first chiro/physio appointment results

~Perdita.M~

~Perdita.M~

Two Little Boys
May 20, 2003
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Kent
Just thought I'd write an update on the situation with Shamrock's back ( the pain versus naughty pony argument!)

We had a lovely, well recommended lady come today. She is a mctimoney chiropracter and also the president of the Equine Sports Massage Association.

She found that he has wobbly back legs, a funny shape rear end and is very stiff in this area too. She feels that the symptoms/injury would be consistent with him in the past going right up and over on himself. He obviously wasn't seen after the accident, so everything has kind of healed in a funny way, and become stiff and tight.The wobblyness comes from lack of muscle in the right areas, probably due to him not holding himself well due to the pain or old pain from the back end. If that makes sense?:eek: There is also a very small chance of a neurological problem, which we will be easier to see when he is fit. In other words, the wobblyness is most likely caused by the lack of muscle, but if its still there after our work, will be more thoroughly checked out and tested.

She gave me two choices. He can either be retired, or will need to be worked consistently, building up a good level of fitness and hopefully the correct muscle. Although his personality suits being ridden gently irregularly, his body doesn't! Its all or nothing. We have in hand stretches to do and other exercises, including rein back and some special pole work! The main part is walking though, starting with 10 minutes and building up to one hour, but he must be straight and not allowed to swing his quarters to the side when doing hill work. She also said something interesting about trotting hills, no good for him either, walk or canter only, as the action of the trot uphill will effectively *grind* his problem area/pelvis. Sounds odd with me trying to relate it but made perfect sense when she explained how and why! :eek:

So thats it really.......I had a feeling he didn't have a particularly pleasant past ( headshy........move too fast and he looks as though he thinks he'll get a wollop) but the thought of what it was that made him go over on himself makes me shudder:(

Anyway, so there we go.Thanks for reading if you got through all that:)
 
So I am assuming your decision is to see if he can be worked out of it?
How lucky you are to have found such an expert in the field. I wonder how long ti will be to fully rehabilitate?
 
Yes we're going to try Karin......he's only seven so I hope we don't have to write him off quite yet. Although I have horrible husband here saying you've bought a duff horse, palm him off on someone else:mad: :(

Not sure about time scale.........we are seeing her again when we are up to an hours walking in 6+ weeks time, to see how his wobbly bits and stiffness are, improving or otherwise. Fingers crossed!:)
 
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aww tara,

least you found out what was wrong with him.

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I'm so pleased you've managed to get to the bottom of his troubles, poor little soul. It did sound like a physical problem rather than a behavioural one as he is such a sweetie otherwise:)

At least now you have a clear plan and know what needs to be done, which must be quite a relief for you in a way. It would be a real waste to retire him, and it sounds like a bit of consistent work will do him a world of good. It's surprising just how much a horse can change once they build up a bit of muscle and strength. Horses with apparently poor outlooks can make really good recoveries with a bit of patience and persistence, just ask Bebe.

She was right, trotting up hills puts a lot of strain on the sacral joint (joins the spine and the hindlegs) and whilst it might be decent exercise for conditioning a fit horse it's very bad for one with a dodgy back end. It's probably the reason that a lot of horses prefer to canter up hills rather than trot.

Poor little Sham, as the saying goes, if only they could talk:( At least he'll never have to go through it again.
 
arrrrrr!!

hi ya!!!
oh no!!:( poor shammie!!:(
but dont worry i know you'll do the best thing for him!!as you always do the best for him!!!:D :D
& i know he'll be ok what ever happens!!hes a brave& starong pony so of course he'll be ok!!:D promise!!!
I'm just sooooooooooooooo sorry i cant come up & ride him for you as you i would if i could get there every weekend to do so!as i wouldnt like to anything but that as i'd get to see you&shammie every weekend!!how great would that be!!:D but i cant get there thats the thing!!im sorry!!
tlk to you soon
love you both as always
charlie
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Thanks Charlie, yeah I know you would love to come and ride him, its a shame about the distance. You can still come and visit any time you like though! Nevermind,we will get there.

