Sacroiliac - your experiences? Help needed

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elsiex

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I bought my mare in April to BS and maybe a bit of BE down the line. The long and the short of it was that I had a month of her behaving impeccably, jumping double clears, and generally being a pleasure to be around.

We then started having issues with jumping. She stopped in the warm up at a show, for a 95cm class which was unheard of as she had been clearing 1.10/1.15 courses. She then went on to stop twice at the first fence in the class. I was dumbstruck, and wondered why she had been stopping. I thought she may have scared herself so I took her right back to basics with just poles. She got so upset every time I got a jump wing out and refuse to trot over a pile on the ground, finding it easier to leap. I gave her time off, then brought her back into flatwork where she was fine.

I then tried jumping again, she was a nightmare. Leaping about, not wanting to go forward or just running at the fences at a millions miles an hour. Meanwhile I had her back saddle and teeth all checked, all fine.

Took her XC schooling as I thought it might do her good. She was actually great, as she prefers to stand off a fence, but refused to go up steps. Again, very odd.

Then a lady got in touch with me that knew my mare before I had her and said that she had back problems in the past.

The vet was then called down to my yard, she was by this point very erratic in the canter on the flat and I hadn't jumped for a while as she was quite simply dangerous.

The vet found her to be lame on her left hind on the lunge, she was bunnyhopping behind in canter. He prescribed me 2 weeks of bute, and then wanted her up at the surgery to see her after that. He basically told me to work the granny off her until she was lame enough for him to diagnose. So this I did.

She then went to the vets for a full lameness work up after the 2 week period. She was sound, and no lameness could be detected. However, he found her pelvis was misaligned, higher on the right.

Having spoken to the lady who told me about her past, she was convinced the mare had kissing spines. Therefore at the same time as the lameness work up, she had a back X-ray and no kissing spines were found.

The vet prescribed 2 weeks more of bute and said that the mare is fine, just needs more topline.

This was a month ago. I never gave her the second bout of bute he prescribed, as I felt that if she was apparently sound why would she need it?

Since then, she has been worked consistently. She has been going well, coming down on the bit and working from behind. I had arranged to do a bit of dressage on her and arranged a show with her.

Then, last week I was practising my test and she kept picking up the wrong canter lead on the left rein. She was also very, very stiff on that rein and refused to flex left. My instructor got on, and agreed that she couldn't touch the left rein or the mare would jam up. She had a couple of days off.

Then I had a lesson yesterday, the mare kept charging off in the canter, bucking, changing canter leads. My instructor said she isn't right behind.

I am unsure where to go from here. The misaligned pelvis, the bucking, swapping canter leads etc all points to issues in the sacro area, my vet has dismissed this.

I would really appreciate your views.
 
My horse was diagnosed with chronic SI dysfunction at Sue Dyson's clinic and given a very poor prognosis. He has since been having physio and has been for the last 2 week's at a rehab clinic in Newmarket with Donna Blinman. I cannot praise her highly enough - she is a vet who is also osteopath and acupuncture therapy qualified. She is so throrough and open minded and knowledgeable. She gives every horse a full assessment to establish the cause of their problem (she is often referred to as a back specialist, but she is much much more than this). Her partner Patrick is a behaviourist. They make an amazing team. She is inexpensive.
http://www.donnablinman.co.uk/default.html
I would highly recommend you call her. Take a look at the pics of 'before' and 'after' treatment of a horse she treated with SI problems. Good luck and please keep us updated. My horse comes home tomorrow - Donna has treated his gut as well as his sacrum.

http://ihdg.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=gh11&action=display&thread=112612
 
I have arranged to meet an Osteopath (Annabel Jenks) at my vets next week so they can discuss her further. Just had a peek at that ladys website, she looks great and I really hope your horse comes through for you.

What is so upsetting is that they keep telling me that she is fine. The horse is clearly so uncomfortable and it's so heartbreaking to keep having her try for me. She isn't nasty in any way despite being in pain.
 
I suffered 6 months of the same. My horse was so aggressive and my so called 'expert' friends kept telling me that it was me not being a strong leader that made him so aggressive. It was a very disheartening time especially since he turned aggressive within days of getting him. In the end a vet told me that my horse just knew that I would listen and so he shouted as loudly as he could that there was something badly wrong so I would sort him out!
As a behaviourist told me 'Horses are flight animals so they will rarely waste energy being aggressive to humans, unless they have suffered abuse or something is wrong with them'.
That's good advice.

