sacroiliac injuries

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not_with_it

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I had the vet out to my mare around 3 weeks ago as she wasnt herself and had a swelling above her sacroiliac joint. He confirmed it was her sacroiliac and we discussed options. He wanted to try her on danilon for a week to reduce the inflamation and then I had to do 6 weeks of walking under saddle in straight lines. We are now around week 4 and the swelling still occasionally comes back. Im going to have the vet back out this week to see what he says.
Does anyone have any experience of this kind of injury and did your horse return to normal?

A few photos of her back this morning
062.jpg

Not as obvious in this one as she was stood with her left hind forward which is the side the swelling is on.
061.jpg
 
My mare has SI. She never had any swelling though. Is your horse lame?

All I can say is 4 weeks is nothing with SI. It is a long haul back. There are lots of people who have had different advice but the people who seem to have had success are those who have continued to work the horse and keep it fit. I had physio for mine plus schooling and hacking but was advised to avoid hill work. Other people have been advised to use hill work. So it is a bit of a vague area. The one consistent thing I found out is that people who continued to work their horses, albeit at a gentler level had more success which is why I chose that route.

My horse was never lame and had no obvious swelling so it may not be the same for yours. Work with your vet, discuss physio, and keep up the gentle exercise until your vet suggests otherwise.
 
I have a ex racer who has a SI from a fall racing (retired now but not due to that). I bought him a year after he had been rehabilitated for light hacking and schooling - he never was lame, and regular work (mostly hacking) kept him muscled up. Bearing in mind his is 1/2 inch unlevel at the tuber coxae, so really bad.

Sometimes he would canter disunited and drag his toes intermittently in the winter before warmed up but was fine for the bit i wanted to do. The only restriction given by the vet was no jumping over 3 foot (i didnt jump him thou).

Hopefully yours should have a better prognosis as it wasnt as dramatic as a fall flat out gallop (he also sustained a condoylar fracture at the same time, so couldnt be exercised like yours) x x x

Hope it gets better soon x
 
have you thought about getting an osteop to look at it? i only treat people at the moment but in humans the SI problems always come hand in hand with imbalance muscle tensions and often torsions though the pelvis, prob is if they aren't addressed the condition can continue to recur for ages.
also osteopaths don't just 'click' joints we work on every tissue in the body.
 
Hiya, wow what a lump!! My mare has had sacroilic ligamanet damage, just over 3 months ago. I has been a long haul as dozzies mum says, and we are no where near seeing the light at the end of the tunnel yet!! My 4yr old did it out in the field, its an injury usually seen in polo ponies and exracers. She is more raised on the injured side, you can feel bone whereas you should be able to feel muscle but she hasn't got swelling like that your horse. my horse has had injections into the damaged ligament with an irritant which has helped to build up scar tissue around the damaged ligament, as a 4 yr old she didnt have very good muscle development anyway, so she has been longreining and lunging the past 3+months to build up muscle to support the damaged ligament. She has also had physio (mctimothy) treatment on her back almost every week for the past 3 months. The worst thing she could possibly do now is slip so she is not alowed to hack up and down hills, or go out in a paddock on a slope. I've just started to ride her again (to start with under the influence of lots of danilon!!!!!!!) and shes up to 20mins walk and trot schooling. I would be pushing the vey for a few more ideas, I;ve heard from my vet and physio that steroid is a bit of an out of date option, also try getting her looked at by an osteo and she is going to be sore around the joint. Let us know how she gets on.
 
She is very slightly lame on a circle on soft going but only the specialist vet could see it. Shes not been ridden properly for 6+ weeks but back then she started off stiff through her back taking short strides but loosened up after work.
I have left a message for the vet to ring me back tomorrow to see what he says. I dont want to do anything that will be detremental to her recovery. She doesnt jump or hack (she doesnt enjoy either and is such a wimp) so she is purely a dressage horse. My plan was to give her an easier life in a few years when my youngster grew up, this has come too soon!

Thanks for the positive replies. Its the swelling that is concerning me the most.
 
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