Luckily my barn does not care if you take lessons or not. In my case I thought it would be helpful once a week for my trainer to set poles, gymnastics or what have you and make sure I was doing them properly (straight straight straight!!) and also be there to move things around. When we’re relegated to the indoor for most of the winter setting ground poles/trot poles/gymnastics can be challenging because different people want to do different things and move things all over the place. I will take everyone’s advice and lay off the lessons for the time being. There’s a huge mirror in the indoor and I can monitor his straightness there. And he usually works pretty straight anyway. Lots of practice! I agree that she’s not the right person for this horse, at least not right now. I actually could use the extra money to pay for the chiro/vet/farrier! Haha. He is a very important horse to me. I currently own two and they’ll probably be the last I can afford. I can afford to help him along right now and even if I could afford to buy a new one, I could never replace this guy. For all his antics he is just a phenomenal horse. He tries so hard to get things right. My chiro says that most horses with muscles as spasm-y as his were when she met him would have bucked me off or really acted up. Not my guy, he takes things in stride as it were and at his worst throws a small tantrum. If you saw what he can do in turnout (leap sideways 3 strides in one and high enough to clear the 4ft fence) you would appreciate how important it is that he controls himself, even when uncomfortable, under saddle.
Mouse&Bay - I agree. I do hate it when any trainer discusses your horse with the vet. I can understand the usefulness of everyone being on the same page but in my horse’s case this has never happened. I am happy to read your post because it may be time for me to put on my big girl pants and have this discussion with my trainer. I have never heard her say a good thing about him, it is always a negative comment about something and I feel as though she seems to have more credence than I do because she’s a professional. In other words, instead of getting the vets opinion she gives her own and the vet responds to that. I don’t think it’s very helpful or productive. I didn’t know if I was being overly sensitive myself!
HeyMickey - I decided to treat my guy with chiro because it was what the massage therapist recommended. I’d never worked with a chiro before so really didn’t know what to expect but I found one of the best in the area and after my horse’s first few adjustments (plus strengthening) he was much better. My vet who isn’t very familiar with chiropractic work prescribed robaxin for the muscle tightness. He was on it for two weeks and I didn’t notice it made any difference. I guess I have stuck with chiropractors because I had my guy bone scanned and ultrasounded by a top vet in my area (not my main vet) and they couldn’t find anything “wrong” with his SI. In other words, his isn’t a typical tear in the SI region, his issue stems originally from a conformational/early pelvic bone injury (maybe during birth?). His injury went undiagnosed and healed long ago, before he was broke so I’m fighting years of improper muscle development. I mean you wouldn’t notice really by looking at him - today if you didn’t know he had an SI issue and didn’t have a history with them you wouldn’t necessarily see it. Yeah one side of his SI is a little higher, but his rump is full and his muscles are more or less even. But he has a lot of tightness and old habits that come out occasionally and I’m constantly fighting his muscle memory from compensation all these years. I’m sure it’s much the same with your guy - the only difference being that my guys injury is very old. I am open to other ideas in addition to my chiro though - I am interested in the H wave and all these other ways to target the large muscles with which I am fighting! I will send you a PM 
slp2 - Thank you for your input! Yes. Very frustrating! And I do think that as I wrote in my message to Hey Mickey, that my horse’s injury is very old so I would guess you are right in that he didn’t heal properly from the initial injury. My thought is that although the injury itself healed (and there is no sign of it) the muscles set themselves in whatever way worked at the time to hold his pelvis in place. So although I’m not working with an injury per say, I am working with the aftermath of one so I should treat it like a slow healing injury. I hope that when he is built up properly he will be strong enough to hold the adjustments. Good for you for knowing something was wrong with your horse. I think the best thing to come of this scenario for me is that I know my horse is not just being a jerk, I have found that when he is comfortable he is the most willing and compliant horse I’ve owned. He is a real trier and he likes to know he has done well.
grayTBmare - I think you’re absolutely right. My trainer buys and sells and one of her greatest strengths in one respect is not getting too attached to any one horse. I am not like that at all - I own a horse for a day and am convinced I’ll have it for life. I don’t think she understands my attachment to this horse, or anyone’s really. She loves horses but she thinks that they owe it to us to work hard for their living arrangements. When they cannot do the job we expect of them she loses interest. Because she can - she can sell it or find it a new home/job etc. I cannot - like you said, I don’t have another option. It further complicates the issue that I am beyond attached to this horse. I am heartened by your comment that small readjustments are to be expected. My old chiro told me that my horse will most likely always need an adjustment here and there, basically 3 steps forward 1 step back for a while, but that it shouldn’t limit him or make me worry. Naughty horses…Haha. We had a lot of snow a few weeks ago and most of the horses at my barn just stand there waiting to come in. Not mine! He was frolicking, eating the snow, playing, walking through it. He wanted to stay out all day. He’s a good boy. Sounds like there are a lot of “full of life” horses on this thread. Nice to hear.
rhymeswithfizz - I think a good physical therapy program is key. I hope that you are right - it would be wonderful if the issues I am dealing with really are all strength related and that he will hold his adjustments when stronger. He does hold most of them now, but hopefully he will hold his femur adjustment more consistently when stronger. Fingers crossed! I think I’m still surprised and frustrated sometimes because if you looked at him you would think he was very strong, but my chiro says he’s going to fill out way more and that he’s weak! I understand now that it is possible for him to be very fit but also be too weak in some places to hold all of his adjustments. It’s just weird to think about when you see his body, watch him play in the paddock or feel him move under you. He is 100% TB but he looks like a Warmblood! Like a lot of warmbloods he is slow to mature and fill out completely though.