I have heard good things about Annabel Jenks too. Donna is special because being a vet she is allowed to perform rectal examinations, which are necessary in osteopathy, so her rehab clinic iis truly holistic and does not require the involvement of several therapists.
Good luck :)
 
My horse was diagnosed in April this year, your horse sounds just like mine. Mine intially worked well for about 6 weeks and then became more and more difficult in the arena and when hacking would always be jogging. I called the vet and was refered striaght away for a full body scan and lameness workup. My horse was found to have problems in his sacro-illiac area and this in turn had caused problems with one of his hocks.

He was injected at the vets in both areas and came on home on box rest and restricted daily walks for 5 mins. After 3 weeks I increased his exercise and then I sent him away for 4 days of rehab.

Since the first rehab he has been back a further two times, I am now at the stage where I have introduced canter and can start to introduce small jumps in the 2/3 weeks.

It has been a long hard summer but the prognosis from my vet is good, he expects him to be able to event. The one downside of all this is when he becomes fully fit he has to be kept fit and not allowed time off as if he loses too much muscle I could find I am back at the beginning again.

Get your vet back and ask to be refered or get a second opinion. I do not know if you are insured but if so the clock is ticking for the claim, you will have had 12 months from the first time the vet came out or from when you said the problem started.
 
Im going through a similar thing at the moment. Our pony started my being lame on her left hind, but only when ridden - she was sound in-hand, even on the lunge on hard ground. We did the bute & boxrest thing with no change. At the vets for a lameness workup, our vet decided it looked high up & just referred us straight to leahurst. By this time, Dolly was now lame in both back legs & not only when ridden.
leahurst were stumped so did a gamma scan. This wasn't massively conclusive, but showed higher uptake in the SI area, although only slight. She wouldn't let them nerveblock the area (naughty pony!!) They basically said there wasn't a lot we could do. She's currently having shockwave therapy, cartropen injections & physio & she's still on bute. The shockwave vet is back tomorrow, but imo, she is no better at the moment. Im going to discuss further options (if there are Any)
i know how frustrated u must be feeling, so if i were u id ask for a referral. If it is the SI, its a pain in the a*se & I've been told Doll may have to stay on bute forever, may never be sound again & if she does, the SI has a habit of being a recurring problem. :-( Good luck to you both. hopefully its nothing serious & will sort itself out xx
 
I am so frustrated by it all. How were your sacro issues actually diagnosed? Is this through a scan/x ray? I am going to insist on tuesday that she is investigated, as I point blank refuse to keep working her on bute (surely this will just cause more problems!).

I feel as though I am shouting in the dark, hopefully Annabel will be able to back up my thesis and try to move forward with her.

It is so gutting that this talented little mare is the one to suffer, it is such a terrible waste.
 
Mine was diagnosed through a scan, his back was xrayed to rule out kissing spines and his hocks were xrayed aswell. With mine they did the scan and once they had identified the hot spots they investigated these areas further
 
Our vet supected sacroilliac and as dont insure, suggested that we had him injected as he didnt trot up lame just lost all power. That worked so now he is injected 2/3 times a year. New vet nerve blocked him before injection this last time and that really confirmed that was the problem and it actually was only on the left side. We know this is not a cure but he keeps improving and works at Ad med ok.
 
elsiex said:
I am so frustrated by it all. How were your sacro issues actually diagnosed? Is this through a scan/x ray? I am going to insist on tuesday that she is investigated, as I point blank refuse to keep working her on bute (surely this will just cause more problems!).

I feel as though I am shouting in the dark, hopefully Annabel will be able to back up my thesis and try to move forward with her.

It is so gutting that this talented little mare is the one to suffer, it is such a terrible waste.
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hi
we have a mare who had all these symptons and more
if you look back through some of my posts it may help but i had to demand she was checked out properly

eventually had bone scan and what we first thought was diagnosed KS,PSD,left side sacroiliac and hocks -- mild in the hocks though

had back xrayed and confirmed KS ,scanned suspensory in right hind PSD
injection into back ,hocks xrayed-sent home with re hab programme but near to the end pain issues emerged again so went back i think the injection had worn off

she had daily physio and ultra sound for all her problems throughout the first rehab and when looked at again they were pleased with her progress on the PSD and sacroiliac and hocks -insurance have been brill they split all the conditions just in case she needs the PSD surgery later on so each problem as its own claim

she as now had the surgery for KS back in july and we are on a back to fitness programme to start work on the lunge in a fortnight
 
My horse was very stiff behind with a short gait at trot rarely bringing his hindlegs through. I first had an osteopath work on him and he commented that he was so tight accross his loin he was surprised he allowed hinself to be ridden and also very tight in the shoulder and poll. We did weeks of long and low muscle lengthening work just at walk.
We started upping his work which is when his ridden behaviour changed - he started bucking violently when asked for bend. He was aggressive being saddled and did not want to be mounted.

