Sacroiliac Joint - urgent advice needed!!

[TheEquineOak]

Hi everyone!

a 5* vetting has shown a problem with the sacroilac joint on a horse I am considering buying. The vet suspects this was caused by a field injury some time ago.

This problem did not show on any regular vettings so I'm presuming the condition isn't causing him much grief (as yet).

The horse has been in the arena and was doing very well under a competitive rider. Unfortunelty, because of the advanced level of the rider the horse cannot be passed for eventing in this instance. (vet seems happy enough for him to do local).

I don't have any first hand experience with the sacroiliac joint, although in most instances I have seen it be caused by a more obvious primary fault, leading to secondary problems with this particular joint (the vet found NOTHING else wrong with this horse)

If purchased, this horse would be more my other half. He is currently a novice but is extremely competant and eventually, will want to jump, xc and hunt (all at local level) I have had several professional opinions from trainers/vets which have been positive but I would like to open the floor to yourselves as your all so honest!

He's a thoroughbred, 17.2hh, 6 years old and cheap. Personality and patience to die for.

Does anyone have any further suggestions or similiar experiences?

Thanks for getting this far!!!!!!

xx

 

[Shay]

My daughter's boy has SI problems - also from a feild injury. There are things you need to take into account - but nothing to necessarily stop you buying him.

You will be committed to a life time of back care to keep him in as best shape as you can. Find a practitioner you like and stick to them like glue! Our boy (who is 13 and 100% sound) sees a physio for massage every few months or so and an osteopath about once a year.

He will have a slightly shorter ridden life. Arthirtis in the SI joint is very painful when ridden so you need to plan either to sell him on fairly quickly or for a long retirement. At 6 you still have years and years left - but it is only responsible to think about it now.

You might not be able to get insurance for him - or they'll put an exclusion on him.

We compete XC / ODE / SJ and Hunt all without problems. Ned is only 13 and I would expect to still be compteing at a low level into his 20's - but you do have to be careful of them. Obviously he if suffers a bad fall XC or hunting his SI joint is going to be weak and might be vulnerable.

The unstable joint can make some of the higher level dressage movements difficult. It can also make centre lines a bit wiggly. If the damage is bad you won't get past medium level dressage - but that doesn't sound like it will matter too much to you!

There is no reason not to buy him. You're doing the responsible thing and going in with your eyes open about it. If loss of use insurance matters to you check to see if you can get it. But otherwise my personal view would be to buy.

 

[Shysmum]

I would post this in veterinary for advice... sm xx

 

[TheEquineOak]

Thank you very much! And I've posted it in the vetinary forum.

For anyone else reading, I got my facts above wrong. He actually passed the 5 stage vetting and the problem was only found when the advanced rider paid to have the horse checked by a specialist before he bought it.

He was told the problem may hinder is chances in the ring, thats it.

And yes, we've got a huge retirement field....thankfully, it has no horses in it yet!!!

 

[Mel1]

my mare got SI problem, she was diagnosed by Sue Dyson 1 year after i bought her (she passed 5* vetting) about 1 and a half year ago, when she was 9, since, she had a lot of treatment, 6 months off (which didn't help), lots of injection, supplement ect,
according to my vet, these cases are very difficult to predict and can go from complete recovery to horse completely unridable... I was told she had 30% chance of being ridable again, but her symptoms were quite pronounced
in my experience, I had to give up jumping and horseball, with lots of physio exercise, joint supplement, bute, vetrofen, lungeing with pessoa, lots of work long/low, hacks, light work, not working on deep ground, regular steroid injection, (i can carry on the list...) i just manage to ride and compete at dressage
it is a lot of effort, and can be very disappointing, and it is only because I love her to bits that I kept her, but I would not recommend buying a horse with SI problems, especially if you intend to compete seriously, but that's just my personal experience