sacroiliac problems- end of the road? vets unhelpful

J

jalisco

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OK really long but need some advice.
Horse is 10 and since oct hasnt been ridden due to rearing bolting and extreme sacroiliac and back pain.
Had bone scan in nov which showed that both hocks and si had hot spots.
Xrays of spine ok, hocks- one fused other nearly fused. vet not worried about this.

Si- said that wasnt what they expected a normal horse to be - said MAY be a conformational problem but cant obviously xray it.
Had hock injected, and mesotherapy in back in jan and mesotherpy on back again 2.5 weeks ago.
Ist time meso- small difference, 2nd time huge difference - absolutely no dipping of back when pressing on it- but pain back a week later.
He is just being long reined at the momentin walk for last 2 months- vets say that i just have to keep exercising to build up muscle to help him.
He getting physio weekly and physio is really at wits end with vet..
They say next option is muscle relaxant and bute.

My point is - all this has resulted in £3000 being spent and not many answers.
if they think its a conformational problem why oh why do they keep bringing me back- surely because it comformational none of these will work and is not in the animals best interests? now bute and muscle relaxants??? this is a 10year old that is for high level showjumping- bute is banned?

I just feel its a money issue and they are just tryin to get as much as possible and its my horse thats suffering.

Also I have an issue with them telling me its fine to ride him- even thought they think firstly its conformational and secondly what good is buliding up the muscle going to do for this but make my horsesuffer even more.

Im just really really upset that my beautiful friendly boy is a cash cow for my vets. Ive tried to trust them but now I just feel very very disappointed in the veterinary profession.

I really dont know what to do with him now, ive tried absolutely everything for him but his ack is just so sore- behind saddle and over SI.
I can retire him to parents farm and will never pass him on, but this pain I really dont know if its fair on him to leave him as a field oranament if hes sill in pain. Can he be retired and be ok?

Does anyone have any info or opinions on this situation.
thanks in advance
 
Sorry to read your post, sympathies as have been through this :-( but have managed to come out the other end although several thousands worse off!

I've no idea where you are but if you can get the horse to Sven Kold at Bushys Equine Clinic (formerly Willesley) in Gloucestershire please do, he worked wonders with my mare. She ended up having a series of steroid injections, followed by 3 months box rest and then 3 months daily lunging over poles in a pessoa... to build up and strengthen the muscles. She is now back in work and jumping bsja again, took a year to get here...
 
thanks jotesh! its good to know a lot of people have made it through to the other side. have heard of this sven k guy. I will have to think seriously about getting a second opinion and hes not a million miles way from me.
Did you get the injections then box rest then pessoa? or in what order?
hes not had injections just mesotherpy-no use and still in pain and very much evident in lunge- eg bolting off, on forehand etc
thanks
 
Yeah injections (after xrays, scans, etc) then box rest then daily lunging, then work build up. Has to be kept on a postage stamp size paddock so she can't go charging about and will need to be lunged 2-3 times a week forever.... if you can afford a second opinion i would recommend Sven!
 
So sorry to hear about your poor horse. My horse had always been a bucker but one day when I had really started to up his work load (previous to this he had been no 2 horse) he started bucking in mid-air over the fence and was completely unable to jump clear over a double. He then bolted round the arena so blindly that I was assessing the safest way to throw myself off. I got the vet out and he had developed a hyperaction with his back legs so we were sent off to the vet school.

To cut a long story short he had hot spot behind the wither, the sacrealic joint and both joints in both hocks which was diagnosed as oesteoperisis. He had steroid injections in both joints of each hock, box rest, etc. He used to be a very extravagant mover but had started to look more like a friday afternoon horse that was absolutely solid in the left contact. I kept telling the vet school I wasn't happy and that he wasn't right but as they hadn't seen him before they told me to keep lunging him and to start riding him again. As with you I felt more of a cash cow and a student project than that I was getting the best outcome for my horse. I decided myself to retire him. He lived for a year in my field and I knew he wasn't the same horse but just mooching round the field there was no obvious signs of distress and it's very hard to put a horse down when it's just a gut feeling he's not right. In the end he ended up doing a front tendon. It took two days for his back legs to disintigrate completely and TBH it was a relief to have a reason to put him out his misery.

Sorry I don't have a better ending for you but what i have learn't is to trust your heart. You know your horse better than anyone else and will be able to tell if he his in pain. I wish I'd trusted mine and not let the vet school mess him (and me) around for a year and half. Also, as the vet school had said he was fine for hacking I receved no LOU, was left with £800 of vets fees (with full vets cover) and then ended up having to pay around £400 to have him put down and disposed of. I like you was left with a bitter taste in my mouth with the veterinery profession.
 
Sorry to hear that. What about a second opinion from another vet?
Don't know where you are but O'Gorman Slater Main & Partners LLP at
Donnington Grove Veterinary Surgery are very good - based Newbury
 
SI problems are very difficult as it's like lower back pain in people - there's no way you can not use your back. Like with most things, treatment options seem to work individually, so there's no concrete way for a vet to say in advance if one option will work better than another. And, as with many problems, you aren't going to "cure" it - as in make the horse just like new - but you might be able to control enough of the symptoms and slow any progressive aspects so that the horse continues to be useful.

If you can get the horse "working sound" it might be possible to do a lot through management. Training, shoeing, fitness, saddle fit, even attention to things like footing - often it's the details that can make the difference. If a horse is showing significant effects (soundness or behavioural) from it at the expected level of work then one management option would be to drop him back a few levels and see if that helps.

As far as vets "asking you back" . . . to be fair, you keep going. It's easy to forget that vets are primarily service providers, not personal advisors, so if you tell them to keep looking, they will. The are also scientists and presumably interested in helping the horse to the best of their abilities, so will keep on the hunt for new POTENTIALLY helpful options. If you want to be done, it's really up to you to tell them how far you're willing to go and voice any concerns about riding the horse etc. Just because his problem might have a conformational component, doesn't mean it can't be managed, but it may depend on how you view his future and how far you're willing to go. In the end, owners are their horses' advocates.
 
Sorry to hear about this. :(

My pony had a similar problem my vets did the same as jotesh's he had injections regulary for a few weeks whilst being on box rest. He was box rest for about 4 months than started walking him out in hand and then was allowed in a tiny paddock where he could only walk around and not get up any speed. This was slowly increased. It took about a year to get him right and he went back every 6 weeks for a few months to see how he was recovering.

He is now back in full work and better than ever, doing dressage, so there is hope. :) I was very upset at the time, as the vets said he may never come right but he did. It could be worth getting a second opinion from another vet?
 
I can understand were the vet is coming from re: muscle build up. If there is a muscle weakness around the SI this can cause alot of instability and pain, just as in humans I'd imagine. ( I'm a student physio). However, muscle tightness and shortening can equally cause pain when ask to work those muscles. In humans, exercise would be the key answer to an SI/lumbar spine problem really. Obviously this would be difficult if your horse was in so much pain. You never know if taking the same approach as humans would work for him, i.e taking sufficient pain relief and then exercise possibly with a pessoa?! In the long term, it doesn't mean they will be on pain relief for life...

It's difficult, just thought I'd post some ideas, feel free to ignore as obviously I'm still a student etc.

Hope things come right for you and your chap.
 
I would seek a second opinion I had some SI problems last year that required physio, a program of special work and several injections into the joint. It doesn't sound as bad as yours but from July last year when treatment started she is now succesfully back to eventing. I used Lamborne Equine Vets and would throughly recommend.
 
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