Strained sacroliac ligament - any info pls

[Llinos]

It's a long story but one of my ponies may have strained her sacroliac ligament, i'm currently waiting for vets confirmation of this. Someone has told me that if this is indeed the problem then it could be quite a long term recovery period. Can anyone tell me any more about this type of injury and what the recovery period is expected to be?

[Bebe]

A lot will depend on the severity of the injury, whether it's muscular or ligament damage and whether it's one or both sides of the sacrum that is affected.

You're almost definitely looking at a period of rest, generally field rest is preferred to box rest. Rehab after that tends to be lots of work on straight lines to build strength, pole work can be beneficial too.

Lots of horses do recover from milder forms of SI problems, others aren't able to return to work at all.

My mare had a years field rest initially and the prognosis for a return to ridden work weren't good. She did manage it though but as she's got older it's been more of a problem and now it seems that any niggling problem elsewhere will set off her old SI injury and cause soreness in that region. I'm probably going to have to look at retiring her in the near future.

[Llinos]

Thanks for the info Bebe. My vet is away at the moment but i've booked him to come out as soon as he's back and have a look. I think the injury could well have been caused by a move done by a physio as the pony wasn't lame before the physio visit but was lame afterwards and there was a terrible cracking sound when the physio did this particular move which was only perfomed on the leg the pony is now lame on... I've looked up SL strain on the internet and my pony is showing some of the signs such as stiffness which seems to be coming from the back/hip area as opposed to in the hock or fetlock joints, dragging the toe and tightness in the tail, but her hips still seem to be level, so i'm praying if she is diagnosed with SL strain that it's more on the milder end of the scale. If it does turn out to be SL strain I will probably field rest her for the winter and gently bring her back into work early next spring. I'm very sorry to hear about your mare's condition and the possibility of retirement. How did she do her SL injury?

[Bebe]

How did she do her SL injury?


I don't know, it happened before I got her so whilst I have the info I'm a bit vague on the details. Generally a fall or doing the splits whilst running is the problem, which is quite likely.

I hope you can get your pony well.

[cloang]

My daughters little pony has just had 6 months of complete field rest and I can honestly say there is no improvement at all. Vet is due out soon to check but is not hopeful.

We are walking her out in straight lines in hand and she is so happy to be doing something and gets quite upset if we dont take her out now bless her.

She will probably be fine on a gentle hack but mentally really needs to do more as she so enjoys her work.

Will post again once vet has done his checks to let you know the advise if thats any help.

Good Luck

[Llinos]

Cloang, I'm very sorry to hear about your pony. I am also alarmed to hear that she is not showing much improvement after six months field rest. The vet is coming to look at my pony tomorrow and I just hope that he says she hasn't strained her sacroliac ligament as she has been off for 6 weeks already, but that was due to a shoulder problem before the suspected SL injury. She has been on box rest with some turn out during the daytime for the past 2 weeks as walking her wasn't helping and if anything she was getting lamer, so I decided to try resting her and she has improved a little since being on box rest so there is a small glimmer of hope... I'll let you know what the vet says tomorrow. Keep us posted on news of your pony.