Thorough Performance in Mount Eliza, Victoria, Australia | Professional service
Thorough Performance
Locality: Mount Eliza, Victoria, Australia
Phone: +61 418 334 036
Address: Street 3930 Mount Eliza, VIC, Australia
Website: http://www.thoroughperformance.com
Likes: 924
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23.01.2022 Lumbosacral instability This is a unique story! The horse in this case report is an 8 year old eventer. Since his owner has him (2 years) he is difficult to ri...de and lately has bucked off several people. When he does, it is unprovoked and violent and he keeps bucking until his rider is gone. Otherwise he is a sweetheart of a horse. Initially we diagnosed him with damage to his Supraspinous ligament in the lumbar region. Rehab went well, and the lesion healed, but the horse’s behavior got worse after initial improvement. At the next visit we found a weird pattern of sensation in his hind end, he seemed very sensitive at skin tests in the area from the lumbosacral junction to the tail, only on the right side. Even weirder, his anal reflex was abnormal only on the right side. This neurological pattern can only be explained with damage close to the spinal cord in the lumbosacral region with compression of root nerves as well as some spinal damage, only to the right side. All other findings were normal, no lameness other than RH shorter stride, no abnormal findings at his lameness exam. Imaging in this region is impossible (only MRI would give useful information, but a horse will not fit in a MRI scanner with its pelvic region), but at a repeated exam 2 months later the neurological abnormalities were exactly the same. Based on our physical exam only, we had several options to explain this problem: 1/damage to the disk at the lumbosacral junction with protruding of the disk to the right side into the spinal canal and damage to the meninges (layers of tissue around the spinal cord) 2/tumor in the spinal canal, this was a grey horse, so a melanoma would be a possibility 3/possible EPM with very one-sided lesion. Based on the fact we found the damaged Supraspinous ligament in the same region earlier, we thought trauma to this region causing damage to the lumbosacral junction was most likely. The owner of the horse fully understood what was going on, and saw the horse was in pain and suffering from a problem we could not solve, and followed our advice to put the horse down. At necropsy we found that the last lumbar vertebra had moved a bit downward from the sacral bone, causing instability. As a result, the disk in between the last lumbar vertebra and the sacral bone slipped a bit ( 1 in the picture)and was protruding into the spinal canal (2 in the picture). The spinal cord showed old and new bleeding in the same region (3 in the picture), damaging the meninges. So finally the horse had major trauma to the lumbosacral region in the past (probably a fall) with damage to the meninges, which caused radiating pain in his right pelvic region and some swelling of the spinal cord, leading to the weird anal reflex. Every time he would come under behind, the protruding disk would push into the spinal cord and the meninges, causing sharp burning and stabbing pain. No wonder he bucked so violently. This case shows how important it is to do a good physical exam on any case with behavioral issues, this was not behavioral but caused by severe pain to the spinal cord! As you can imagine, this is not a problem that can easily be detected, so you need a specialist in sports medicine to find this! (with many thanks to MSU Clinical Pathology for their work and pictures)
20.01.2022 So I have finally started writing a book to help horse people understand if they have a problem and what their most logical next step would be....Ie therapist , Vet, Farrier, Saddle fitter. It’s a full insight on how I diagnose your horse..... unpacking my brain is a total mind f..k.
08.01.2022 Did you know that for the galloping thoroughbred, breathing frequency is a function of stride frequency? Horses take one breath per stride, a phenomenon known a...s respiratory-locomotor coupling. The reason for this is that as the fore legs are extended, rib cage expands and the intestines move backwards, allowing the inflow of air into the lungs (inspiration). Then as the fore limbs come back and under the body, the rib cage contracts allowing the shoulder to move back freely and the intestines to move forward, together expelling air from the lungs (expiration). To put this into numbers, at maximal effort, a horse is taking at least 140 breaths per minute. Group One horses racing at 17.4m/sec typically spend 0.11 seconds on each forelimb per stride! You might well wonder if this very short time for exchange of air is actually sufficient for adequate ventilation and if not, how the horse can override any exercise induced hypoxia and continue galloping. You aren’t the only one. Research continues in this area. See more
