Pelvis Issues?

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sonjafoers

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My 6 year old mare has a possible problem with her pelvis area but I have had so much conflicting advice with this I am hoping somebody can help me out! She regularly drags her offside hind, not drastically just more of a slight toe scrape but enough to square off her toe & shoe. This does tend to happen more when she is out of work.

I first noticed it a few years ago & my vet at the time told me her pelvis was 'out' and he had no qualms as to have her pts as she would never canter/jump etc. I got a 2nd opinion from my instructors vet who felt the problem was muscular due to her just starting school work and it would improve when she strengthened - as it did.

However, she still drags this toe slightly & my YO says he has only ever seen one other horse do this which was a racehorse who had come down and damaged its pelvis. She regularly has the osteopath & Bowen Therapy and both of these haven't picked up a problem in her pelvis. I have now had an a animal communicator out to her and although I'm very sceptical interestingly she picked up a problem with the area behind her saddle which is effecting her offside fetlock. She wasn't clear on what it was but said it may not be physical but could be an emotional block.

My vet (not the one who would have her pts) says in order to start looking into the problem he needs to do nerve blocks which I'm not sure about. I have also read recently that a pelvis can't be 'out' so I am very confused. Can anyone suggest what may cause this and a correct veterinary route to get it looked into please. She is insured but the cost of scans aren't covered but I have a feeling this may be the only way to go.
 
I'd get a referal and a full work up on her hind limbs and back. It sounds like you've been trying to get to the bottom of the issue for a while and not got anywhere. A full investigation should give you an answer once I for all. I'm in the same boat just now with mine.

What scans aren't covered in your insurance? Normally it's vet fees up to X amount and I think MRIs are excluded in some policy but you should still be ok for x-rays, scintigraphy etc. Worth phoning your insurer for confirmation.

Good luck
 
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Why aren't you 'sure' about nerve blocks? And has anyone ever looked at her hocks??

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I agree, I would be looking for hock problem. My mare did the same, rounded her toe and bounced it on the road/surface when ridden, turned out to be a hock problem.
 

My lad had a "tilted" pelvis, hard to spot unless you have a very good eye (which luckily my physio does!) Vet came out and confirmed that yes it was out of alignment and recommended me a chirpractor (mctimmony). After just one session he was noticably looser and has gone from strength to strength. he now jumps and canters.. where as originally he would drag both his hinds, but one was more obvious than the other. We think the mis-algnment was caused by a fall before I got him.
If you cannot identify anything visually, then nerve blocks are prob the correct way to go, to locate the area of pain, i.e. hocks/ feet etc. Back and pelvis are difficult to x-ray and a pelvic x-ray may not even show up any soft tissue damage.
Have you had saddle adjusted/ checked? At that age prob changing shape quite a lot still.
 
Dr Sue Dyson at The Animal Health Trust in Newmarket www.aht.org.uk/ahtequine.html is one of the UK's top equine orthopaedic clinicians. She has written several published papers on Sacroiliac joint pain and kissing spine. If you can afford it or can claim on your insurance, she will assess your horse for you being lunged, under saddle and through x-rays.

An article of Sue's was lublished in H&H- see www.horseandhound.co.uk/horsecare/397/55632.html
 
Does she look a bit lopsided from behind, i.e. one point of the hip is higher than the other?

If so, I would suspect a sacroiliac ligament strain and I would get a good mctimony chiro out to see her and help release the tension in her pelvis and poll (they go hand in hand) to see if that levels her pelvis.

If you do a search on here, there is loads about sacroiliac strains, which can result from a fall or be secondary to something else like KS or PSD.

Just be careful, if your vet has seen the horse about her pelvis/hind leg before, it may be excluded from any potential claim.
 
Back/sacroiliac/pelvis probs may normally be (but not always) secondary to something else going on lower down ie foot/heel balance, hocks, etc, and so the horse compensates for it in their way of going, or even something as simple as saddle/ saddle balance/flocking.

I'd get the vet to do a full lameness work up and go from there, once you have more of a diagnosis, your vet can treat accordinglyand you can then involve other professionals like veterinary physio's- if is a sacroiliac prob there are lots of exercised you can do to help them strengthen up in that area.

good luck with everything.
 
Thank you everybody. Interestingly she does have poor front limb conformation which resulted in some foot problems which have taken my farrier nearly a year to sort out - do you think this could have some bearing? My osteo also says she is stiff in her hocks and so as per her recommendation she is on a joint supplement. I am not sure if she is lopsided from the back, I don't think so but she is coloured and one side is white, the other brown so it's not that easy to see to be honest! I have the vet out this week so I think I will ask him to start a full investigation - my concern about the nerve blocks is my other horse had them with my previous vet and had an infection in the site so that worries me.

Forgot to say she has also seen a McTimoney practitioner in the past, and as this lady also does professional schooling etc she ws sent there for 2 weeks for bringing on when she was young and nothing was picked up.

She has her back, saddle & teeth checked every 6 months so I would hope there were no problems there.
 
As others have said, you can wonder about the what ifs and maybes for ever, spending a lot of money doing it! But it sounds as if your horse needs a thorough lameness work up at a specialist centre. Don't know where you are but there's a hospital in Dursley that I'd personally recommend. Good luck x
 
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