Roxylola
Well-Known Member
Not Mr Firzpatrick obviously as supercob is a bit big to fit on his exam table.
Yesterday Charlie had an appointment with Tom Beech, the osteopathic vet.
Over summer he's had a little niggle with being reluctant to pick up his left fore for hoof care. He has mallanders which is worst on that leg but its managed and for the most part not too bad and the reluctance didn't seem to correlate with the scabs being better or worse.
We gave him 2 weeks off work entirely and it didn't make any difference, he's had periods of hard work, periods of light work, still the same intermittent niggle. He's been sound and consistent in his work throughout. He had his saddle checked - no issues, but saddler thought maybe left hock. He had a physio appointment, again no significant issues but physio thought it could be an issue with the right foreleg not wanting to weight bear. Farrier suspected left shoulder...
So rather than going for a performance/lameness type work up at the regular vets I contacted Tom having seen him mentioned numerous times here, and followed his Facebook for some time. I decided his holistic approach would be an ideal way to tackle the issue.
So yesterday was the day. He initially found there was tightness in the poll, jaw, and neck, a little at the front of the withers. He commented on how symmetrical Charlie is throughout his body. Checked both front legs and ruled out the front right being an issue, ruled out the left shoulder, found some lack/reluctance of mobility between knee and fetlock but said that could easily be related to mallanders and him being a bit protective of his scabby knee pits.
Moving back he was happy with the thoracic spine under the saddle. He then came to the hind legs and pelvic area. He noted some tightness and conformation issues at the sacrum. The sacrum is lower than it should/could be. Some is conformation and as such there will always be a tendency for this to happen, but as a result Charlie has not been using himself as effectively there and therefore compounded the problem. Now Charlie is 12 this year so there may be some arthritis involved as its been a long term issue for him but Tom manipulated his pelvic region and you could see Charlie's bottom change shape across his croup from two distinct curves where the muscle was higher than the spine (very much a cob bottom) to almost a single smooth one.
We've been recommended to work lower as much as possible - I don't work him up up but lots of work with his eyes level with his hips, and at least once a week some in hand "walking pilates" so work over poles, progressing to raised poles, walking backwards in hand all to really keep the sacrum up and functioning better.
He's hopeful this should lead to a significant improvement in the next few months. He also felt that the tightness hed felt in front was as a result of the sacrum issues and would improve significantly with the changes. As he manipulated the pelvis obviously I was at the front end and could see the ripples coming through his body to a lovely soft head and neck wobble. All of the tight areas in front were clearly easier to move and manipulate following the pelvic work.
We are also hoping a slight tendency to be toe in on the left will be improved with this work, and we will be chatting with the farrier about this - obviously if he is shod as he's always been shod it won't allow the changes in his body to come to fruition, we aren't looking for the farrier to make drastic changes but hopefully just to encourage/allow the improvement to happen itself
Charlie did have a couple of ml of sedation as he was a bit resistant to the work and bracing initially, he will henceforth be known as "cheap date Charlie" as he was completely blotto'd by the sedative and staggered about like a drunk teenager.
I commented halfway through that we should have had before and after photos but unfortunately it was too late by then!
Yesterday Charlie had an appointment with Tom Beech, the osteopathic vet.
Over summer he's had a little niggle with being reluctant to pick up his left fore for hoof care. He has mallanders which is worst on that leg but its managed and for the most part not too bad and the reluctance didn't seem to correlate with the scabs being better or worse.
We gave him 2 weeks off work entirely and it didn't make any difference, he's had periods of hard work, periods of light work, still the same intermittent niggle. He's been sound and consistent in his work throughout. He had his saddle checked - no issues, but saddler thought maybe left hock. He had a physio appointment, again no significant issues but physio thought it could be an issue with the right foreleg not wanting to weight bear. Farrier suspected left shoulder...
So rather than going for a performance/lameness type work up at the regular vets I contacted Tom having seen him mentioned numerous times here, and followed his Facebook for some time. I decided his holistic approach would be an ideal way to tackle the issue.
So yesterday was the day. He initially found there was tightness in the poll, jaw, and neck, a little at the front of the withers. He commented on how symmetrical Charlie is throughout his body. Checked both front legs and ruled out the front right being an issue, ruled out the left shoulder, found some lack/reluctance of mobility between knee and fetlock but said that could easily be related to mallanders and him being a bit protective of his scabby knee pits.
Moving back he was happy with the thoracic spine under the saddle. He then came to the hind legs and pelvic area. He noted some tightness and conformation issues at the sacrum. The sacrum is lower than it should/could be. Some is conformation and as such there will always be a tendency for this to happen, but as a result Charlie has not been using himself as effectively there and therefore compounded the problem. Now Charlie is 12 this year so there may be some arthritis involved as its been a long term issue for him but Tom manipulated his pelvic region and you could see Charlie's bottom change shape across his croup from two distinct curves where the muscle was higher than the spine (very much a cob bottom) to almost a single smooth one.
We've been recommended to work lower as much as possible - I don't work him up up but lots of work with his eyes level with his hips, and at least once a week some in hand "walking pilates" so work over poles, progressing to raised poles, walking backwards in hand all to really keep the sacrum up and functioning better.
He's hopeful this should lead to a significant improvement in the next few months. He also felt that the tightness hed felt in front was as a result of the sacrum issues and would improve significantly with the changes. As he manipulated the pelvis obviously I was at the front end and could see the ripples coming through his body to a lovely soft head and neck wobble. All of the tight areas in front were clearly easier to move and manipulate following the pelvic work.
We are also hoping a slight tendency to be toe in on the left will be improved with this work, and we will be chatting with the farrier about this - obviously if he is shod as he's always been shod it won't allow the changes in his body to come to fruition, we aren't looking for the farrier to make drastic changes but hopefully just to encourage/allow the improvement to happen itself
Charlie did have a couple of ml of sedation as he was a bit resistant to the work and bracing initially, he will henceforth be known as "cheap date Charlie" as he was completely blotto'd by the sedative and staggered about like a drunk teenager.
I commented halfway through that we should have had before and after photos but unfortunately it was too late by then!
.