Did they check his hocks? My horse is having the same problem right now,
pain in the lumbar sacral (sp?) joint area. A knowledgable friend told me,
"lower back pain isn't the problem, it's a symptom. My guess is hock or
stifle" Well, turned out my horse got kicked HARD right on the stifle (zig
zag cut to prove perfect aim) a week before his last competition.
I had two other friends whose horses had bad back pain. After having hocks
injected and tens unit work to loosen up back they were much better and competed
again for a time.
Does anyone have some advice to share on horse's
having back pain. I got my current horse two years ago, spent the first
year with LSD work, went to a Novice CTR and checked in and out with back
pain, took two weeks off, conditioned and went to one more novice CTR and
again had back/loin pain. Took him to A&M University who did
x-rays and ultrasound and found him to be very sore but couldn't find a
reason so diagnosed muscle strain from pasture shenanigans and gave him
multiple steroid shots in his back and said to rest him a week then
slowly back to work. I am now 5 months later after multiple
chiropractic visits and weekly myofascial release treatments
and consistent low intensity work for conditioning his back muscles as
prescribed and he still has back pain. I can ride him 2 miles at a
walk without exacerbating his pain but 5 miles at a walk is too
much and he has tightness and pain in his loins the next two days.
I have changed saddles from treeless to specialized. I am trying
to do what is best with the back strengthening work but am so
frustrated by the slow progress and lack of diagnosis and continued
pain. Maybe has strained a back ligament which takes longer to
heal? Maybe he needs to be thrown out in a field and forgotten for
a year to rest and heal? Maybe he needs more
work to strengthen an inherently weak area? Maybe I need to give up
riding and break him to harness? I am a small rider on a 14
hand stout mustang type horse with good conformation. I work him
for maybe 15 to 20 minutes total each day with some in hand work, some
lunging in side reins (5X each direction at a trot) to get him to round and
properly use his back, some ground pole work, some spirals in and
out, carrot stretches, walking flat terrain under saddle ect, all of this
prescribed by chiropractor and doctor as physical therapy for his back.
Thanks, Amy
Angie
McGhee http://www.lightersideofendurance.com Work it harder, Make it
better, Do it faster, Makes us stronger!
