you find out if she had been ridden in her time away?
I hope things pan out a bit better for you now that shes home

They didn’t, thankfully. I would’ve been furious if she had been as they didn’t have her saddle and I wasn’t asked if they could

 

[J_sarahd]

Glad she is home and she looks very happy the rehab yard didn't sound the best but just get her back on the regumate and just get going.

When Arabi needed to really stretch down in walk and trot I found doing in hand work on grass really helped as he wanted to eat the grass so kept his head down most of the time, so I did alot of running around the edges of the crop fields some days it did get a bit exiting some days though.

Thank you. Yeah she’s back on the regumate so that will be one less thing to worry about soon

Ooh that’s a good idea. I will have to try that - we have a field right outside our back gate so might try her in there once she has settled in and started to pick up her work again

 

[Pinkvboots]

Thank you. Yeah she’s back on the regumate so that will be one less thing to worry about soon

Ooh that’s a good idea. I will have to try that - we have a field right outside our back gate so might try her in there once she has settled in and started to pick up her work again

It worked really well once the bucking leaping and squealing became boring so I would do it after you have done a bit in the school already.

I have a grass track right at the back of my house which was ideal for this to start with as he was too interested in the grass to be naughty.

 

[J_sarahd]

So we have done two sessions since she’s been home and today was some polework. She is moving a lot better, really starting to stretch down in walk and trot.

A change I wasn’t expecting was how much less she is knocking poles. Before, she would knock a good 75% of poles and would shuffle if the distance wasn’t quite right. I put this down to her being a baby but today she touched probably one pole and was stretching rather than shuffling in the dodgy strides. It makes sense but it was just so exciting to see.

I wish I’d taken a video but I was on my own and concentrating on her. Hopefully next time! But things are starting to look good again.

 

[Muddywellies]

Deleted (should have read through the thread)

 

[Zoeypxo]

She's done it once in 12 months. Can't you just put it down to a bad day and just carry on. I wouldn't over analyse. If the problem keeps on happening, then look into it a bit more.

Read the most recent posts, horse has KS

 

[Lucky Snowball]

She’s beautiful. Glad you’re back on the ‘up’ and hope things keep improving for you both.

 

[BACR]

Late to the party here but hope you're ok @J_sarahd. I know it must be so frustrating not being able to crack on, but you should be so proud of yourself that you listened to her, got her diagnosed and have a plan to help her. You do you and what's best for Nova, before you know it you'll be doing exactly what you want to with a sound happy horse. That will be worth all the heartache along the way, and I'm sure you'll look back on the journey you've been through together and it'll have built a really strong foundation to build on for the future.

 

[J_sarahd]

Late to the party here but hope you're ok @J_sarahd. I know it must be so frustrating not being able to crack on, but you should be so proud of yourself that you listened to her, got her diagnosed and have a plan to help her. You do you and what's best for Nova, before you know it you'll be doing exactly what you want to with a sound happy horse. That will be worth all the heartache along the way, and I'm sure you'll look back on the journey you've been through together and it'll have built a really strong foundation to build on for the future.

Thank you so much. I’ve always said I’ll go as slow as needed. She’s only 5 so we have so much time. Although, I know someone who has a 6 year old who has qualified for Badminton GR and it makes me envious/sad as that’s one of the goals with Nova. Not envious of anyone riding when it’s been rainy but days like today are just perfect hacking weather and that makes me a bit sad.

The spring grass has definitely got to Nova as I lunged her yesterday and asking her to trot was responded to with a squeal, all four feet off the ground in various patterns for a few seconds, a canter and then the classic snorting-tail-up trot. But she settled nicely after a few circuits, which was good.

She has physio a week on Monday so hoping that will give us a bit more of an idea of what the near future looks like.

 

[Bellalily]

Thank you so much. I’ve always said I’ll go as slow as needed. She’s only 5 so we have so much time. Although, I know someone who has a 6 year old who has qualified for Badminton GR and it makes me envious/sad as that’s one of the goals with Nova. Not envious of anyone riding when it’s been rainy but days like today are just perfect hacking weather and that makes me a bit sad.

The spring grass has definitely got to Nova as I lunged her yesterday and asking her to trot was responded to with a squeal, all four feet off the ground in various patterns for a few seconds, a canter and then the classic snorting-tail-up trot. But she settled nicely after a few circuits, which was good.

She has physio a week on Monday so hoping that will give us a bit more of an idea of what the near future looks like.

The slower you go now, while she’s still maturing, the longer she’ll last. Quite often the bigger horses don’t stop growing until 7, so to ask anything that’s strenuous beforehand is asking for trouble.

 

[J_sarahd]

The slower you go now, while she’s still maturing, the longer she’ll last. Quite often the bigger horses don’t stop growing until 7, so to ask anything that’s strenuous beforehand is asking for trouble.

Completely agree. I have absolutely no rush and even if she’s in double figures before we start eventing, thats fine. To be fair, even if her body can’t cope with eventing, I’ll be sad but I’d get over it. She is what matters the most. I’m never, ever selling her (I’d probably struggle to anyway!) so have no need to get to x, y or z in a particular timeframe. I think part of me is just a bit sad because I had plans of getting her to her first event towards the end of the season this year. But equally, I am learning so, so much about her and about producing horses correctly and she will be stronger for it too. Hopefully, she will be less likely to break down through strains on other body parts.

