Your horse was diagnosed with SI disease, correct?
Although my current horse isn’t what I would classify as hypermobile the same way we think of it in humans (joints that have range beyond normal parameters “double jointed”), and doesn’t have quite the leg flinging ability we seem to equate with hypermobility in horses, she matches your description above. I used to describe her ‘exceptional’ days as ones where she had 7 or 8 legs 
and ‘good days’ maybe only 5 or 6 legs. 
The past few years she’s had a pretty consistent 4 legs 
We got to the point of 4 legs working together by starting piaffe work, first in hand and then ridden, along with transitions, transitions, transitions. The piaffe work really put a ton of internal obliques on her. (see image below) Now when she self grooms, “Mother. You missed a spot on top of my butt. I guess I’ll have to do it myself if I want it done properly!” that muscle shows itself really clearly. When she was new to me, there was nothing there at all.
FWIW, even the very, very beginning of piaffe in hand, just lifting legs one at a time, started to put core muscle on her that I hadn’t been able to develop under saddle up to that point.
p.s. the neck? OMG, we used to deal with an S-shaped neck when the tension got high. “How do I straighten this thing that bends in several different directions at once?” LOL! The answer to that was more strength and more confidence that the rider truly was not going to ride her into the mouth of a fire-breathing dragon. The ability to do that may show once in a blue moon when she must give herself an adrenaline hit (she’s a junkie, sigh), but is much more transient and easier to control now that we have lots of muscle and years of good habits built up.
Oh, one more point on exercises, do not underestimate the power of “longer, lower, rounder, deeper” (thank you to Siegfired Peillicke for that one!) and pushing shoulders around (like flexing/counterflexing, but you’re moving the shoulders to change the horse’s balance and therefore the way it weights each leg) to put core on a horse.
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This horse is a repurpose - I purchased him from a mennonite dealer at 8 years old and he was pretty rough physically. He may have been in a buggy wreck, the vet mentioned it felt like he had some old fractures in his tail. I assume he has chronic psoas pain and it’s not an acute issue. He’s also 13 now and likely has (also per vet) some OA at least starting in his pelvis. The vet has ok’d pole work, and when I was first starting him under saddle I used some elevated poles at the walk before most of our rides. It definitely seems to help him loosen those pelvis muscles.
I looked at the videos you shared and I plan to incorporate them as well! Thank you!
I’m not sure my vet said those words but we did attempt to adjust him chiropratically (not sure that is a word…) and do some prehab before injecting but it was just too uncomfortable for him. We have a chiro/acupuncture appt next week as a follow up and hopefully it will be more comfortable for him.
ETA quote for clarity.
Now that my trainer is back from Florida, I was thinking about starting this with her. Up until now, he couldn’t mentally be pushed to correctly start half-steps, but he’s finally trusting me enough to allow that pressure to build without launching himself. I’ll chat with my trainer and get her blessing as well, but it’s a good thought! Thanks!
PS - we might have the same horse. Except mine’s a gelding… 
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Now that spring is officially started in New England I can start hacking him around the property and doing our usual hills. I do walk hacks once or twice a week (weather usually dictates how often) to help with that stability. Hopefully now that his SI is more comfortable we can build muscle correctly! Thanks!
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I’m not sure why you are confused. I am working with a qualified vet on a horse that is exhibiting symptoms of SI pain. We injected after trying less invasive ways of relieving that pain. I feel like you are arguing semantics vs providing any useful information. I’m not sure why you would need to verify a diagnosis to constructively add to this conversation.
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Without a diagnosis, I’d be hard put to give constructive input. I totally understand that that doesn’t stop most people on social media.
I really don’t want this to devolve into a cranky back and forth, but I wasn’t here asking for a professional opinion on how to move forward with my horse recently diagnosed with SI disease. I am working with several highly qualified professionals that have actually laid hands on my horse and see him regularly. But I also don’t want to live in a bubble and have found that COTH members often have been in similar situations and can comment on what has worked for them. I like to think outside the box and bring suggestions to my support team and get their takes on things (as I had previously stated above) to provide the most well-rounded care I can for my horse.
That being said, no one is forcing you to reply to this thread. If you feel you can’t constructively contribute to the conversation, please feel free to scroll on by!
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@alicen I believe your concerns were met before you even aired them 
Like many of us on this forum, we like the amount of input from so many different people with varying backgrounds. When we have an issue, this allows us to bring a broader range of ideas to our horse’s professionals in order to make sure the plan is completely thought through, new and different ideas are discussed, and we end up with the best treatment plan for our particular horse.
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My vets aren’t happy with the direction breeding is going to get more naturally supple and hypermobile movement. The connective tissue is less robust and has problems with stabilizing structures. They are seeing too many injuries in young horses and too many are being euthanized. If you have a good working relationship with a vet who specializes in lameness, go have a frank discussion with them about hypermobility.
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