I refuse to get X-rays of my neck or back at this point because I’m afraid to know if there is anything lol!!
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I got asked “you WALKED in here?” when they saw my back xrays. Yeah, and I lift super heavy stuff and it never hurts beyond what is expected with over exertion. I’m lucky I guess.
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Reasons why xraying the horse’s back is such a crapshoot. I’ve heard plenty of stories of failed KS surgery/rehab because it was never the back to begin with. But some really good successes too! It’s so frustrating!
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I have the opposite problem. Back X-rays are normal but I have excruciating never ending daily back pain. I wish imaging showed something.
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Ugh that’s so frustrating. I’m sorry.
I agree, euthanize.
Also, I have my own small farm. It is not free, or negligible in cost, to keep an additional horse around.
My standard of what is “pasture sound” is a LOT more stringent than many who come to visit their horse, even frequently. I also have a VERY low tolerance for conditions that have a risk of explosive, pain related behavior that would injure me, or anyone on the farm. That’s a scheduled euthanasia, sooner than later. A horse who has difficulty getting up from a roll, it’s time.
Now, I’m also ok with “you need to change your riding goals due to lessened ability” but not you are expected to pay a feed/care/board bill for 20+ years on a horse because it is not usable. My husband horse, she hasn’t been dressage or jumping competition sound in 12+ years, I bought her in 2002. She is trail riding sound, she is take beginners on a hack sound…well, at 25, this is now limited to smaller beginners and only walk trot.
I am all for responsible ownership for the life of an animal, and being responsible is not bankrupting yourself or being a financial martyr to get social media kudos. I do tend to buy yearlings and keep them for life. I chose the farm lifestyle, but I do still need to save and retire, and I plan to have equines in my life until I am no longer physically able, but every horse has a top limit of what I’ll spend in case of emergency, and if one is truly not rideable, I will schedule euthanasia. I have one with ECVM, he’s 13. He’s currently quite happy and still can be ridden, but not collected and go easy on asking for left bend. He’s comfortable with lower level jumps and hacking now, but I know that many horses with this experience a rapid decline, if this happens, he’ll be euthanized before it gets so severe he cannot function or is dangerous on the ground.
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No answers, just empathy having to make “the decision” too many times.
I do think this discussion has made an interesting turn - bad X-rays don’t necessarily equate to pain; good X-rays don’t necessarily equate to no pain.
I do NOT want to jinx myself but here I go: 3 horses w/ bad back X-rays. 1 is completely retired due to back pain. He does NOT seem to be in any pain or unhappy being a pasture buddy. 1 horse is managed carefully and is doing his job well. 1 horse appears to have no issues (yet- knocking hard on wood). Careful management can make all the difference OR NOT. It honestly feels like a crap shoot; we don’t understand it well enough - in humans or horses.
I had an X-ray of my knee for a known (kick) injury. Found out I had arthritis in the knee. It looks scary - doesn’t hurt. My knee is fine. Don’t know why. Apparently it should hurt… Sometimes I think X-rays are only useful if something is broken…
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See if they will do imaging with you standing. My dad had the same, then his GP had them do the imaging standing and it was bone on bone for 5 vertebrae. After a fusion he is back working his farm.
They did do imaging while I was standing. An MRI might show something but I have a high deductible health insurance plan and it’ll be very expensive for me out of pocket.
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There is a horse at my barn that has back arthritis (I’m not sure if anything else.) I only know this because the trainer was talking to me about mesotherapy and back pain.
I was shocked to hear that the horse owners are donating her to a local horse rescue. I know she was being ridden and in training, not sure if something changed. I think she had been for sale and I guess that didn’t happen.
I guess there are a lot worse fates, the horse rescue will care for her and maybe she can find a home. I looked at the website and it was 90% non-rideable horses. So the fact that she’s rideable at the lower (with maintenance) will help her hopefully get a new home…
I would not fault the owner for putting a horse to sleep in first scenario either. Its called the circle of life and facing the reality of your personal situation.
If other people in your horse community have a problem with it, remind them again - its your family, your funds, your choice.
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I’ve had normal lower back and pelvic imaging, both Xray and MRI, but I deal with chronic pain. Can’t remember a time in my life I could sit through a movie, flight, or similar, without significant, radiating pain. My pelvis was crooked when I was born, which was corrected with braces, and though things are “normal” looking now and I didn’t have any developmental issues, I have always had pain. Not that riding horses is kind to the back either. I didn’t know SI injections for people was a thing. I need to look into that.