Ours was scoped for ulcers and those found treated (we turned him away for 8 weeks and he had a month of Gastrogard). Then he was worked daily in hand and showed lame behind. I had an iridology report done, a communication and a shiatsu therapist out and all 3 said his pelvis was misaligned and he had a right hand hind injury.
He was referred to Newmarket (Sue Dyson) and he was bone scanned and nerve blocked and it was determined that he has a chronic SI injury. Sue suggested going for loss of use.
 
maestro said:
Our vet supected sacroilliac and as dont insure, suggested that we had him injected as he didnt trot up lame just lost all power. That worked so now he is injected 2/3 times a year. New vet nerve blocked him before injection this last time and that really confirmed that was the problem and it actually was only on the left side. We know this is not a cure but he keeps improving and works at Ad med ok.
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If you don't mind my saying your horse sounds a perfect case for Donna Blinman. You could send him there for a week for probably less than the meds injection.(under £200) and her treatments are long lasting and address the cause not the symptom. She really is quite brilliant. New,market is not that far from Leics. :)
 
Sorry to hijack the thread..but I'm having issues with my mare with sticking stifles..she has had scans & nerve blocks but there was no change & the vet thinks there could be an underlying issue. She has already been diagnosed with kissing spine & is treated every three months for that & hasn't had any further issues.. she also swaps leading legs in canter & finds it hard to canter in an outline.. could this be caused by sacrolliac? Thanks for the info on Donna Blinman - I have emailed her already.
 
There is another horse at my yard that has her sacro injected every six months. She is maintained, and is 70% better than without the jabs. She was bucking in trot and canter, has a misaligned pelvis and 1/10 lame without the jab.

The problem is, it seems, that the sacroiliac area is very difficult to pick up. She, like my mare, passed a 5 stage despite having problems. Usually, through my research, it seems that a horse would have problems working through from behind but may not appear lame. My horse is "sound" in flexion tests and trot ups. It seems that sacro issues can be secondary, and there is usually an underlying cause eg kissing spines, sticky stifle, suspensory, hock probs etc.
 
Hi we have had similar problems with my daughters pony who for 9 months had been treated initially for saddle problems and then SI after no progress got referred. Turns out after x-rays and scans of back that it was a bone spavin in the right hock and he had severe damage to his supraspinous ligament. His SI was absolutely fine!! He was bucking and disuniting in canter, rushing his jumps etc and kept getting a sore back.

Just had hocks treated, and after 2 weeks box rest a week of lunging. Last week had his ligament treated and is now on 6 weeks intense rehab with a pessoa. Hoping that at his 6 week review we will be able to re-introduce ridden work.
 
Ginger Bear said:
Sorry to hijack the thread..but I'm having issues with my mare with sticking stifles..she has had scans & nerve blocks but there was no change & the vet thinks there could be an underlying issue. She has already been diagnosed with kissing spine & is treated every three months for that & hasn't had any further issues.. she also swaps leading legs in canter & finds it hard to canter in an outline.. could this be caused by sacrolliac? Thanks for the info on Donna Blinman - I have emailed her already.
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Oh fab, I know you won't be disappointed. If anyone can get to the cause Donna can. Good Luck!
 
Hi, one of my horses has an uneven pelvis too. His pelvis locks upright on the left side. I have chiro every month at the minute to free it off which should progress to longer periods between the chiro. His was spotted by a vet at an endurance ride, he wasnt lame and had chamged his movement. He did however buck in canter and I could feel the change in movement in trot. This was around May time and he has had the chiro ever since with good results! Also useful to feed oil and glucosamine, he has to keep moving to so stay in work otherwise it will lock up.

Very interested in Donna Blinman after seeing this post, thanks to the person who put the link on :D
 
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