daydreamer
Well-Known Member
hi,
I wondered if anyone had any experiences/ideas/opinions they might be able to share with me. (Before I start ... the horse was seen by an experienced equine vet this Monday). Sorry in advance for such a long post.
My 24 yo TB Barney has been not quite right for a couple of months, just a bit dull and not himself. He had a bit of unlevelness in his left fore which seemed to resolve after a few days off and we put down to foot bruising due to hard ground. I had the physio come to check him about about 3 or 4 weeks ago and she said he had sore/tight back muscles, his pelvis was slightly out, tight intercostals and lats. She gave me lots of exercises to do - front and back leg pulls, pelvis tilts, belly lifts, carrot stretches to the elbow. I was doing the exercises every day and seeing some improvement i those. I did a bit of hacking out - seemed ok, if a little dull still. I rode in the school a couple of times - some initial stiffness then some really nice work. I was long reining and doing pole work in hand too - some lovely trot work on the long reins in the field.
Occasionally i had seen some twitching in the left shoulder this summer after doing stretches or bodywork. Then about a week and a half ago the twitching got more frequent during one of the stretching sessions. After that I stopped doing the stretches/riding and got the vet out.
The twitching mainly appears when Barney is tied outside his stable whilst I am mucking out. If he is eating I don't see it so much. It doesn't seem as bad in the mornings (the yard usually turn hi out for me so I only have weekends to go on). Each twitching session will only be for a couple of minutes on and off. He likes me to rub his shoulder and will move towards me when it is bothering him so I can. The weird thing is he bends his neck towards the twitching shoulder (which the vet agreed is odd - if something is pinching in theory he should relieve it by bending away). I have put a short video below ....
Short video here
The vet did carrot stretches to elbow both ways - fine. No obvious pain in the leg/shoulder on palpitation. 1/10 lame on front left and 1.5-2/10 lame on front right (although to be fair this was first thing in the morning on concrete - I'm not sure how many 24yo ex eventers would be 0/10!?). The vet said he doesn't seem to be protecting his neck. He said neck x-rays on a horse of his age are likely to show changes anyway so may not be diagnostic.
He is currently on 2 weeks off, 2 bute a day for 7 days and then 1 a day for 7 days. Shoulder twitching has continued to appear and is maybe more frequent (or I could just be being paranoid).
Any ideas/experiences welcome. Obviously I will talk to the vet again too but I'm just not feeling optimistic about it and wondered if anyone on here had any advice.
Thanks.
I wondered if anyone had any experiences/ideas/opinions they might be able to share with me. (Before I start ... the horse was seen by an experienced equine vet this Monday). Sorry in advance for such a long post.
My 24 yo TB Barney has been not quite right for a couple of months, just a bit dull and not himself. He had a bit of unlevelness in his left fore which seemed to resolve after a few days off and we put down to foot bruising due to hard ground. I had the physio come to check him about about 3 or 4 weeks ago and she said he had sore/tight back muscles, his pelvis was slightly out, tight intercostals and lats. She gave me lots of exercises to do - front and back leg pulls, pelvis tilts, belly lifts, carrot stretches to the elbow. I was doing the exercises every day and seeing some improvement i those. I did a bit of hacking out - seemed ok, if a little dull still. I rode in the school a couple of times - some initial stiffness then some really nice work. I was long reining and doing pole work in hand too - some lovely trot work on the long reins in the field.
Occasionally i had seen some twitching in the left shoulder this summer after doing stretches or bodywork. Then about a week and a half ago the twitching got more frequent during one of the stretching sessions. After that I stopped doing the stretches/riding and got the vet out.
The twitching mainly appears when Barney is tied outside his stable whilst I am mucking out. If he is eating I don't see it so much. It doesn't seem as bad in the mornings (the yard usually turn hi out for me so I only have weekends to go on). Each twitching session will only be for a couple of minutes on and off. He likes me to rub his shoulder and will move towards me when it is bothering him so I can. The weird thing is he bends his neck towards the twitching shoulder (which the vet agreed is odd - if something is pinching in theory he should relieve it by bending away). I have put a short video below ....
Short video here
The vet did carrot stretches to elbow both ways - fine. No obvious pain in the leg/shoulder on palpitation. 1/10 lame on front left and 1.5-2/10 lame on front right (although to be fair this was first thing in the morning on concrete - I'm not sure how many 24yo ex eventers would be 0/10!?). The vet said he doesn't seem to be protecting his neck. He said neck x-rays on a horse of his age are likely to show changes anyway so may not be diagnostic.
He is currently on 2 weeks off, 2 bute a day for 7 days and then 1 a day for 7 days. Shoulder twitching has continued to appear and is maybe more frequent (or I could just be being paranoid).
Any ideas/experiences welcome. Obviously I will talk to the vet again too but I'm just not feeling optimistic about it and wondered if anyone on here had any advice.
Thanks.