My horse is short behind!

MeganLindsx

MeganLindsx

Well-Known Member
Joined
5 December 2011
Messages
359
Location
Surrey
Visit site
My mare is constantly being short behind! It started when she fell over when rearing up in the field and fell over (doing her usual stallion impression!)

I have had the vet out and they have been no help, have had her back done numerous times and saddle checked etc.

She is not lame and shows no irregular steps she just wont track up and is constatly short no matter who is riding her.

Can someone please suggest something!!!
 
Is she short on both hinds, or just one? If she's short behind then she is lame, imo. What does your vet say about it? What investigations have been done? You could either get a different vet, have a full lameness work up done, or try a bute trial to see if she improves.
 
This sounds like a sacro illiac injury. I have experience of this as I have a young WB who has chronic SI dysfunction.

My advice would be to get a holistic vet to see your horse, preferably one that is an osteopath too. I used Donna Blinman near Newmarket and she manipulated my horse's sacrum.
I also used a physio regularly on my horse. A physio should be able to diagnose if it is indeed an SI injury.

It is hard to diagnose, but the symptoms are an inability to track up and use the backend fluidly. Stiff action behind and choppy gait. My horse would also kick out frequently like he was trying to free up his back. He was really good ridden , but in the end he started bucking violently. It is a painful injury for a horse and the sooner it is diagnosed the better the prognosis, as the damaged ligaments can be helped to repair etc. Good luck - keep us posted
 
Last edited:
Short on both. Its not that easy to nitice and she used to be really bad to the point where she would bunny hop with her hind legs in the canter. we got the vet out and he suggested to get someone to check her back and after she had this done she improved so much and doesn't bunny hop and her back legs seem to be working more underneath her.

Had the vet back out as still not tracking up but her said she was just stiff, he suggested pole work and passoa but i don't think its had much different. She had her back done again and she is very straight and feels a lot better but i just can't get her to track up! Very annoying!!!!!

Might have to try bute!
 
YasandCrystal said:
This sounds like a sacro illiac injury. I have experience of this as I have a young WB who has chronic SI dysfunction.

My advice would be to get a holistic vet to see your horse, preferably one that is an osteopath too. I used Donna Blinman near Newmarket and she manipulated my horse's sacrum.
I also used a physio regularly on my horse. A physio should be able to diagnose if it is indeed an SI injury.

It is hard to diagnose, but the symptoms are an inability to track up and use the backend fluidy. Stiff action behind and choppy gait. My horse would also kick out frequently like he was trying to free up his back. Good luck - keep us posted
Click to expand...

I had an osteo out a few weeks ago ( a very good one who was highly reccomended and came all the way from Ireland) who didn't even mention anything :confused:

I will look into the SI injury route though as sounds like what my mare is doing! Is the treatment good for that type of injury?
 
There was an informative article in H&H about SI injuries a while ago. Google SI injuries and you will find a paper written by Sue Dyson of AHT who diagnosed my horse via her lameness clinic.
I believe I am correct in saying that for a recent injury the prognosis is much better than for a chronic one such as my horse's. He now has LOU. The rehab is manipulation of the scarum by an osteopath (holistic vet) although most conventional vet's contest this as not possible, Then lots of pessoa work in a straight line (ours was all in hand) and physio (tens machine for muscle and nerve stimulation) and stepping over 2 poles also. Trot work follows on physio's instruction and circles presumably much later.
My horse bunny hopped in canter too and he also plaited behind. Never tracked up.
The rehab is basically to build muscle atthe sacrum to support it; I am not keen on this line of rehab as it infers you MUST keep the horse fit and conditioned else the dysfunction will appear again. My holistic vet manipulated the sacrum in order to make the area/sacrum 'normal' again - problem in my horse's case is it was too old an injury and the ligaments had been left damaged and he moved differently probably for years to compensate the injury. As yours is fresh I would guess that the outcome could be far rosier and long lasting. It cost £000s literally to get my horse diagnosed at Newmarket, but my physio came out and cupped his hip and pulled and bingo he showed so weak on the r/h damaged side!! My horse was injected in the sacrum and again I think this can be a marvellous fix for an acute injury. Hope this helps
 
My horse used to bunny hop about a year ago....

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=394983

It seemed to co-inside with having back shoes on, as once they were re-moved she seemed instantly fine. However, on friday - just gone - she had her back legs de-nerved as treatment for a suspensory ligament injury which she could of damaged ages ago (possible when she started bunny hopping) and having the shoes on caused the angle of her leg to change so she compensated for it by bunny hopping and bucking x

Apparently the suspensory ligament injury could have healing wrongly so she has always compensated for it and it wasnt until recently she started showing up as lame.
 
Last edited:
MeganLindsx

You say you have had her back done and she is better but not right yet.

I have a super chap come and do my horses backs and would not have anyone else.

He is just the best so If you want to know his name and contact I can let you know.
He straightened my mare up when others had failed.

Another thing you can try is a massage pad that will release any tension from an old injury.

Learn to massage yourself or do some Reiki again you can learn to do this yourself.
 
Either try resting the horse for about 6 months and see if it gets better on its own, or get a referral to a good horspital and get them to find out exactly why your horse isn't sound.
 
No one can diagnose your horse over the internet and IME you'll tend to get a lot of scare stories...

My horse exhibits similar symptoms... he has spavins in both hocks. It could be so many things, no one can say anything conclusive on here.

Has your vet x-rayed and/or scanned the hind legs? I'd start there and see what it shows up. If your normal vet is unhelpful then ask your insurance company about getting a second opinion, or see if your vet will refer you to a vet hospital. The physio will only be able to deal with any secondary back pain - until you deal with the cause of the pain, it will return.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top