Sacroiliac Ligaments-Help!

[kgj66]

Hi, my horse went very lame about 6months ago and after a few different vet opinions(see previous threads) it was decided that she had most likely damaged her sacroiliac ligaments and was to get three months box rest.
The 3 months is now up and I've started to take her out for some short walks! In my opinion she still looks sore when turning a tight circle in walk-but others say she looks fine! Vet can't come until next week to look and to be honest I just want to know has anyone else had a horse with this problem and did they recover after 3months, or at all! Also are horses usually very stiff after box rest-should this walk out of them?
Thanks.

 

[itsonlyme]

My pony was diagnosed with an SI injury very recently. I'm surprised to hear your vet recommended boxrest. Was that all that's been done? Dolly was boxrested initially (before diagnosis), but is now turned out as normal. She has weekly physio, she's had 3 shockwave therapy treatments, a course of cartrophen injections, the SI area was medicated at leahurst, she's also on a low dose of Bute at the moment (and maybe forever) and is walked inhand daily. We're about 5 or 6 months in, but not really any better The specialist vet at leahurst said last week to just turn her away for the winter and try again in the spring But before we do that, we're now looking at sending her to a rehab yard to use a water treadmill.
Is yours insured?

 

[classicalfan]

Your horse is best out 24/7. There wil be muscle wastage from the box rest and this all needs to be gradually remodelled. Depending on the extent of the damage you may be able to rider your horse again but any injury will never come back 100% - there will always be an underlying weakness. So as long as you have no ambitions to win Badminton or Hickstead you should still be able to enjoy your horse.

 

[foxy]

My horse was diagnosed with sacroiliac problems earlier this year. He was treated at the vets and then came home but was on box rest for 3 - 4weeks. I had to walk him out twice daily, initially only for 5 mins and then increased it. After 4 weeks he was allowed out for a few hours a day and then this was increased but he was intially in a very small area. The reason for the box rest and small turnout area was that the ligaments around the joint have to be allowed to recover and if your horse is turned out this will not happen. You have to stabilise the area in order for it to recover correctly. My horse had rehab in order to build up his muscles without the weight of the rider.Once I started ridden work I was only allowed to ride in straight lines for the first 3/4 wks. My horse was diagnosed in April and has just started jumping again. My vet is hopeful he will return to full work and be able to event again. The most importaant thing is to stabilise the area and build up the muscles and strengthen ligaments, once that is done you must keep your horse fairly fit in order to keep the muscles strong around the joint and prevent further problems.