kvanagas wrote:
Hey Colinde,
That is super interesting. Could you include a link from your journal that I can send to her?
The info isn't posted anywhere else online, so instead of a link is it ok to post the excerpt here? I'll do that and if you need more info (in a different format) let me know. 
Diego has had a "bump" in his lumbar area for many years, I don't know when it happened (somewhere between 6 & 9 years ago), I just remember gradually it became more noticeable. It changes, sometimes it looks very prominent and other times it seems to smooth out a tiny bit. Mom & I had always been told it was cosmetic, permanent, shouldn't be something to worry about anymore. My trimmer was the first one to suggest a chiropractor this winter because of all the other problem signs:
severe muscle atrophy despite regular work
stifle & other joint stiffness/popping
extreme toe dragging
trouble holding hind legs out behind for picking
lethargy/not enthusiastic about movement - he was just complacent which concerned me. He's normally a very forward active horse.
tense neck/topline during transitions that I just could not fix with our gymnastic excercises
Picture of Diego a year ago showing the bump to an extreme and the severe atrophy in his croup area:
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/3 ... directlink
Here are various portions from my journal entry about the visit:_______________________________
"[*]The Verdict (read on for details)
Twisted lumbar vertebra(s)
Several pinched nerves in Sacral area (severe Sciatica)
Pinched nerves caused muscle atrophy/limited range of motion from the lumbar region ALL the way to the tail
Resulting hind limb, neck and jaw issues from compensating & pain
She came up and petted on him alittle, looked him over, talked briefly about his age and riding history. Then she watched him walk. Once I came back she immediately started working on his neck/poll area. At first Diego was giving me the wild-eye like “What are you letting this CRAZY woman do to me?! Can’t you see she’s going to pull my face off?!†I mentioned the knots on Diego’s neck as well and she went around and did that strange push-yank and I heard a POP.
I came around to that side and she pointed at the general area in the middle of his neck and said “That was his 4th neck vertebra. Another yank/push/POP and “That was his 5th…†Then Diego sighed and started licking and chewing and she patted him. He went from wild-eyed to placid in just a few seconds!
I’ve never watched anything like this so it was all very fascinating…
She got to the
lumbar portion though and uhg…
The lumbar bones are where his “bump†is.
She said it was most likely a twisting accident – like a fall. I know he hasn’t fallen with me so it must have been a pasture incident. 4 or 5 of the bones were twisted to the left side of his body – the final bone was twisted to the right. OUCH
She did a lot of popping, pushing and pulling on the bones and although it obviously wasn’t comfortable Diego didn’t react with the severity I thought he would.
In fact she started pushing on the one area on his croup and he dropped his head to his knees!
Next we moved to the
Sacral bones (the bump at the top of his pelvis/hip). Those were misaligned for sure. She taught me something very interesting: watch each hip bone as he walks. The right has a circular motion with a nice dip. The left does not (even after alignment) finish it’s full range of motion and does not get the nice dip. After her pointing it out I could really see the difference. Basically everything from the lumbar bones (bump/injury) back was screwed up. She said he had MULTIPLE pinched nerves and over time nerve sensation and bloodflow had been greatly reduced through his topline. Also range of motion, she said eventually this would have crippled him from losing range of motion of his hind-end.
She showed me how to tell that his “hamstring†muscles are very underdeveloped compared to the outside muscle on his hind legs.. .easy to see now that I know what I’m looking at. She does not seem one to say anything casually, nor play something up so her comment “
It’s by the grace of God and Diego’s own willpower that you still have a mobile horse.†was pretty strong.
She made a point that riding with his spine like this for so many years only added to the pain, I’m very lucky he’s been so kind to me. Her words. This brought into discussion his previous “misbehavior†being a known bucker by his previous owner and with me later down the road, especially about the left lead canter. Now this alone brings up an interesting piece of the puzzle: I have explored Diego’s laterality and onesided issue since I learned of it from Donald, and to date that was my only explanation for his bucking about the left lead canter: lack of strength/discomfort. Well the misalignments in the sacral (and coccyx) bones she noted he had a much more limited range of motion on his LEFT hip. That would effect his carrying ability and stepping under/pushing ability, yes? She confirmed the thought. So I then explained how we had been told when we got him his straighter stifles were big conformation faults and would probably break down sooner. Once he had trouble maintaining the left lead, at 10 years old, Mom had a specialist vet treat the left stifle itself. We have always said it was the stifle that was the problem. She shook her head a bit and commented “
I don’t think horses were placed on this earth with as faulty “parts†as most people think – or else they would not have survived this long. Currently though most vets are pushing treatment of symptoms and pain medications, instead of finding the root of the problem. It sounds corny but everything IS connected so to speak. “
[....]
While we watched Diego muse over why I’d turned him out without doing tricks, he decided to do everything by the book as far as showing relaxation. The only thing left was laying down and falling asleep. She suddenly commented: “Huh. He doesn’t open his jaw all the way when he yawns, I should have checked that.†I asked if she wanted me to go get him and upon confirming that he’s not hard to catch I called him back. D whipped his neck around like “OH! You didn’t forget!†And excitedly ambled to us. She felt around his jawl and said the lower is sticking out alittle more and crooked on one side. She moved things around alittle and then popped him on the side of the head with that little hand tool she uses. She said he should be more comfortable after that and the misalignment could have been traced back from his hind end being out and all the bracing/stiffness in his neck area.
______________________________
So to sum it all up - this had happened to D over a period of years after not having the bump looked at. It happened gradually though so I really didn't see how severe the changes were. It's only been in the past 3 years that the muscle atrophy really took ahold and he started toe dragging this past year.
In his case the injury not only meant the spine had been compressed but the lumbar vertabre had been twisted in different directions.
His pelvis was crooked as well... is crooked. Unsure if it was a direct result of the injury or formed later due to pain from the injury.
His stifles have recently started popping because he's been compensating for this lack of range of motion for so long it's affecting the rest of his body.
Neck was out of alignment due to bracing.
JAW was out of alignment due to possible bracing of the neck constantly (especially when I still used a bit).
I don't know what to advise the girl in, I know exactly what it's like to have vets all around that are NOT forward thinking in treatment! We were just doing what the vets said, treating the hocks, stifles etc all these years. I would honestly suggest a chiropractor or maybe even massage therapist for helping to figure out the problem and make a plan to get the mare more comfortable. Are there any in her area at all?
I have been warned with D that only treating the bones and not addressing the soft tissue around the bones (massage etc) will turn into a never ending battle, so I'm looking into possibly learning massage myself for D's benefit.
BTW, I'm not knocking anyone else's suggestions of things to check or gymnastic work, I just found this SUPER ironic considering what I've been dealing with for the past 10 days. Hope some of this might be helpful... the mare carries an expression like she wants to perform well, but something is hard for her or stopping her. 
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still, my point is I vote: PAIN in this video and would think someone with knowledge of spinal/skeletal and muscular knowledge needs to look at her.