Vet or Physio? Advice please! (sorry a bit long)

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kit279

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I moved yards 2 weeks ago and when I turned the horses out onto their field, they were so delighted to see grass again that they promptly buggered about bucking and rearing. I saw my grey horse stumble and take 2-3 lame steps on his right hind leg but then he seemed fine. We got him in and he trotted up sound and I watched him like a hawk over the next 7 days for any swelling or anything that might suggest he had done a tendon in the deep going but saw nothing like that.

Riding him last weekend he was cantering disunited on the right rein - very unlike him. He started off OK (cantering united) but got worse and worse so we stopped and trotted him up again. He's not obviously lame but he's not quite right. He's a week off in the field mooching about and we lunged him yesterday and again, he started off fine but got worse and worse and more disunited as time went on. So we stopped again.

So now what?

He's obviously done *something* but I'm not 100% convinced the vets are going to find anything. He's not arthritic (had Xrays done on him last year when he was vetted) and never been lame before, always sound as a pound. I'm reluctant to get the vet out because I'm afraid they'll just do an enormous expensive work up and find nothing and then my insurance company will stick a huge exclusion on everything (back/legs/the works) whcih is what happened last year with one of my others. They never got to the bottom of it either and he's now uninsurable.

So, do I:-

1) Box rest him for 2 weeks with bute so he can't hoon about and make it worse
2) Get the physio out (I use Kate Hesse)
3) Call the vet and accept the inevitably huge bill
4) All of the above in sequence

Would a physio actually work? I know people swear by McTimoney people but I've used them before and never seen any improvement (in fact I thought one horse got noticeably worse).

Anyway, sorry for rambling but I'm just trying to get my little grey baby back together and just want to make the right decision for him.
 
I am paranoid about back end lameness
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If you're desperate not to have the vet, then try box rest and the physio.

When we thought the Diz had just 'pulled something' we were going to do the two months box rest route, but my paranoia made me send her to Rossdales, and they found major issues (her pelvis and suspensory ligaments). I'd only had her for a week and a half before she appeared lame coming in from the field one day, so we have little to benchmark against, though she had appeared sound before that day.

Fingers crossed you get it sorted. Hugs. C.x
 
I would get his hind suspensorys scanned- there's often no swelling or true lameness shown but there will be an alteration of gait
 
Yes, but what exactly is the vet going to do to make it better? I phoned my father (retired horse vet) to ask his advice and would normally get him over to have a look but he's skiing for the next 3 weeks
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He just said they'd most likely recommend box rest and bute anyway..
 
I would ring the vet explain situ and see what they say. Mention that you are considering getting the physio out. It might be worth getting them to do a quick check of any likely issues (ie nothing expensive) and confirm physio might be a good idea in the first instance.

My boy tends to start going disu if his pelvis isn't quite right, I get a chiro (not a mctimoney one) I have had mctimoney myself and can perfectly understand why it might make a horse worse cos it really hurt afterwards.

If he has just pulled something being in will def not help.

RE insurance, our mare slipped into a shallow ditch cos of a tractor, was very hopping lame to start with and very swollen bottom, had vet twice (couldn't get her home) and then physio. We never had any exclusions from that as wasn't particularly attributable to any one bit.
 
I'd get the vet mine had a sacoral joint injury and had to retire him immediately it was confirmed with scans and x-rays. He started to go disunited at the rear but only on the right rein in a school. Try doing a flexion test yourself
 
my horse did the same thing, i got the vet and he was indeed out on box rest. I think its best to make sure there is nothing serious before getting the physio.
 
stand your horse square and stand behind him then look at his hips. if they are not quite level you should consider that he's tilted his pelvis. if he has you need a MacTimoney or similar person rather than the vet. if his hips/pelvis seem level then maybe the vet would be a better option
 
Sorry, I have to comment on this as it's is such poor advice.

What in technical terms is 'tilted' pelvis?

What you are referring to is a misalignment and I can pretty much guarantee that if your horses pelvis is misaligned then it will be due a problem which a chiro/physio should not be treating without a veterinary diagnosis.

Horses do not 'move' their pelvis out of the blue and if one is out of alignment the horse will be in agony. If the pelvis appears to the untrained eye to be unlevel it is almost certainly caused by muscle spasm and that will be because your horse has a problem elsewhere, usually hocks, tack, teeth, lower front leg or as Bossanova says hind suspensories.

In the case of this horse the last thing I would do is put him on box rest. If he has a wrench it could be easily identified by a vet and an appropriate course of treatment prescribed.
 
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