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 Expert
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Location: IL | I've had one horse dx with a suspensory injury and now one with a sore sternum. Anyone have any experiences what a sternum problem. We had to a nuclear medicine test to figure it out. The horse showed a lot of uptake in the sternum more on the right side. How in the world do you fix/treat this? No injury that I'm aware of just is very cinchy and like to buck after being saddled. Which I can totally understand now. Any experience or input for this would be great. Thanks
Update--I found the problem! I started treating her for ulcers because I was at a complete loss of what could be wrong with this mare. She had been looked at from head to toe. I started her on ulcer meds about 6 days ago and she is a completely different horse. No more cinchy!! Sorry for not listening to everyone sooner!
Edited by merdth6 2014-10-06 4:54 PM
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 Shelter Dog Lover
Posts: 10277
| I have a friend whose horse was out in his sternum. A really good chiropractor found and fixed it. Solved lots of problems the horse was having. |
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 Tough Patooty
Posts: 2615
Location: Sperry, OK | I also know a horse was having trouble on the pattern. It was sore/out in the sternum.. come to find out it was all due to feet being unbalanced. Just another possibility for you to look at. |
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Expert
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Location: IL | Anyone else?? The mare is on bute for 14 days and only allowed in a small turn out. This mare has no wither so its hard not to cinch tight with a saddle in fear of you not rolling off her. Any one have any good cinches they would recommend to help, so we don't have to put to much pressure on her? |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| merdth6 - 2014-09-06 2:57 PM
Anyone else?? The mare is on bute for 14 days and only allowed in a small turn out. This mare has no wither so its hard not to cinch tight with a saddle in fear of you not rolling off her. Any one have any good cinches they would recommend to help, so we don't have to put to much pressure on her?
If your saddle is rolling then your saddle is probably not fitting. No cinch can prevent a saddle from rolling.
Also if your horse is cinchy and pain in stermun areas these can also be signs of ulcers, if any of mine get cinchy they are given ulcer meds |
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Expert
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Location: IL | cheryl makofka - 2014-09-06 3:22 PM merdth6 - 2014-09-06 2:57 PM Anyone else?? The mare is on bute for 14 days and only allowed in a small turn out. This mare has no wither so its hard not to cinch tight with a saddle in fear of you not rolling off her. Any one have any good cinches they would recommend to help, so we don't have to put to much pressure on her? If your saddle is rolling then your saddle is probably not fitting. No cinch can prevent a saddle from rolling. Also if your horse is cinchy and pain in stermun areas these can also be signs of ulcers, if any of mine get cinchy they are given ulcer meds
Saddle fit is good. I had it checked with my chiro. She has no wither so it will move from the left to right due to her conformation. I just had a nuclear medicine test done that showed increased uptake in her sternum, more on the right than left. She does not have ulcers. She gets cinchy obviously from the sternum issue. I was just wondering if anyone else had any problems like this and what did they do to help correct them? Or any cinch that would help this situation? |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| merdth6 - 2014-09-06 5:09 PM
cheryl makofka - 2014-09-06 3:22 PM merdth6 - 2014-09-06 2:57 PM Anyone else?? The mare is on bute for 14 days and only allowed in a small turn out. This mare has no wither so its hard not to cinch tight with a saddle in fear of you not rolling off her. Any one have any good cinches they would recommend to help, so we don't have to put to much pressure on her? If your saddle is rolling then your saddle is probably not fitting. No cinch can prevent a saddle from rolling. Also if your horse is cinchy and pain in stermun areas these can also be signs of ulcers, if any of mine get cinchy they are given ulcer meds
I don't know much about nuclear medicine, out of my own curiosity I looked up some articles on it.
There has been research done on humans that revealed increased uptake on sternum in the normal elderly.
My understanding is with nuclear testing, it only shows a hot spot, but has limitations, my current therapy in equine medicine text generally there is follow up with other diagnostics.
My question would be what is the cause of this sternal pain, the reading I have done poor fitting saddle, you say your chiro has checked this, I would be checking qualifications and make sure the chiro has appropriate qualifications, as in my area there are people who take a 2 day course or self taught call themselves chiro.