Any advice on the carrot stretches we have to do? We have to get his nose to his side, just in front of the hind legs. Now, if i hold a carrot there and try and get him to bend round he isn't daft so will either step back or swing his bum round and face it:D So, I was thinking of doing them next to the field gate, where he would have a bit of hedge at his bum, and the gate to the side......in a corner, as it were! Will that work? Or is there a sensible way of doing it that hasn't crossed my mind? :eek:
 
Do you just hold the carrot by his back leg or start with it near his nose and draw him round with it? If you do that he'll be able to indicate himself how far round it's comfy to go and you can use that as a reference as he becomes more flexible.

If you're already doing that then having his bum against a fence or in a corner will help a lot, a stable is even handier as you have one of each corner to work in.

Rio stays put for the lateral carrot stretches most of the time, but I have to do the one down between her front legs by a wall:)
 
We haven't even tried yet Yann!:eek: But yes will start at his nose and bring back round, stable is a great idea - my brain doesn't work logically like that! Picking up some poles monday as we need those for one of the exercises, and had planned to start tuesday, as tues/thurs and sat would be our three free mornings. Do you think three days a week will be enough?
 
I'd imagine so, they would be nicely spaced out so he has recovery time in between, but only your Chiro can tell you for sure. It will depend how important the stretches are to the overall treatment.

It'll certainly be better than overdoing it anyway:)

Re. the stable, these things only become obvious once you've tried them for yourself:D
 
Lenvale that did make me smile with the thought of your handsome boy looking blankly about for the carrot - bless him:D

And yes, agreed, she was lovely. She did mention she did quite a few at your place:) I liked her even more when I found out she has a big lurcher, so she promised to bring him next time she comes:D
 
ooh that's the lady I had too isn't it ?

Glad that she's shed some light on Sham's back, and really hope it all works out for him and you.
 
Hi Tara sorry I havent replied till now James only just told me he saw you on msn the other day?

Poor boy!! Do you think maybe because Charlotte and me were working him almost everyday of the week, we didnt see his symtoms? He was supple? I feel so bad but he never showed any signs of pain only his teeth! He used to have his feet picked out everyday no probs? Do you think it was just a matter of time till it started getting to him? God i'd hate to think that I was riding him when he was in pain but he never showed it he never wanted to go home lol!!

Something must have happened in his past as I was out on a hack alone one day when a farmer stoped his tractor and was talking to me. he wanted to show me some bridlepaths or something and he swung his hand up to point over at the fields and shamrock almost fell over backwards shying away from him! Was very frightned of him and didnt want to be anywhere near him after that. Poor boy:(

i'm so sorry, what are you going to do? could move in with us and we could get him working everyday in the school??
 
God I'd love to Karen, we'd kill for a school right now but it's too far:(

I think you're right, his muscles were probably more relaxed and stronger with more work. He hasn't been doing much more than pottering about, so has stiffened right up again, its my fault for not keeping him fitter. I can pick his feet up too, although he is less happy with the back ones, i think its just more exaggerated when the farrier stretches them out to the side etc. He's also a brave, tough lad so would probably keep going anyway!

Know what you mean about things like the farmer waving his arm, poor Sham. Still, we might not know what's happened in the past, but we know he won't go through anything like it again:)
 
I'm so glad she worked out, she was great on the phone after I spoke to her about Z's back - I couldn't be there unfortunately so have yet to meet her.

The YO at my place rents the school out- it's on the road between Goudhurst and Marden ?

Anyway hope he gets better soon.
Amanda
 
Sorry to hear Sham's not been too good. Thank goodness there's only a very slight chance it's neuro and that muscling him up again and keeping him fit should sort him out.

How's it going with the carrot stretches? ... and did you manage to get hold of any poles?

Nix
x

PS Another cheap source of "poles" is the cardboard centres of carpet rolls, but not sure if they'd deliver as they're free. I got some and put some of those cheap plastic pole covers over them to stop them getting squishy in the rain.
 
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