Sacroiliac, weak back end, dragging feet

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PrincessPeach

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So my boy often gets sore behind, he drags his back feet, when working actively he is better but will still do it when he slows down, especially downhill. Always has as far as I remember. He also twists his hocks as he walks, feet are balanced fine. Walks like he's a bit drunk behind, & weak when pulling his tail. Not too badly as to be too worried, vets not too worried about this either.
Has done all of this as far as I remember. Vets has checked him, all say he's weak behind which I know anyway. But have showed no worries over wobblers, neuro issues etc. I don't know his history, but many of us think he's been over worked too young!

Last summer I retired him due to his slight hunters bump getting rather large literally overnight, called vet who said it's his sacroiliac joint & could have injections but need this test, that scan, that test etc & it won't even some the issue of they find what it is,so I decided to retire but work lightly on ground to support him.

Anyway I had a Mastersons method lady come to get him comfy, worked amazingly & he came back into work hacking mostly. 7/8 weeks ago he went lame so rested, back got sore so booked him in.

Had him done with myofascial release 4 weeks ago & back into work slowly, however while results were really good at first, he's sore in his back end already! On a hack in trot he seemed umcomfy, thought he was stiff so walked a bit then trotted again. He was fine however when I changed my diagonal he clearly wasn't happy. Back at yard he turned on a circle (often pivots on back end) & was clearly very tight over his sacroiliac
So I've got him booked with his Mastersons lady again as this seemed to help him the most & keep results longer


Thing is I'm wondering if I should keep him in work or not. I'm at a loss. Not fair for him to keep getting sore, but equally when he's not in work he seems worse.

I'm thinking of after his appointment, keep him in work over summer, Bute to support him maybe & see how he goes through summer. Then leave him off for a month to wind down & maybe pts of he keeps going sore after. I'd rather him not suffer than be stuck in a field as an ornament but also hate the thought of pts
 
Is myofascial release the same as Bowen? If so, the person who comes to our yard to do it says that you need several sessions to make the treatment permanent. I can't remember the exact details, but it was something like a 2nd session about 2 - 3 weeks after the initial one, then another about a month or two later and then 6-monthly.

I hope he responds well to whatever you decide to do. I don't have a lot of experience with SI issues but my mare has been injected twice, about a year apart, so it does seem that you need to keep repeating the treatment at intervals.
 
Even if he's better in work you need to deal with the pain to allow him to be worked. I think you need to commit to getting to the bottom of it and trying to deal with it if you want to keep working him - it may be helping, but it clearly isn't the whole solution.

If you can't investigate, I'd try to establish just how sore he is. Is he comfortable on bute? Comfortable retired on bute? Or still uncomfortable even with pain relief?
 
CowPony it's a bit deeper than bowen. But find he responded better with Mastersons over the mfr.

Theocat, after he's had a treatment he's fine for 4-6 months, apart from when he had mfr which was 5 weeks ago.
Not started him on Bute yet as it wouldn't be a fair session with his body worker that's booked. Then I can see if he's uncomfortable or not after, usually he's not.
Once he's had a session I'll see how he is in work without Bute, if showing any signs of discomfort I'll add Bute as I'd never work him sore & see how we go
 
One of ours did something that was suspected to be his sacro (after 5 months out in the field with a variety of diagnostics and an attempt at shoeing him thinking it might have been his feet).

On the vets advise we didn't bother with any diagnostics on that (had been rather narrowed down by a lot of the others and they said it was hard work to get a definitive answer due to the depth and size of the joint) and just went straight ahead with the cortisone injections into the joint on both sides. IIRC it cost about £180, then did a lot of long and low slow build up. That was 3 years ago, never shown a problem since and is back to jumping 2'6 - 2'9 which isn't bad for a 14.3 gypsy cob cross, but then his was initially an acute injury.

If I was you I'd have the injection - especially since he's responding to other treatment, that in conjunction with them might hopefully give you a sound happy horse for a longer time.
 
Is it possible there's pain elsewhere (e.g. back, hind limbs) and the SI problems are secondary to this? That might explain the horse becoming sore again quite quickly, as the underlying issue hasn't been resolved.
 
Junglefairy I'm not sure, I've not been told that from any vets or bodyworkers, I really feel it's his SI & after loads of research into his symptoms it always comes back to the SI but I see what you're saying.

So hard knowing what to do! He's had so much wear & tear but I just want him to be comfy & us have one last fun summer but also feel it's possibly time ridden wise

My mfr lady is calling me later so I'll have a chat with her & post back here
 
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