Shoulder Muscle injury

Heidi1

Heidi1

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After some advice, help etc........Had vet out fortnight ago to one of my girls, she was lame, very low level, sound in walk, but didn't like to turn on O/S fore, but in trot was slightly lame, had slight swelling to fetlock and up tendon, first thought was abcess, farrier out, found nothing at all, so vet came out, he check her all over, scanned tendon and fetlock joint, all clear, then did flexion test and she was realy lame, had another check over her and found that she was really sore in her shoulder mucles, so put her on boxrest with bute for the first week and then just boxrest second week with minimal walking in hand, but she is still not right, still very slightly lame, he did say if she wasn't right in three weeks then we would go down the route of steroid injection into the muscle. I have the physio/McTimothy lady booked for next week, so that will be crunchtime. But I wondered if any of you guy have had this and if it was a long process and what the results were.... Little info on the horse, she is TB, 19 years old and very very active......All info good or bad would be much appreciated..... Also I have used my massage pad on her a few time, she is happy with it, do you think she would benefit from have it on every day, do massage her neck by hand and she enjoys it, do this every night.....
 
Hiya, sorry to hear about your problems :( I do have a similar story to yours so may be able to help.

I had a 20yo NF pony on full/permanent loan, and we went xc schooling for the first time with my friend on her 5yo connie. I had so much fun, jumped everything up to about 2'9- but pony wasn't as fit as he should've been, and at the time I was only 11 and fairly ignorant. Didn't do that much warming up, and very little cooling down, and then sat in the lorry for the 1 1/2 hrs drive home. Was due to be shod that night, so our farrier came and pulled his shoulders about (no more than normal, but I still think this could've been a worsening factor). Pony sound.

Came back to ride the next day (WHY?!) and went for a hack with my friend on her 5yo connie. Had a canter in the field, and as I pulled up he didn't feel right. As we were walking back he wasn't obviously lame, but not right in front. Got to yard and tied him up for 10 mins to untack. In this time he had stiffened up, and was very lame on his off fore. Farrier out as people thought it could be the shoes, but no pain there. No heat or swelling at all in leg. Everyone very confused! Pony still lame.

He didn't belong to us and owner was reluctant to get the vet out, so her vet friend came out and had a look, and we were told it was in the shoulder, he'd badly pulled or damaged a ligament/muscle. can't remember the exact ins and outs as it was several years ago now, but he basically had from mid october to mid may out, spend 2 weeks massaging which helped, but low grade lameness still there. Spent the winter hacking out in walk with little trots to keep the muscle moving, but nothing strenuous.

In may I was so upset about not having a pony to have fun on, he was pretty much sound, just took a while to warmup. At home we'd cantered and jumped him, so took him to our first show again to do the 2'3 jumping. If he felt fine here and stayed sound, I'd keep him for the summer, if he wasn't right afterwards we'd have to look for something else. As it was, we came 4th out of a large group in the jumping! I was delighted, and he stayed sound!

Went on to have a fun summer with him, made it to PC camp and won a little unaff ODE, and he was happily jumping round 70-75cms PC comps. Did do some 80-85cms but it was too big for him really, so he's now pottering around with another younger girl, and I've got a new horse.

Long story short, it took a long time of low level lameness to virtually go (there will be some bad days, some good days), and I was incredibly careful about warming him up and cooling down, and just walking after a hard day. Also keep them warm, I avoided letting him get cold as I felt cold muscles would be tighter/stiffer.

Hope that's of some use and good luck! :)
 
Thank you for your reply. I'm happy to give this mare as much time as she needs, she not going anywhere and I'm lucky to have another one to ride and compete on.....So look to good old time and hopefully some Dr Green to help her heal......
 
No worries, I think I posted something similar yonks ago and found it hard to get replies! If you can afford to give her time, that's the best thing- I would go by what your vet/physio says as I'm by no means an expert, but I did think massaging was good as it helped get blood to the muscle thus aiding faster healing. Let me know how you get on with physio :) xx
 
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