Sacroiliac long term prospects?

[Sianio]

Hi everyone, I tried a horse at the weekend who has had a steroid SI injection in the past. She is sound with regular physio, and was sound with me in WTC and trotted up on concrete. Back legs picked up fine including standing for a period of time with a leg elevated. I did a bit of shoulder in and leg yield with her when trying out and she crossed both front and back legs over fine.

I plan to do dressage, starting at Prelim but hopefully working up, and my worry is that with this type of injury she would struggle with some of the higher level lateral work and with collection and extension, particularly in canter. I know there is also a risk of a repeat injection, but this doesn't worry me quite so much as buying a horse that can't do what I would like in the long term. However she is exactly the type and temperament I've been looking for and does have lovely flowing paces although a bit rocking horse in canter, not sure if this is related to the SI as I've never had a horse with this issue before.

My question is, assuming we can keep the joint stable with correct work and regular physio (I'm an experienced rider and have a very experienced dressage trainer), can horses with previous SI injuries cope with higher levels of dressage or am I letting myself in for a happy hacker/prelim ride?

Thanks for any advice given!

 

[be positive]

You will probably get a variety of answers based on individual experiences so your vet would be the best person to advise once he has seen the veterinary history, you need to ask the owners permission for them to get their vet to send to you/ your vet, then you will be better able to make an informed decision, I would also want a 5 stage vetting done but suspect most vets will "fail", knowing the history, to cover themselves so it may be an expensive exercise for no reason.

My horse was injected about 12 months ago, the prognosis was very guarded and best case scenario by the vet was hacking only, my physio, who has been brilliant, is far more positive and under her advice we have done a little work in the school and some jumping which seems to have done no harm, currently he is in very light work due to my lack of time and I hope he will stay sound as he gets fitter and can progress to doing more as he is not a happy hacker.

Would I take one on to do dressage, probably not as I think you may find the horse cannot cope, you will have no insurance cover for any related issues, so it would have to be very cheap/ free or loan unless she was already doing well at some level to prove she will cope with the demands of moving up.

 

[PBlair]

I have owned a WB gelding for 5 years now. A couple of months after buying him the vet diagnosed him with an SI injury. (I got the vet out as he was very tight on one side and resisting a contact) At the time the vet gave him a very poor prognosis but referred him for physio. The physio worked wonders with him and he was a different horse. Around a year later the problem started to surface again (despite regular physio) and he was referred to the equine hospital where they found bone remodelling of the SI joint. The hospital gave him a fair to good prognosis. At this point he was working away at novice level. After the injection there was a huge improvement and he continued in his work along with regular physio. It was another 18 months when his performance started to deteriorate (he would show tightness and start to throw in the odd buck especially going from trot to canter). He had another injection then by the vet. That was almost two years ago and the physio says he's better now than he's ever been. He also won the irish national championships at elementary last year and is now working at medium. His work has been taken slowly and he does lots of uphill hacking too. I'm not sure how far he will go as I suspect collection work higher up like passage, piaffe could be a struggle for him but he has really defied the odds and surprised even the vets at how well he has responded to physio plus the odd injection. I definitely think that being worked correctly and building up the right muscles to stabilise the joint has been a huge factor in his ability to continue working. The vet has said that there may come a time when he won't respond as well to the injection so for me each year is a bonus especially after his initial prognosis was so poor. I know every horse and situation is different but just wanted to let you know my experience with SI.

 

[PBlair]

As be positive said, insurance is something to consider too as mine now excludes any SI related problems so I had to pay for his last injection which was around £300.

 

[Scarlett]

Our TB was injected aged 15 2 years ago as a last resort in a hope to get him more comfortable. He couldn't pick up right canter on the correct front leg, had hock injections that helped for a bit, had lost muscle and was dragging a toe quite significantly in all paces. He's now the soundest he's been in the time we've owned him, his flatwork has progressed unbelievably well and he was 6th in an competitive 80cm jumping class at the weekend.

We have worked him solidly throughout, work is the best thing you can do for them. Lots of long and low and poles. We have also had regular acupuncture and he wears a Back On Track rug to keep his back warm. It makes a huge difference. He is also out as much as possible, 24/7 initially and now 24/7 in summer and only in overnight in winter so we can get plenty of hay in him. The movement makes a huge difference.

Only you know if the horse is worth buying - we knew ours wasn't 100% when we bought him but his temperament etc were too good to miss. I wouldn't hesitate to do it all over again though I wish we had injected him sooner.

I'm pretty sure joint and SI injections are a lot more common at the higher levels than we think, I'd expect that with the right work and physio etc a horse would still be able to go through the amateur levels after an SI injection - what sort of level are you aiming for? At least you know up front and can plan for it. Good luck!

 

[Sianio]

Thanks for all your responses. Since the stories about SI were so mixed I had her vetted today. She failed on the flexion test, showing up really lame in the left shoulder. But weirdly this was exacerbated by flexing the left hind not the right. The lameness really was pretty obvious, nowhere near a 1/5 sadly. But strange for it not to affect diagonal pairs, I've not experienced that before. Just to add this wasn't a couple of strides, she was "off" straight after the flexion, visibly lame on the lunge on a soft surface in trot on that rein and then even worse on concrete afterwards.