redandblue
Well-Known Member
Hi, sorry this is a long post. My mare injured herself several weeks ago now after a major spook in the field - came straight through a bungee gate (may have tried to jump it??) followed by a gallop up the hard track to her friends where she was found puffing and blowing. She started to display signs of unsoundness in the school on circles and bends but nothing you could quite put your finger on. I rested her for a few days and gave her some bute (thinking it was her (mild) arthritis playing up). However, on examining her, we discovered a sore area on her shoulder to which she was quite reactive. Vet was consulted and came, first to xray coffin joints (where she has mild arthritis) and secondly to treat the injury to her shoulder which seemed to be getting worse. She advised bute and rest for 10 days and then a follow up. There was some improvement after the bute/rest 3/10th to 1/10th lame and vet advised turning her out as she was quite a stressy mare in the stable. She then proceeded to gallop and career around the field like a 2 yr old (she's 16). One step forward two steps back. Vet came to reassess and not alot has changed. It is most definitely soft tissue localised to her shoulder. Physio then came, located the muscle (the one that attaches the soulder to the body (kind of behind the shoulder blade) and started to treat her - she was quite demonstrative when receiving treatment throwing head around and up, ears back and moving around the stable a lot, so it's quite obviously causing her a lot of discomfort - especially being prodded and poked. Since then she has started to walk much better and she is really striding out but when the physio came again, she is still 1/10th lame in trot and uncomfortable on a turn. More treatment given to release the big knot in her muscle and the same pain reaction - head tossing and anxious. Physio says she is still in pain but it's much softer in that area now and her reaction to the pain seems disproportionate to the injury, also thinks its unusual that this type of problem would result in persistent lameness but as she keeps reacting feels it must be the cause. Btw, she has no pain, heat or swelling anywhere else, her foot balance is spot on thanks to the xrays, which incidentally showed no boney changes or any significant signs of the arthritis. Also, pain is too high up to be associated with spinal or neurological injury. So, now we're looking at possible trying a few more shorter physio sessions and maybe some acupuncture to the area (could be an issue as my girl is petrified of needles!). Not sure what else to try. I thought about thermal imaging to see if any other 'hot spots' could be identified but bothe the vet and the Physio (who I trust implicitly) feel that as a diagnostic its great, but we have already identified the problem area and it would probably just confirm that.Anyway, I'm just at a bit of a loss as to what to do now. It's coming up to 5 weeks now and I know soft tissue can take months (and constant setbacks like hooleying around like a two year old!), but has anyone experienced anything similar? Could something else be going on that we're all missing? She is a 15'3 ID x and a beautiful girl. Incidentally, she is covered under a veterans policy with NFU and as such has only limited cover.
