From: Lynn Cominsky
Hello Jessica,
We really missed you and horse-sense during your travels!` Glad that you are back. And now for the exciting news about Ziggy, my husband's now 5 year old part Morgan gelding who fractured his pelvis through the ball and socket joint (acetabulum) at the beginning of June last year. We are riding him again! He has been pasture sound for about 4 months now, and for the past five weeks my husband has ridden him in the arena, first for 15 minutes at a walk, for 2 weeks, then for 1/2 hour at a walk, then for 1/2 hour including 10 minutes of trotting and 30 seconds of cantering. Finally this past weekend we took him out on a 1/2 hour trail ride up and down one rather moderate hill, and he has remained sound throughout all our experiments. He certainly trots and canters sound when turned out in the arena with my old mare Hannah, who is his best friend. Also, he bucks, spins, rolls, etc. with no obvious problems.
So, do you have any advice on a rehabilitation program to get him back into shape for more trail rides? Also, he is still mentally very young, and sometimes just loses it on the trail for no obvious reason. Yesterday he went into one of his old patterns of stopping, spinning and attempting to back my husband off the cliff side of the trail. As usual, we could see no precipitating cause. And also as usual, I rescued my husband by getting Hannah between them and the cliff edge and forcing Ziggy back to the uphill side of the slope. (By contrast, Beau, my husband's other horse who is only four has never even attempted such shenanigans even though he is an appendix quarter horse (half thoroughbred. )
We know that Ziggy will someday develop arthritis in his damaged joint and have been feeding him Nu-flex daily since his accident in an attempt to forestall this problem. If you have any other dietary suggestions, they would be greatly appreciated also.
Regards from Lynn Cominsky
Actually your rehabilitation plan sounds great, and certainly the best judge of its success will be Ziggy himself. If he's comfortable and able to do a little more all the time, then you're obviously on the right track with him. Your vet may have some suggestions for specific exercises that might be helpful -- have a chat with him, perhaps when he comes out to give the horses their fall shots.
As for Ziggy "mentally losing it" -- this could just be a matter of a limited attention span and/or sensory input overload, since he's not in the habit of working for a long time, or staying focused, or being out on the trail where things are more interesting and distracting than they are at home. But I would look for a physical cause FIRST. It could be that after a certain amount of time (or a certain amount of work), Ziggy gets sore somewhere. This wouldn't necessarily have to be his pelvis, but it could be a saddle on a less-than-perfectly-fit back, or it could be a rider sitting with his weight slightly to one side, or -- and this COULD relate to the pelvis -- it could be that Ziggy's muscles are not evenly developed now, because he may have been moving differently while he was recovering. It's common for a horse (or a human) to compensate for pain or stiffness in one joint by over- or under-using another joint; Ziggy may have a sore back or a sore hock. This would be another good reason to talk to your vet and perhaps ask him to do some flexion tests or even some x-rays.
You're right about the arthritis, and I've seen some very good effects from chondroitin sulfates. I think it's a very good idea to be using them now, as a preventive measure!
My other suggestions would not be nutritional -- I know that Ziggy is very well looked-after. But in terms of management, I suggest that you keep him in exercise AND on as much turnout as possible. And I suggest that you inspect him carefully with your eyes: stand him up straight, stand behind him, and check for symmetry. Take photos -- they'll give you a baseline for comparison later on. You want your horse to develop his musculature evenly on both sides of his tail, and you want your training to promote that even development. If you look at him from the rear when he's standing straight, and see that one side is much larger and better-muscled than the other, you will need to consult with your vet.
The other thing you should do is to go over Ziggy carefully with your hands, looking for any tight, hard, painful areas within his muscles. You can usually get rid of those trigger points by using direct pressure, deep massage, and cross-fiber friction IF the horse will allow it -- it's very painful. But just direct pressure will make a large difference in a short time. When you've found a painful muscle knot, put your thumb on it and increase the pressure until you are pushing as hard as Ziggy will let you -- then HOLD that pressure for twenty seconds. Do this as often as you can; it will (a) relieve the muscle spasm in the short run, and (b) eventually help that "knot" diminish or even disappear. The surprising thing is that horses appreciate this, and will quickly learn to lean into your hand!
Good luck, and keep me posted!
Jessica
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