SI Joint Pain and Winter Turnout

[AliRed13]

My horse has been diagnosed with SI joint pain after winter turnout on a muddy field. It's very wet where I live with poor drainage so most yards don't offer winter turnout at all, but my horse gets really unhappy without his daily turnout, even though it's obviously uncomfortable for him. I'm considering sending him away for winter (Dec to Apr). Has anyone any experience of doing this? Is it a service yards offer? (He'd need daily checks, feet picked out, fed etc as it would be too far for me to get to on a daily basis.) Any advise?

 

[nutjob]

Has he had a fall do you think? My horse had a SI injury - I did see him fall so knew what had happened. He had steroid injections, extensive physio and a rehab program. Can your horse have treatment / rehab before new winter comes around so he goes into the winter in better shape. Last winter was horrendous, hopefully the next one will be better.

 

[AliRed13]

Has he had a fall do you think? My horse had a SI injury - I did see him fall so knew what had happened. He had steroid injections, extensive physio and a rehab program. Can your horse have treatment / rehab before new winter comes around so he goes into the winter in better shape. Last winter was horrendous, hopefully the next one will be better.

Thanks, he sustained an injury (I think) before I bought him almost 5 years ago. He's had extensive veterinary investigation and they were unable to identify the actual source of the problem. At the time they just said possible high up soft tissue injury near his pelvis. After lots of rehab and lots of physio, I thought he was a well as he would ever be which wasn't 100% but the vet said I was okay to ride so I don't do a lot with him and I'm always very careful. The winter before last he started being difficult with the farrier but I thought I'd seen that my previous farrier caught him with a nail and put it down to fear. The farrier issues came back this winter, but it looks like it was SI joint pain so that probably explains the previous winter. He's going for his steriod injection on Tuesday and the osteopath is going to follow up after his week off with rehab and Indibia treatment. I just want to do the best I can for him and don't want to risk putting back on our muddy fields again this winter.