Perhaps it would help readers to have my horse’s whole story. SI issues are not as well understood as other issues so maybe my guy’s story can help others? I bought him 3 years ago as a big gangly 4 year old. I come from the hunter jumper world, he comes from a top eventer/breeder. I met the horse, rode him, loved him, bought him. We had a hellish winter - 3-4 feet of snow, no indoor, lots of hacking road work at the walk, some trot. From January to April. He was a good boy but he started losing muscle tone on his right hind side. Thought it was the saddle. Had the saddle refit and kept going. By April there was dramatic muscle loss but no lameness. Could not figure it out. Had another horse doing the same work who was fit and had great topline. A vet from the office of my main vet said he had an old jumpers bump, don’t worry,not lame, no problem. Started with my trainer in May to get the muscle back. She said she had never seen a horse whose pelvis was as unlevel as mine. Learned how to ride in more of a dressage position and ask horse to work more from behind, in shoulder in because he had a tendency to hold his inside hind too much to the inside and perhaps that was why the right hind was atrophied. Started with massage therapist and chiropractor. Massage therapist said he was very sore in his right glute. Chiro came the first time and said horse was majorly out of alignment, back muscles were very tight on the right side and were preventing nerves from firing properly to the right gluteals which caused the atrophy and that my horse was “hip hiking” or not going through the full range of motion in the pelvis which made the muscle atrophy appear much more dramatic. Adjusted him and told me to slowly (over the course of 4 days) work back up to our regular program. Came again a month later and said my horse had held the adjustment quite well and that he didn’t see his pelvis to be of great concern. Still my trainer wasn’t offering a very bright prognosis for my horse and pointed out again and again how he didn’t move like normal horses, how things seemed more difficult for him than for other horses. I bit the bullet and had a poll to tail bone scan at a very big name horse vet without the knowledge of anyone at the barn because I was so worn out from people telling me how messed up my horse looked. Horse came up clean. No signs of anything in the SI or anywhere else. Had his SI ultrasounded to be very sure and they said his ligaments look great, no signs of trauma, left side of pelvis is 1cm higher than the right side but gluteal muscles are even. The vet had a great attitude - I went in there thinking I had a broken, completely messed up horse and this guy said “If you tilt your head to the side he looks completely normal. I’ve seen horses with way worse asymmetry than him and it hasn’t limited them a bit. He is completely sound. His conformation should not hold him back.” Basically the vet told me he either broke his hip when very young or he was just born this way and gave me a strengthening program. I went back to work with my guy with a new sense of calm and reassurance. Horse filled out a lot, started showing, did his first novice event, got a 28 in our first novice dressage together, clear SJ, one bobble at the water jump XC - fence judge marked a stop at the water although 2 witnesses say he did not. I didn’t know you could challenge and I didn’t care because it was so much fun and I was psyched. Two weeks later horse did some stupid antic in his paddock and was NQR. Chiro came and “fixed” him but two weeks later he slipped in the mud and came out of alignment again but worse than he ever had. Was not unsound but was not moving properly behind. Unfortunately my chiropractor was out of town for the next few weeks and I knew my horse couldn’t wait that long. Regular vet said “well we’ve found his limitation” and gave me some stretches and I called a new chiropractor. New chiro came and put him back together then said to start over again with 2 months of trotting: no canter, no jumping. Hacks, ringwork without small circles, hills at the walk. She said he had a lot more muscling up to do before his body could hold his pelvis in place properly and that my current training schedule was way too much. She said he had a lot of promise, told my trainer “It would be a mistake to give up on this horse. He is going to do great things.” And I thought for the first time that my trainer would finally get it. Yes! We’d be on the same page!! Nope. Nothing changed. Except my horse. He is stronger than ever now and getting stronger. He did slip on the ice two weeks after his chiro appointment and did a split. Seemed ok though, not off, not resistant, so kept working him. That’s when the dreaded gymnastic lesson took place and he couldn’t canter the zig zag exercise with the 10m circles to roll back jumps which led to my trainer telling my chiro that he’s not jumping properly. Yikes. Long year. Anyway, there’s our story. To make matters slightly worse at the moment, my excellent footed (no really, he has EXCELLENT feet - low heeled but very big and very solid) horse went and got his first abscess under his snowball pad so we’re relegated to walking under saddle for a few days. I know I should be hand walking but he can be a nightmare. He is SO fit and feels great and I think leaping about and rearing would be detrimental to the foot while a nice calm walk undersaddle will allow me to keep him stretched out and supple. Plus my barn only turns each horse out for a few hours a day. Limited paddocks. So the longer I can walk him myself the better. Which brings me to my next question…Are there any great exercises for strengthening the hind end at the walk? Today I did transitions within the walk, shoulder in, haunches in, a little leg yielding and walked him through ground poles. He’s totally sound on the foot and I wrapped it very well and the indoor has a very forgiving surface and no rocks/bumps/etc.
The walking I’m doing for the next few days has only to do with his healing abscess, not his SI. My guess is that the chiro will reevaluate him next month at his scheduled appointment.