Pic. above: Kingsley being given a sleepy stretch...We had Kingsley seen to today by Richard the vet (who did initial injections on the 16th of November) and physiotherapist Anna Johnson. The plan was to have Kingsley re-assessed to see if there is any improvement following the injections and for Anna to do physio under sedation to relieve his muscle spasms and devise further rehab programme.
1) There is a significant improvement in general coordination and movement as well as desire to move forwards.
2) The SI (sacro-iliac) joint is less sensitive to palpation but still tender. I am told the SI injury is comparable to suspensory injury. It's the ligaments that respond positive to palpation which is why it will take months of rehab for a potential return to soundness.
3) There is a lot of compensatory pain in the back muscles, around the withers and along the spine.
4) There is some secondary neck pain that should disappear once the primary injury is sorted.
5) He now needs to re-build his muscles along the back and neck in the right places before any further prognosis can be made. Months of walking ahead.
Pic.above: Slowly waking up from sedation.The rehab plan for now is as follows:
15th Dec - quiet rest day, no turn out or walking
16th-21st - rest with turn out as normal to let him recover from today's manipulation
I am then away until the 28th so he will have a further rest with his normal turn out routine.
Then 30th Dec -18th January: walking exercise under the saddle 10 minutes a day, extended by 1 minute each day, either road work/hacking or walking in arena. Working in an outline if possible encouraging the weaker right hind to work.
18th January: Physio and Vet coming for 2nd re-assessment.
And here are the videos from first day of 10 minutes lungeing (4 weeks post injections):
LEFT REIN
RIGHT REIN
15th Dec - quiet rest day, no turn out or walking
16th-21st - rest with turn out as normal to let him recover from today's manipulation
I am then away until the 28th so he will have a further rest with his normal turn out routine.
Then 30th Dec -18th January: walking exercise under the saddle 10 minutes a day, extended by 1 minute each day, either road work/hacking or walking in arena. Working in an outline if possible encouraging the weaker right hind to work.
18th January: Physio and Vet coming for 2nd re-assessment.
And here are the videos from first day of 10 minutes lungeing (4 weeks post injections):
LEFT REIN
RIGHT REIN
2 comments
You can see the "offness" in the right hind in both videos, but it's not dramatic. The head high/inverted neck may be due to the back soreness as well. My mare had significant sacroileac pain secondary to a rear low suspensory injury. Slow work to build up is necessary once the pain is relieved. Good luck - he seems a fine horse.
Thank you, I am tempted to investigate the hind legs more but it seems that bot vet and physio are happy with the progress for now.
They did say there might be an underlying problem (who knows, maybe some sinister suspensory) but as he is not lame on any particular leg as such we will go down the rehab route and see what that gives us.
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