To turn away or not? - hind suspensory/SI rehab, advice please.

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Primitive Pony

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Hi

I know that both hind supensories and sacroiliac problems have been discussed her at length already, but I wondered what anyone's thoughts are on the benefits of turning my horse away. He was recently diagnosed with SI problems after a bone scan, had steroid injections, as well as minor damage to both hind suspensories and has had shockwave treatment. He has never actually been lame, just the typical canter problems and is slightly short through one hindleg at the minute, vets have been rather vague about rehab and I am currently toying with the idea of turning him away for a good six months before bringing him back into work to see how he is.

Any relevant experience/thoughts...? - many thanks!
 
Hard to say without knowing the full story etc but from reading around online articles and from what our vet has said to us is that proximal suspensories do not come right just from rest.

The initial box rest period is to try and get the inflammation down alongside with the shockwave therapy and then its slow steady work to help the fibres re-model and re-align.

Mine has done the box rest and shockwave and is now turned out and doing ridden walk work (just introduced trot now...) to help remodel the fibres and feels fantastic. Shes going for a scan on the 14th to see if all this is working and for us to gauge when and how we progress our work.

It almost seems a bit backwards to me to have her back into work and turned out without scanning but as our vet explained without that slow steady work your scans will tend to come up pretty much the same as they were the first time around.

Counting down the days til the 14th so we know what were dealing with, its so awful riding and not knowing whats going on. She feels so loose and fantastic being ridden but I did see her go for a little canter in the field the other day starting off with a little bunny hop into it :( so Im back to feeling paranoid and less than positive. God only knows, I feel your pain though its awful :( good luck x
 
Thank you, that's really helpful input - I keep coming across conflicting advice! Had a trot today out hacking and like you, my horse actually felt fantastic but likewise I don't know what's going on inside and don't want it all to go wrong. Perhaps I should stick to the work for a while and then give him a rest over winter once the tendons and muscles have strengthened again.
 
I would expect your vet to have advised you on a work / rehab programme?

The advice I have received for SI Injury is controlled exercise not rest. Only by developing strong muscles can the joint be stabilised for this reason I always keep my horse ticking over and he does not ever have long periods of rest where his muscles would weaken. I have not had experience of suspensory issues so cannot advise and not knowing all the details I would be cautious in any advice given.

I would also suggest to speak to a good physiotherapist - I found them more helpful than the vet was.
 
My vet hasn't been enormously helpful on this front. Was initially told to walk out in hand and lunge in a pessoa for six weeks, no more detail than that. Both instructor and physio advised against pessoa and lunging on soft surface in circles, and walking out in hand turned out to be a dangerous game, so I gave up on all that! Turned him away for a month as that happened to work out anyway and couldn't do much else, and then physio has advised hacking out, walking in straight lines then trot etc, which is what I have stuck to so far.

My thoughts are partly because I now have the luxury of another horse on loan to ride for the foreseeable future and so I wondered if rest would be of benefit too, as I'm not sure these days how much the pressure we put our horses under to be back out there competing and so on influences vets, and there seem to be conflicting views about SI and the hind suspensory rehab programmes, and I have often thought that letting nature do its thing has to be of benefit, but maybe not in this case...?

Also having my chiropactor come to see him next week to work on the short stride by adjusting his pelvis, I think, so will see where I am then...
 
As another posted said it is hard to advise on what his work load should be without knowing the full story. If he is to stay in work I would personally use a topical application of an anti-inflammatory sports gel on the suspensorys (the hind quarter muscles can get very tight with suspensory issues on their own) and PASSIVE stretches every day to help keep his muscles nice and "loose" and working in as full a range as possible. Passive stretches will help you have more of an idea as to how tight he is feeling in his body and how far he is coming on in his rehab work. Best of luck :)
 
Thank you very much for that - could you tell me what sort of gel you mean? - have never seen a sports one for horses, unless you mean a cooling gel? - otherwise all I can think of Ibulieve etc, which presumably can't be used on horses...?
 
I think the above poster may be referring to anti inflammatory gels such as compagel or tensolvet very useful for some situations but as the proximal suspensory is located under bone (hence why you won't feel any heat or swelling) then these topical treatments won't do an awful lot ~ believe me I've looked into every option of things we can do to help!

I have invested in an equilibrium massage pad which seems to be helping a lot (they also have fantastic reviews) part of my girls trouble was that she lost a lot of muscle over her back and withers and like another poster has said its important to keep these horses strong and mobile to help support. Once we have the scan out of the way we will also have regular physio checks.

She has also been shod with James Blurton sports bars on her hinds although hopefully our farrier doesn't think these will need to be a long term thing.

Anyway, hope that's of some help/some things to think about. Like you I've come across a lot of conflicting advice on the net but it certainly doesn't hurt to have a google and see whats out there. I'm very lucky that my farrier, vet, saddle fitter and physio all work/talk together so hopefully as a team we should be able to get sorted xx
 
Ho hum.....well, my theory after 67 years of horses is.......turn away and mother nature will heal, just as it does in the wild. Years ago I had a certificate to put a pony down after numerous tests etc. Called in the late Michael Simons who said that a year in the field - a bare field to take all weight off the pony - would do the trick. It did and she did everything including hunting, until late in life!!! Head down, moving around slowly - just the ticket.

But that is not the way today. And vets do have to make a living!!! And it is so expensive to keep these animals, that a year out is just not economical.
 
peh1980 said:
Thank you very much for that - could you tell me what sort of gel you mean? - have never seen a sports one for horses, unless you mean a cooling gel? - otherwise all I can think of Ibulieve etc, which presumably can't be used on horses...?
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Yep I mean an anti-inflammatory gel and I would ask your vet as to which one he would advise. You may not need to use it everyday but it does help to reduce some of the inflammation which means the joints move more freely which has a knock on effect to the muscles. You could also try icing the legs everyday and if you have a freezer at the yard I would suggest investing in ice boots. I would also suggest - if he is to stay in work - to use an arnica/witch hazel gel on his hindquarters. I am sure others will believe that Arnica does nothing but I found it to really help on the competition horses :)
 
Many thanks for all the helpful info - alas there doesn't seem to be one straighforward answer... - will certainly have a look at arnica gel etc, belive in it for myself with bruises etc! - and keep researching the rehab programmes.
 
My horse damaged both hind suspensories and hi SI, last year. He had shockwave 3 times, and his SI medicated. I was uncomfortable working him through obvious discomfort, so gave him 12 months off, going out in the day, coming in at night (he's a bit of a baby....)
He is now just coming back into work, 15 mins walk under saddle every day, then slowly increasing time and introduce a small amount of trot.
We can't hack as he is 'unpredictable' on the road, so having to do all work in the school on a woodchip surface.
He is 13, so not prepared to give up on him yet!!

I'm another believer of 'Dr Green and Mother Nature.....'
 
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