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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 520
| I had been having problems finding a saddle to fit my new horse. I have been riding this horse bareback for almost the last 3 months because I can't find a saddle to fit him perfectly, he is absolutely not in hard work, we've been taking him out on the trail once a week and just walk around for a few hours and I occasionally ride him around the farm a little bit. I had been checking his back after every single ride and he never showed any signs of soreness. In my saddle search he bucked pretty hard in a couple- I just figured out it was the flank cinch bothering him AFTER all this vet crap, great timing and stupid me but anyways... I had mention his bucking ride on a facebook group and got all sorts of comments how he has kissing spine, serious back issues etc which of course scared me and I called the vet. Vet was out the friday before last, checked his back the same way I had been doing, absolutely no reaction. She then takes the tip of her scissors out and runs them down his back and he twitches as if a fly was on him (as any horse would imo), she concludes his back is very very slightly sore. She put him on muscle relaxers and wanted me to ride him in a saddle a couple days later to see how he reacted to a saddle and see if it was actually the saddle or him just being a snot. That sunday after 2 days on muscle relaxers I can't even ride him, he is sore everywhere. I called the vet Monday and told her he is worse, she says it sounds like another issue, and scheduled to have lyme test pulled. Gave him the last of the muscle relaxers Monday am. The next day, Tuesday he seems perfectly fine and I rode him a bit bareback for just 5 minutes with no issues. At the time I didn't really think much of it because he was still shedding, but he was super itchy and particularly wanted me to curry him hard where he was supposedly sore backed. The next few days he seems fine. Thursday comes around and the vet comes to pull blood, he is being a spooky reactive idiot that day. She checks his back again, this time digging a capped needle into his muscles, he dips down away from her everywhere but she says he is sore in the same spot and starts talking about arthritis in his spine etc etc . She wanted me to use some liniment on him and have to chiro out, so I started using absorbine gel on him a couple times a day. At first he was fine, then started hating it every time I put in on, tightening his back and trying to dip down away from me, so at that point I am thinking wow he really is sore even though I had questioned the vet. After doing this a few days it seemed like he was only getting worse so I stopped. Now three days ago I notice his hair is ruffled up and look closer and he has some sort of rash on his back. It looks like tiny little cuts, all about 1/16" wide and 3/8" going in the same direction. They are exactly where she thought he was sore and he does not want it touched if I run my fingers down it, but could care less if I just press firmly straight down anywhere on his back including that spot. I took him out and bathed him, thinking it was maybe a reaction to the liniment. Yesterday I see he has more, but is not nearly and sensitive. I am also not finding any muscle soreness (Now I am sure if I dug a needle cap into his back he'd be sore... as would every horse in the barn).
So now I am wondering if he actually was ever muscle sore or if this was all skin related and the vet was making something out of nothing in the beginning. And also wondering what this rash might be, it almost looks like really dried cracked skin but I am afraid to put anything on it in fear of making it worse. I am not sure if it was the liniment that caused this, I put it on the entire length of his back from wither to tail head and he only has in it one spot in the middle of his back. Or if this was an allergic reaction to the muscle relaxers and why he seemed to hurt all over (then itch like crazy as soon as getting off them).
Edited by Buckles 2014-05-15 5:41 AM
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 520
| BTW I plan on having his backed checked again BY SOMEONE ELSE once this rash(or whatever it is) is cleared up. |
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Sock Snob
Posts: 3021
 
| Last year when my horses hocks where so sore it made stifles sore. He got really sore in his back like the saddle would be hurting him, but i know better and my saddle was custom fitted to my horse and he had been using same saddle no problem for,over a year. I did however but him a nicer pad pad to,deal with the sorenes from his hocks and over the winter i did have the surgery on them. Back soreness gone away now legging back up to,show.
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 Texas Taco
Posts: 7499
  
Location: Bandera, TX | My mare also presented with back issues lately – her top line was not looking as good as it should. To make a long story short, I got her spine x-rayed. It looks pretty bad – where kissing spine only affects some vertebrae, her entire spine has protrusions. On top of it she tested positive for EPM with an active inflammation, even though she did not show any of the neurological signs. Vet was sure she would not have EPM, but my gut told me to do the test anyway. I just wanted to rule out one more thing. My vets are hopeful that the EPM is causing her issues rather than her peculiar looking spine. I pray they are correct. We finished the EPM treatment last week. She gained some weight. I will give her the next few months off and then we see….
May be your horse just needs some pasture time - a couple of months or so? I would look into a chiro/massage therapist, and may be get a PHT blanket. Back x-rays would certainly give you some clues. Has a lameness exame been done - how are her hocks? Also, you could look into getting the SI injected... Good Luck. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 520
| Yes he had a lameness exam done. I took some pictures of his skin today. I should have taken pictures the other day because now its just peeling and you can't see the spots that look like cuts as well. He is not showing any signs of soreness today, skin or muscle.
Its raining why he is wet.
Edited by Buckles 2014-05-15 7:23 AM
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Texas Taco
Posts: 7499
Location: Bandera, TX | That looks like an allergic reaction to the liniment... |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 520
| What I am trying to say in my long drawn out first post is that I really don't think he was even sore to begin with. He never showed any signs of soreness until AFTER the vet came and gave him muscle relaxers, then it seemed to open up a whole bunch of issues. Since just letting him be, he seems fine except for having sores now. As I said the bucking was the flank cinch, he does not like it tight whatsoever, and I was too slow to figure that out at first.