Also I have a mare who has no withers, I had a saddle that had even pressure under the entire saddle, this saddle sores her up a lot and never moved, I got her fitted by Martin got one made for her, it was night and day difference even saddling her no flinching, and this saddle doesn't roll either.
Feet can also be the cause of sore sternum as it is tied into the mucles that retract and extend the leg.
For cinches what I found is short and narrow can cause the posterior pectoral muscles to tighten, so depending on what you are using now, you may adjust. For my horses I use the professional choice shearling cinches as they are soft and no metal is touching my horse.
You say your horse has no ulcers, a vet told me once that almost all performance horses have ulcers, if you watch Dr Paulo's YouTube presentation on ulcers sternal pain is an indicator. I had one that showed no signs of ulcers and she bled out internally.
Again I would go back to the vet and ask the why is my horses sternum a hot spot?
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Expert
Posts: 2335
Location: IL | I have to take her back the week of Sept 23 for a check up. I have a horse that had ulcers, so I'm familiar with the condition. I also know the limitations of the Nuc Med scan. I work as a CT tech for a living. My chiro is also a vet, so I know he's qualified. My husband rode her in his roping saddle and I think that's what irritated her to begin with. Since I've had her chiro'd I've been using my barrel saddle. As I said earlier I had the vet/chiro take a look at it's fit and he didn't find any potential problems. I can't afford to have Martin make a custom saddle for this horse. This mare is not actively competing and she hasn't been. She's only started on barrels and in the 1 1/2 yrs that we have owned her she might have been around them 10 times. I also understand what you are saying with the uptake of the sternum, but she showed my uptake more in the right then left. It should be uniform. I had another horse that we had to do a Nuc Med test on about 3 weeks ago and we compared his images to hers and saw the differences. I will try out different cinches when she is released to ride again. My husband is also my farrier and I will have him look at her feet again, but I know he does a good with pastern angles and balance, so I'm doubting that is the issue. thanks for the advice |
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Tough Patooty
Posts: 2615
Location: Sperry, OK | merdth6 - 2014-09-08 10:53 AM I have to take her back the week of Sept 23 for a check up. I have a horse that had ulcers, so I'm familiar with the condition. I also know the limitations of the Nuc Med scan. I work as a CT tech for a living. My chiro is also a vet, so I know he's qualified. My husband rode her in his roping saddle and I think that's what irritated her to begin with. Since I've had her chiro'd I've been using my barrel saddle. As I said earlier I had the vet/chiro take a look at it's fit and he didn't find any potential problems. I can't afford to have Martin make a custom saddle for this horse. This mare is not actively competing and she hasn't been. She's only started on barrels and in the 1 1/2 yrs that we have owned her she might have been around them 10 times. I also understand what you are saying with the uptake of the sternum, but she showed my uptake more in the right then left. It should be uniform. I had another horse that we had to do a Nuc Med test on about 3 weeks ago and we compared his images to hers and saw the differences. I will try out different cinches when she is released to ride again. My husband is also my farrier and I will have him look at her feet again, but I know he does a good with pastern angles and balance, so I'm doubting that is the issue. thanks for the advice
Not all horses have the same reaction to ulcers.. some are very irritable, sore, non-performing, nevous, poor coat, weight loss.. etc. Some show some of these sign, some show all and some show NO outward signs at all, so just because this horse doesn't act like the other one, doesn't mean they can't have ulcers. Not trying to argue with you about the ulcers or try to tell you she does for sure.. just don't rule it out based on the actions between two horses, as they can differ. |
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Expert