But somehow I inherited my grandfather’s farmer pain scale. It has been hard to get anyone to take me seriously, which is not helped by having a mother and sister who are straight up hypochondriacs. Usually when I go to the doctor, something is wrong. Broken, avulsed, bone bruise, something notable…and then getting someone to finally figure out I also have an ankle OCD lesion was a long journey that uncovered some prior tibial fractures and bone remodeling that had gone undiagnosed. And when asked to rate pain on a scale of 1-10, I’m like, “I’m here, aren’t I?”
It does make me have a lot of empathy for these horses, especially these sensitive souls we seem to be breeding more of these days.
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Mine were done under ultrasound I think. The injections themselves were rather unpleasant but over very quickly.
I didn’t start the diagnostic process until one of my knees gave out (presumably a compensatory type injury). I thought my back pain was normal aging human with a desk job type pain until my knee started screaming at me. It went downhill rapidly from there. The diagnostics included full MRI, radiographs and ultrasound. My neurologist referred me to a sports medicine pain management doctor and he suggested the SI injections.
My SI pain issues were first diagnosed when I was in PT for what seemed like forever following the ankle OCD diagnosis on that side and landing me back in the office for what was presenting like a 5th metatarsal fracture. But it was actually peroneal tendinitis. Except treating the tendon, which was strong and seemingly healthy, did nothing. I went in to PT and she asked how foot/ankle were doing, and I said I didn’t know because my hip/back pain was so bad that day I didn’t even care about the rest. Turned out the “tendinitis” must have been nerve related or something coming from the SI down the IT band and into the lateral calf to the foot. They tried some stability and chiro-like work to unstick the stuck side and soothe the hypermobile painful side, and a lot of therapeutic ultrasound of the SI ligaments. I’d also taken up cycling (no horses due to law school) following the ankle OCD and chronic talar-tibial bone bruising keeping me from running or just about anything else, and making some changes to cleat position and pedaling form did also help. I almost flew home for the holidays pain free that time…it was close, definitely better than average despite being on a tiny plane. Definitely not pain free on the return flight. Haven’t really had anyone other than my chiro pay any attention to that problem since.
I’ve had a hip injected, and it was super painful for several days and also gave me a horrible migraine, but I’d 100% be willing to risk those things for the SI. Can’t be worse than the decades of pain at this point. I was thinking about talking to my ortho about doing the hip again anyway, as something my baby horse is doing with his crookedness is making it angry. I made it I think 11 years since the last injection, so that’s pretty good!
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I’ve heard of some patients experiencing pain from the SI injections but I did not have that experience. The actual injections hurt but I had relief almost immediately.
The pelvic reset I got in PT prior to the injections about killed me for 3 days and did not provide any pain relief after that. It was effective in correcting my stance (for a short period); I stand toe out. I’ve often wondered about having it done again now that I’m not in the throes of an SI episode.
I had a similar experience of treating ailments that turned out to not be ailing me.
This post came up on my feed and felt relevant to the discussion at hand. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid02XTPgrrVU1BMUy4Q8RkrkD5qQS34uHPx3jhFfCR44WtYstodhrx7UBw9afpHGofpJl&id=100063770551609&mibextid=cr9u03
Definitely have my personal feelings on this vet and practice, but figured some posting in this thread would find this interesting.
My KS horse actually has worse back pain now that she is retired compared to when she was in some sort of work. She was never really rideable but I had always lunged her a few times a week and hand walked trails once or twice a week. I thought just leaving her be would be good for her but it appears she needs that muscling in order to be most comfortable. She’s my heart horse so I’ll do what’s necessary but it’s a lot of work for a horse that can’t be ridden.
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Yeah that seems to be the case doesn’t it? How old is your mare? I agree that is a big commitment and a lot of work to maintain a horse to be pasture sound (comfortable.) It’s definitely not an easy condition to maintain either way.
@EmilyM is he showing agitation , grumpy behavior or anything like mentioned above? My mare walks fine in the pasture but most times she holds her affected foot/ leg forward when grazing or standing .
She is lame at the trot.
Sometimes if she is fool enough to run and buck if something excites her, she is in pain for a few days. No matter what her attitude seems unaffected . Her face is relaxed and calm and her eyes bright and lively and she comes up for pets, brushing and love as always. Never stops eating…
I think each horse needs to be assessed daily by the person who knows them best. If you really look closely day to day you will know when and where to draw that line.
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He’s always been a bit of a resting bitch face kind of horse. He seems the same attitude wise.
