Sacroiliac Joint - urgent advice needed!!

[TheEquineOak]

Hi everyone!

A horse I am considering buying has a problem with his sacroiliac joint. 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 PASSED a 5 stage vetting in May this year

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). The problem was only found after the advanced rider had an expert look at him, the vet, chiro and physio didn't notice it. (These are all exclusive, very expensive, professionals in Scotland)

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

 

[BeckyD]

I'm afraid I speak from personal experience. My lad passed a 5-stage vetting but the report noted that his tuber sacrales were different in height (about 0.5 cm). Unfortunately he suffered an unexpected fall in the field 18 months later, and the insurance company wouldn't pay up for lameness investigation including nuclear scinitgraphy because it was caused by his sacroiliac joint, which they felt related to the unlevel tuber sacrales picked up at his vetting.

The lameness work up and treatment cost £2,500, and two years later he's still not quite right. The SI injury also led him to suffer from PSD (very common connected injury), which thankfully the insurers did pay out £5,000 on, but complications arising after surgery meant that I had to pay the extra vets' bills after the £5,000 had run out (another ~ £5,000!). I am left with a gorgeous horse who is lame - the neurectomy and fasciotomy appeared to have been successful for a while, but he is now very lame again and I have the vet out again this afternoon as the vet thinks the nerves have regrown. And I am stony broke.

My concerns for your situation are that:
1) Insurance won't cover any subsequent problem unless he's v cheap and you can get away without providing vet certificate and you are willing to sign something saying you were not aware of this problem.
2) There may be repeat complications/treatment needed down the line which can be quite expensive - £200 a time. Treatment can cause laminitis (it is a corticosteroid injection next to the wing of the joint).
3) It is truly heart breaking when they keep going lame.
4) It may lead to other problems further down the line i.e. PSD
5) Time off due to holiday or other injury will probably exacerbate the SI problem and you may have to rehab repeatedly.
6) He may not stand up to much competition. And you may lose entry fees. I was entered for a show yesterday - £18 - which I had to pull out of as he went lame a few days before.

I'm sorry for my negative viewpoint. I have been to hell and back all because of unlevel tuber sacrales. I wouldn't put my worst enemy through this.

Good luck whatever your decision.

 

[messenger]

Don't touch him with a bargepole. I recently put my 6yr old 17h KWPN down due to sacroiliac joint region pain and he passed a 5 stage vetting too! Such a hard area to get into to check precisely what's going on and VERY costly.

There are plenty of other horses out there, just keep looking x

 

[ducktails]

Please listen to everyone else and walk away, I too only have bad news...

Many SI injuries are secondry to other ailments PSD in my case. I have spent 6k at AHT getting my mare diagnosed and I will be having her put down as soon as the insurance agree loss of use. I have done everything I can and my mare is now living her last summer where she is happiest.

Please do listen to the advice you are given or if you are still unsure speak to your vets, any vet worth his ridiculous fee's should tell you to stay clear.

SI is also difficult to manage, I doubt he will stand up to the work. Honestly thats the reason he is cheap, keep looking don't suffer the heartbreak I and others have.

 

[cptrayes]

I have one who has pronounced difference in height of the tuber sacrale and has been happy as a dressage horse for nine years since he sat down on the road at the age of five and caused the injury, but he had to give up jumping at nine and I don't think you should ever expect this horse to jump. If he is a lovely chap and cheap I would buy him, but not for jumping. You might get away with it but the chances are pretty poor.

 

[Chunkie]

As with everyone else - don't touch it. I also speak from personal experience and although I manage my mares injury, I have so far had exactly 9 weeks of sound riding from her this year.

Really, really not worth it.

 

[MrsMozart]

A hard one.

Dizz has bony irregularities on her pelvis. They may or may not cause an issue. For the last eighteen or so months she has been sound, apart from other daft injuries in the field. I bought her to BSJA - I don't know yet if that's feasibly, though we've started jumping and she's loving it, but we're still at a very low level.

Little Cob has just gone for investigation at the Animal Health Trust - the sacroilliac joint may be in question. He's never been sick nor sorry until this year (he's seven, we've had him for four years).

There are no guarantees with horses. With the one you're considering, you'll have to accept that insurance won't cover his issues and that jumping may or may not be an opiton in the future.

 

[dozzie]

Hi everyone!

A horse I am considering buying has a problem with his sacroiliac joint. 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 PASSED a 5 stage vetting in May this year

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). The problem was only found after the advanced rider had an expert look at him, the vet, chiro and physio didn't notice it. (These are all exclusive, very expensive, professionals in Scotland)

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

I wouldnt knowingly buy a horse with SI if I wanted to jump/xc. My mare had SI due to a collision with a car. My options were to retire her as a hppy hacker or continue to do stuff with her knowing there was a risk. I had about 2 years of jumping before other problems kicked in as a result of the SI and now she is a happy hacker. She could still do low level dressage even now but she doesnt like to go in the box. I know she cant jump anymore if I want her to remain sound enough to ride into her dotage.If you just wanted to hack then I would say go for it but because you want to jump, then dont.

 

[mofi]

My horse damaged his sacroiliac joint. He had 12mths in total off work as the vet said I could either spend a lot of money investigating the problem & various treatmments or let nature take its course. As my boy was never going to be a superstar & I'm normally fairly skint I left him out in the field for a year. I was very very very lucky as he came back into work fine. He is happily competing at medium level dressage but because of his old injury jumping consists of 1ft cross poles just to keep him interested. He has to be kept in work & lots of walking helps especially hacking up & down hills. If he has any length of time off I finds he struggles to work properly from behind. He also has physio sessions & I have stretches & exercises he does every day. Its very hard work keeping him in work & I would never knowingly buy a horse with a problem with the sacroiliac. I was just very lucky.

 

[louise8667]

I bought my horse 6 years ago, he passed his 5 stage vetting no problem. I had 2-3 year good years of competing then a gradual decline in perforance which led to him being diagonsed with PSD which was treated at Rossdales etc.
Since bringing him back into work I have had no end of problem with SI. We have since deceided that this is most likely to be the cause of the PSD but wasn't picked up by the vetting etc. Its amazing he contined to do so well when I was competing him, he showed no signs of discomfort!
Obviously this was very gutting as he truly is a very talented little horse & SO frustrating. I ended up giving him 12 months off in the hope it would all settle down, but since bringing him back into work in April this year I feel like I am back to where I was 3 years ago.
From my experience I would NEVER buy a horse with a known SI injury. There will ALWAYS be a weakness there which even a minor slip in the field could re-aggreviate. It really is a heart breaking disease. My horse used to love XC and gallops, now all he can manage is a gentle hack & no certainly no canter work - plus it costs a fortune to manage.
My advice is to steer clear.