Sweeney and muscle wastage in my mares shoulder... Advice please

[Stackle]

Hi everyone,

My warmblood mare has recently been diagnosed with a Sweeney, where she has damaged the nerve and as a result the muscle has wasted in her shoulder. I've been given exercises to do with her on the ground, and been advised to ride her but take it easy, I was just wondering if anyone had any experience of something similar? And whether there is anything else I can be doing in terms of exercises to do when I ride? Any advice would be greatly appreciated! x

 

[Ashgrove]

22 years ago I had a Warmblood with Sweeney in both shoulders, I was advised by my vet to send him to a yard that specialised in remedial treatments, he had weighted shoes and electric shock treatment. Neither of which worked

I continued to ride him, plenty of hacking, no tight turns.

I hope your outcome is better than mine

 

[Stackle]

Thank you! I hope so too i don't feel too hopeful at the moment but hopefully we will get there.

 

[Bennions Field]

Firstly dont panic - ive got a now 7 year old mare with a sweeney, she did it as a 2 year old, it was so bad she looked like she was dislocating her whole joint with each step :O ! Took her to leahurst as my vets hadnt seen anything like it, they were talking about pts, but leahurst took 5 mins and said dint panic! She may come right, it took 6 months box rest and 3 months physio but she became field sound (only baby at time so not ridden / worked) she had ems (elec shock muscle stimulation) but it didnt stop the muscle wastage however she learnt to compensate and you wouldnt have known anything was wrong with her after a while other than the now slight dent in her shoulder, and only if you compare to the other side. She's had a foal two years ago, she's a pure bred andalusian, but purely as shes well bred and has fab confo other than her injury, not just for the sake of it. The plan is to try and break her this comming year, she's finally finished growning and filling out, and she's v bored, plan to see how she goes vets always said she could be ridden if she was sound, which she most deffinately is !!! Best of luck and this early in dont panic, it tskes a long time for any nerve growth to show improvements, but it is possible

 

[Stackle]

Awww thank you for sharing that... that definitely fills me with slightly more hope... I just need to be patient and keep doing the strengthening exercises I guess... 😬

 

[D66]

What's a Sweeney?

 

[Stackle]

http://www.kohnkesown.com/C21sweeneyshoulder.pdf

My mares one is not too severe so hopefully it'll improve x

 

[AdorableAlice]

Posts like this one make this forum so worthwhile.

Something new to learn and understand. OP, hope you have a good outcome.

 

[Stackle]

Thank you x

 

[D66]

Thanks for the link. Very interesting and something I'd not heard of before.

 

[Stackle]

Just thought I'd give you all an update on my mare. We had the physio out on Friday and her shoulder is looking so much better! So pleased! Just been building things up slowly and doing lots of hacking in straight lines and lots of hill work! So if anyone else has this happened to their horse, there is hope! I was starting to feel like there wasn't at one point!! X