 

[J_sarahd]

I am feeling very disheartened again. Nova’s physio came for the first time since she came back from rehab and she said she is more guarded again in her lumbar than before. She recommended I did some TRT and carried on what I’m doing in terms of groundwork/poles/lunging/long-lining. She suggested I put Nova’s saddle on her no matter what I’m doing with her to try and break any pain memory before I get on. She also said if Nova is feeling particularly chilled then I can have a sit on her.

I am very lucky in that Nova is out 24/7 as of tonight so I’m really hoping that helps. But I just feel like I’ve taken a huge step backwards.

 

[Pinkvboots]

It can happen with rehab they start using muscles they probably didn't before because she was hurting so when they start using parts of the body properly they can get tight and sore, I wouldn't worry too much for now just carry on but at least you are aware of it.

Has she given you any ground work or stretches you can do to help ?

 

[J_sarahd]

That makes sense

She said to keep doing weekly in-hand poles in walk, backing up and small circles/turn on the forehand. As for stretches, she said carrot stretches to each side and between her legs

 

[Pinkvboots]

Tail pulls are good for the sacroiliac and lumbar region just do them gently to start with but you might find she will start to pull back as they learn it feels good.

Arabi loves his tail pulls he really stretches into them.

 

[J_sarahd]

A bit of positivity in our progress (finally)

So in our physio session on Monday, my physio recommended putting Nova in her saddle to do any lunging/groundwork/polework etc so that it isn’t such a shock to her when I put it on when I eventually get on and to hopefully remove any pain memory.

I put her epiony heat pad on for 20 mins and put it on, fully expecting the same “get it off me! that hurts!” reaction as I’d had before her diagnosis. Nope, stood munching hay. A bit of a reaction when I did the first buckle of her girth up but I’m guessing that was a “I THINK this is going to hurt” as she didn’t react for any of the others.

Lunged her in it, very slowly and she was just perfect. I took her to the mounting block to line her up to it and walk up and down it. Again, perfect. So I got to the top and banged the saddle/stirrups and added a bit of weight and she just stood chilling! I am over the moon!!

Obviously not going to just jump back on tomorrow and I know there’s still a long way to go but she felt so much more comfortable than Nov/Dec.



Not the best photo as it is a live photo and it was a rushed, last minute photo!

 

[J_sarahd]

Nova is back in the vets on Monday. There’s something not right and I can’t quite put my finger on it. To most people, she probably looks and seems fine - she isn’t lame, she is happy to be tacked up, happy to work. But the reaction to her back being palpated has increased in the last week and she’s become really unhappy to have her back feet picked up (she was never great at it, but she is now kicking out whilst I’m holding it).

It might be nothing, I might be fully wasting my time and money. But I just feel in my gut that there’s something else. My initial thought is SI, but we shall see. Hopefully some good news and good luck is coming our way soon.

 

[Michen]

Nova is back in the vets on Monday. There’s something not right and I can’t quite put my finger on it. To most people, she probably looks and seems fine - she isn’t lame, she is happy to be tacked up, happy to work. But the reaction to her back being palpated has increased in the last week and she’s become really unhappy to have her back feet picked up (she was never great at it, but she is now kicking out whilst I’m holding it).

It might be nothing, I might be fully wasting my time and money. But I just feel in my gut that there’s something else. My initial thought is SI, but we shall see. Hopefully some good news and good luck is coming our way soon.

I'm so sorry. I guess sometimes when you fix one thing, another crops up. Maybe this is one of those situations where you jab everything and hope it all stabilizes etc.

 

[Hormonal Filly]

Sorry to read this OP. Good for you for pushing for a answer.. I can’t remember, did they look at her hocks?

My mare years ago had KS surgery but then several other issues cropped up shortly after in rehab stage, chronic arthritic hocks were one.

 

[CanteringCarrot]

It's great that you recognized those things and that you're getting the vet out. I do find that it's almost never "just" KS. It's often KS and hocks, SI, negative hoof angles, and/or whatever else.

 

[J_sarahd]

Sorry to read this OP. Good for you for pushing for a answer.. I can’t remember, did they look at her hocks?

My mare years ago had KS surgery but then several other issues cropped up shortly after in rehab stage, chronic arthritic hocks were one.

No, so the vet suggested treating/rehabbing the kissing spine and if it got worse/nothing changed, to then investigate further. wish i’d got everything checked earlier and i was always going to check everything before surgery, if it ever got to that anyway

 

[Pinkvboots]

Fingers crossed its nothing.

 

[Hormonal Filly]

Fingers crossed its nothing.

Second that, my mare was stiff behind. SI would make sense with her compensating for the back. Have everything crossed for you.

 

[ycbm]

Nova is back in the vets on Monday. There’s something not right and I can’t quite put my finger on it. To most people, she probably looks and seems fine - she isn’t lame, she is happy to be tacked up, happy to work. But the reaction to her back being palpated has increased in the last week and she’s become really unhappy to have her back feet picked up (she was never great at it, but she is now kicking out whilst I’m holding it).

It might be nothing, I might be fully wasting my time and money. But I just feel in my gut that there’s something else. My initial thought is SI, but we shall see. Hopefully some good news and good luck is coming our way soon.

I'm so sorry to read this. Can i just suggest that if the SI is sore , that you don't stop there, because the SI is often sore due to hocks and/or suspensories and I feel you need to check the lot, including the hind feet if the suspensories are an issue.