Edited by Buckles 2014-05-15 7:34 AM
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  Warmblood with Wings
Posts: 27846
Location: Florida.. | I would In my opinion stop all the pills, and it appears allergic reaction.. rain rot can cause them to be ouchy as well. Id not ride him bareback at all. that can cause his back to be sore to .. your weight isnt distributed correctly and when you mount use a mounting block in the future it may help to.
give him a week or two.. and see how he is. but im not a vet . |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| To me it looks like a fungal infection. I would suggest bathing with a medicated shampoo.
My aunt had a horse that had sores all over, vet said allergic reaction, told her to put the horse on herbs for horses land and sea oil, she did and within 2 weeks he was cleared up.
A saddle pinching could have also caused irritation in the area, which then the inflammation of the skin was exacerbated by the linament.
I would also have the horse flexion tested as already said if the hocks are sore, the back will become sore, and you may actually have 2 problems.
As for the needle procedure, what the chiropractor told me is when they do that if the horse dips down they are sore, if they arc their back upward, their back is not sore. |
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 Expert
Posts: 1857
| looks like rain rot. |
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Expert
Posts: 3514
| It looks lime the lineaments blistered her. |
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Location: Alabama | Liniment can cause a chemical burn if not diluted properly. The skin will peel (think sunburn) and cause that slough that you see. Time will heal the skin but it will be super sensitive. I wouldn't run water over it for at least a week and definitely don't ride him. The most I would do is Aloe Vera. Hope your boy gets better soon! |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 520
| It was absorbine gel, not the kind you dilute and sponge on. I won't be using that ever again. |
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Veteran
Posts: 264
| I had the same thing happen to my gelding. I was waiting for a while after a race and decided to spray my boy down then massage him with the Absorbine gel. He had an SI injury a few years ago so I really focused on massaging the lumbar/SI region. Fast forward to the next day...he couldn't even stand to be brushed over the area. He would drop, was very twitching and sensitive. His skin looked just like yours did. I thought it was an infection so I shaved the area and bathed with a anti-bacterial soap and put MTG on it. Few days later it started going away.
About 3 weeks later after a race I sprayed him with the liquid Absorbine. It was only a few hours later and he was swollen in every spot I had rubbed the absorbine in. It was then I FINALLY made the connection with the first incident. I have not used it since.
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Veteran
Posts: 139
Location: Abbotsford B.C. Canada | Yes it sounds like quite an ordeal for him and for you.
Just for the record, I would suggest you could help this horse somewhat by looking at the feed you use and consider topping him up with about 1 to 1 and 1/2 cups of milled / ground flax and therefore get some extra natural oils in the diet plus increase the type of oils called omega 3's which have a natural anti inflammatory effect. I just fought off a hives issue with my mare doing some of this. I would also suggest you add 1 oz of human grade cod liver oil a day on top of his grain . Maybe start at 1 tsp a day and bump up slowly to 4 tsp a day. We really want the omega threes the flax oil gets changed to.
Now this may sound nuts, but when a horse has skin problems I use a good quality hoof supplement treatment to heal up the skin. The zinc methionine is very good for the immune system and skin (which is why we add it to dairy cow rations for mastitis) , and the biotin is excellent for good skin quality. The hoof is just and extension of the skin anyways
Heal this puppy up from the inside out.
Putting stuff on it may or may not help as well, but you know you need the good essential oils for your skin and hair and nails so do the same for your horse. If your horse gets lots of green grass you do not need the flax or fish oil as green grass is very high in the omega three essential fatty acids . That is why grass fed beef is healthy, the fat is not a suturated fat and the fat is high in omega 3 fatty acids. It will not give you high cholestrerol and a heart attack.
He may appreciate the extra oils for his feet and it may help is energy level without blowing his brains out.
Barrel horses are tricky to feed but I always like the flax for them.
Cheers,
Coastal Rider
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 520
| So it seems we have a combination of things going on here. He is sore, but not where the vet insisted he was. And yes I think the linament was what caused the irritation. His hip is off, took my farrier (who is also certified in massage therapy) to figure this out. I should have saved my money and called him to begin with. Vet did flexion tests, etc and couldn't figure this out arg. But anyways his right hip seems to be what is causing the issues, he is swinging that hock out slightly and it is also causing him a lot of muscle pain down the back of his left hind. Its causing tightness in his loan and pretty much most of the muscles in his rear end. He did a full massage on him and stretched him out for me and also changed his shoes in the rear a bit, put more heel on him for support, his feet are very small and upright. His feet were pretty bad when I got him, looked like he hadn't been done most of the winter. Farrier couldn't fit in another message for a couple weeks, but I feel comfortable doing most of them minus the stretches.
I am pretty worried about this, and probably made a huge mistake buying him. He has a pretty large scar on his left hind haunch that seemed superficial but now seems like it may be more of an issue that I originally thought. |
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Warmblood with Wings
Posts: 27846
Location: Florida.. | Probrably has alot of adhesions if there is a scar there.. to make him tight and sore as well. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 520
| This is the scar I am talking about, you can see it on his left hind. Didn't notice it at first because his hooves needed so much work and he was barefoot, but his left hind is a shoe size larger. Farrier said usually that is a sign the horse is carrying most of his weight on that side. Seems like his left would have the issue, but its not.
I think I may put him on adequan, anyone have good luck with that?
Edited by Buckles 2014-05-18 9:46 AM
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Warmblood with Wings
Posts: 27846
Location: Florida.. | Id get a 2nd opinion and go from there.. obvisoiusly there is more to it then just a scar.. |
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