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Location: IL | ACEINTHEHOLE - 2014-09-08 11:20 AM merdth6 - 2014-09-08 10:53 AM I have to take her back the week of Sept 23 for a check up. I have a horse that had ulcers, so I'm familiar with the condition. I also know the limitations of the Nuc Med scan. I work as a CT tech for a living. My chiro is also a vet, so I know he's qualified. My husband rode her in his roping saddle and I think that's what irritated her to begin with. Since I've had her chiro'd I've been using my barrel saddle. As I said earlier I had the vet/chiro take a look at it's fit and he didn't find any potential problems. I can't afford to have Martin make a custom saddle for this horse. This mare is not actively competing and she hasn't been. She's only started on barrels and in the 1 1/2 yrs that we have owned her she might have been around them 10 times. I also understand what you are saying with the uptake of the sternum, but she showed my uptake more in the right then left. It should be uniform. I had another horse that we had to do a Nuc Med test on about 3 weeks ago and we compared his images to hers and saw the differences. I will try out different cinches when she is released to ride again. My husband is also my farrier and I will have him look at her feet again, but I know he does a good with pastern angles and balance, so I'm doubting that is the issue. thanks for the advice Not all horses have the same reaction to ulcers.. some are very irritable, sore, non-performing, nevous, poor coat, weight loss.. etc. Some show some of these sign, some show all and some show NO outward signs at all, so just because this horse doesn't act like the other one, doesn't mean they can't have ulcers. Not trying to argue with you about the ulcers or try to tell you she does for sure.. just don't rule it out based on the actions between two horses, as they can differ.
I understand what you are saying. This horse was treated in the spring along with 2 others when I found out my gelding had ulcers and she still acted the same way. That's why I had her checked by my regular vet and when he didn't find anything impressive, excpet for some wither soreness, so I had her adjusted by the chiro. She is not sore in the withers anymore. But I still felt like something was wrong, so I buted her and rode her and she was great. That's when I realized she is sore some where. That's why I proceeded to bring her to a large University hospital. She is also turned out all the time on pasture and not stressed. When I do have to haul she gets randitine. I also brought up the possiblily of ulcers to the attending vet and he said if ulcers was really the problem, the bute would not have made her better when riding. It would have made her worse. I also would not have gotten an abnormal Nuc medicine scan. All I wanted was any advice on cinches or if anyone else had dealt with sternum soreness??? |
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 Experienced Mouse Trapper
Posts: 3106
Location: North Dakota | AS far as cinches go, IMO I would say absolutely no artificial fibers/materials, they cause heat and due to the location of your issue, I would also suggest a wide roper cinch over a straight cinch. I have also seen some discussion on how long the cinches are and a vessel that runs along the horses side and to not restrict that. I found this article and even I found somethings new and maybe usefull here:
http://www.equipedic.com/Measure_Cinches_Girths.htm
With that said, I probably like the 5 star mohair roper cinch with the oval buckles the best even though I ride many types. |
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Expert
Posts: 2335
Location: IL | LMS - 2014-09-08 2:29 PM AS far as cinches go, IMO I would say absolutely no artificial fibers/materials, they cause heat and due to the location of your issue, I would also suggest a wide roper cinch over a straight cinch. I have also seen some discussion on how long the cinches are and a vessel that runs along the horses side and to not restrict that. I found this article and even I found somethings new and maybe usefull here: http://www.equipedic.com/Measure_Cinches_Girths.htm With that said, I probably like the 5 star mohair roper cinch with the oval buckles the best even though I ride many types.
Thank you for the info. It was very helpful. |
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Expert
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Location: IL | I found her problem!! Read the top! |
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Expert
Posts: 3147
| merdth6 - 2014-09-08 3:07 PM
LMS - 2014-09-08 2:29 PM AS far as cinches go, IMO I would say absolutely no artificial fibers/materials, they cause heat and due to the location of your issue, I would also suggest a wide roper cinch over a straight cinch. I have also seen some discussion on how long the cinches are and a vessel that runs along the horses side and to not restrict that. I found this article and even I found somethings new and maybe usefull here: http://www.equipedic.com/Measure_Cinches_Girths.htm With that said, I probably like the 5 star mohair roper cinch with the oval buckles the best even though I ride many types.
Very interesting article about length of cinches. Going to see if I'm using correct length in the morning. Thanks. |
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Rough month!! Update!!