Nerve problems?

[mandy4727]

Bear with me on this one as a bit long winded but I will get there in the end and see if anyone can offer any advise or suggestions. May 2016 as I went to mount my Welsh 7 year old Section D she threw me off and nearly fell over backward on me. I got my saddle looked out and widened as it was a bit narrow and I also got the physio out to her do did some massage on her back and around the saddle area. I was still very wary when getting after my fall as it really scared and hurt me. Lunged her a good few times with and without saddle and rode bareback and no problems. Then in February 2017 she seemed to have problems urinating. I fed her cranberry juice in her feed to see if it would help. Got the vet out and she had a bladder/urine infection and gave her antibiotics. Still the same so same vet and another course of antibiotics. Still the same trouble having a wee and when she did she weed and pooed at the same time. Into the vets practice and had tubes and scans and cameras into her bladder and uterus etc and found nothing. Another course of antibiotics and a course of steroids too. Still scared to ride after the initial incident and others on the yard have ridden her as she is very green despite her age. But today I noticed she wasn't swishing her tail to get rid of any flies around and about her and then she went to have a poo. I went round the back to lift her tail up and all the poo was still wedged in her bottom checks as thought she has not been able to move her tail. So has this been the problem all along? She has nerve damage near her tail? Cookies for getting so far and advise appreciated. Going to see if I can get a different physio out to her and gave all the history I have given you. Thanks in advance.

 

[Shay]

It would probably be worth getting her back scanned - she could easily have a nerve impingement. We had a Sec D on trial recently (nothing particular about Sec D's - possibly more co-incidence). My adult daughter who is normally as sticky as they come fell off him several times in two weeks - not bad falls and he didn't buck her off or anything but something was odd. When we came to the vetting (he was wonderful in everything else) the vet said he felt he was lame behind on the lunge, but not so much so that he wanted to stop so we progressed to the ridden phase and my daughter came off at the first canter strike off - it was like his hind legs crumpled under him and then he had a huge heave step to get back to his feet and flipped her off. The vet stopped the vetting. Got a physio out to him at the owner's request and he was very quickly diagnosed with low level wobblers syndrome. The vetting with the flexion test had exacerbated it enough to be visible.

The two checks the Physio did which he said were close to definitive were these - standing parallel with the quarters, gently push then give a hard shove. A "normal" horse will brace against you. A horse with impingement in the lumbar or sacral spine will not and you can shove them over. You can do the same at walk. (In hand - not ridden!) Also the tail may be limp and you can lift it easily past the neutral point - most horses will clamp at that point. (Although in fairness I have a Connie who doesn't and whose back is fine - he's just very relaxed about his tail.)

Formal diagnosis is through x-ray. But if the quick physio checks suggest a problem that is well worth doing. Horses with spinal chord impingement can fall suddenly when ridden and may not be safe long term. For is the Sec D went back as unsuitable so I don't know what happened after that.

In the meantime make sure you clean her hind end regularly and gently. It is possible its just the matted sticky me making her reluctant to move her tail becuase it pulls! Plus you don't want her to get an infection.