Re: RC: Help! Back injury - sacroiliac (sp?)

["Carolyn Burgess" <carolyn_burgess@hotmail.com>]

Any one have any suggestions for mending an injury to the sacroiliac area of 
the horse

Jessica:

Guess what?  One of my horses had exactly the same type of injury.  A little 
background. He is 11 y.o., he was bought as my husbands first horse and was 
a jerk from day one when we bought him a little over 4 years ago.  He would 
buck in mid mount and throw you right on the ground. He would buck under 
saddle. We went through trainers and I finally started training him myself.  
In November 1998 I was checking his back to see if there was some issue 
there (there was none when we bought him) and I touched a spot (just in 
front of the sacroiliac).  He kicked me in the ribs and I left the barn in 
an ambulance.  Hubby was ready to put a bullet in his head.  But how do you 
sell a horse like this?  So after I healed, I couldn't stay away from him.  
I eventually got on him and started riding him, but he still had problems, 
but was managable.

During the summer of 2000, a fabulous massage therapist, Mike Scott, came 
and worked on him.  I warned him about the spot, even though it had been 
over a year that I had been riding him with success.  Mike hit the spot and 
thought that it was something fairly serious and suggested a chiropractor.  
The chiropractor came out an found that both sacroiliac joints were locked.  
It took four adjustments to unlock them.  Turns out the boy also has a 
moderate case of scoliosis as well.  Between the massages and the 
chiropractic adjustments, he is a much better moving horse.  We have owned 
him for over 4 years and he was able to gallop for the first time a few 
weeks ago.

The chiropractor has a theory on how this injury occurred.  And it takes 
alot, from what she said, to cause an injury like this. We are only the 
second owner of this horse, acquiring him as a 7 year old in 1997.  We have 
maintained a relationship with the previous owner and his wife, and when we 
saw them shortly after the chiropractor did her first adjustment, we asked 
him if he had been involved in any breeding injuries. They said no.  He was 
a stallion until he was 6 1/2 and has been bred several time.  The 
chiropractor believes that at some point, he flipped over backwards, or was 
injured during breeding (flipped over backwards while being kicked or 
someother way).

I know this is long and involved, but this horse was worthless until the 
massage therapist and the chiropractor unlocked the sacroiliac joints.  I 
will tell you that it did cost me about $800 ($550 to the chiro, $250 to the 
massage guy) but it was the best money I ever spent.  Good luck,

Carolyn Burgess

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