Vet vs physio

So the debate begins. Do you take just your vets advice or do you need a physio to?

With Teqi unfortunately being deemed lame in both hind legs but a difficult diagnosis due to the nature of the injury and the fact that she doesnt track lame unless a flexion test is applied, riding is pretty dull at the moment. With only a few weeks until I go back to uni and she is turned out for the winter a diagnosis would be appreciated.

Due to the nature of the injury it is very hard for the vet to diagnose, treatment plan all laid out - the joys of happy hacking around the lanes begin. No jumping or cantering.....BORING! However, Teqi's well being is of the most importance to me and trying to keep her in walk and trot whilst she is on bute and feed will be the new challenge!

Probably worth explaining how this injury came about. As I am at uni Teqs is turned out 24/7 all year round, this suits her temperment (pretty fizzy!) and nature very well (welsh x TB). She therefore has most of the winter months off (bar christmas) and starts working during the easter holidays, and when I return to uni for exam periods she is lunged twice a week to keep up the fitness work. Last year our showjumping season went fantastically well, she was barely placed below third and was jumping fantastically and then this year something went wrong. We started off at our local showground and all started well, a dirty stop (unusual for her) was thrown in at Bicton but we thought nothing of it. As the summer progressed to start with all was fine, she was jumping well and our second visit to Bicton was more successful. She occassionally felt lazy in schooling and even jumping, she was knocking out more poles than usual and sometimes it was an effort keeping her in canter between fences. My usual springy, excitablee little showjumper didnt appear interested.
Alarm bells started to ring at a competition where she was stopping at fences 4-5strides out and was displaying real discomfort in the fact that she was being asked to jump. She was given a week off to recover from what we thought was a back strain and all seemed fine, we jumped her again at home and she went well. She hasnt competed again since. We missed one competition due to rain and the day after I rode her in the school. Something didnt feel right. She didnt want to canter (unusual for a lover of speed!) and she felt short.

Over the next few days my yard owner (very knowledgable and my vets wife) had a look at me riding her; she was not lame but tracking short and was following with her hinds instead of tracking up with them. The next day my vet investiagted. Teqi was still sound until he applied flexion tests and then especially on the left hind she was lame. Unable to identify exactly where the issue was due to her actually being sound our treatment plan panned out as followed:

• Bute until I return to uni
• Light work until i go back to uni to keep the muscules moving
• after a month on light work vet will reasses to see if she needs xrays
• a few months off whilst i am at uni will do her some good

This all sounded good to me. I could still ride with friends whilst I was home - even if it would be slow rides! It fitted in with my life that she would have time off as I would not be around to ride her anyway. And bute is cheaper than going in straight away with xrays etc. when rest could do just the trick. Then I bumped into my dentist's (and family friend) wife who is a vetinary physiotherapist.

All confusion broke loose. Orginally what can I lose by talking to a physio? If it will benefit Teqi its all got to be good. I explained what the vet had found and our plan of action. The physio's first point was that she thought my horse was not fit enough to jump in the first place (she seemed to have the impression that as soon as I had come home from uni I had started competiting her), this is something that I am always so careful with! I would never jump a horse at any level that is not fit enough. Vet 1 Physio 0. The physio was also not convinced about our treatment plan, I made the mistake of mentioning that the vet beleives it may be arthritus from which she siad my horse would need riding all the time without the time off. Exepenses of finding a good enough yard near uni, getting her there and finding enough time in my final year of study to rider and care for her - faaaaaar too much hassle and money when surely a good rest in a field where she will be walking up and down a field all day is still beneficial and alot cheaper. Vet 2 Physio 0. She was very helpful however in explaining where the injury may occur especially as it is probably die to the awful hard ground we have had this year. Vet 2 Physio 1. But the icing on the cake was the fact that she openly stated that she could not believe that I hadnt spotted the problem earlier. I kindly pointed out that my mare was not originally lame and that if you hadn't had her for seven years you probably would not have noticed at all!! Final score: Vet 3 Physio 1

The score stacked up even more against the physio after consulting my yard owner who poo pooed the idea. To start with she had never heard of this particular physio (bit odd coming from a vets wife who use to be a vet nurse and helps run the vetinary business?!) and believed that it would be alot more cost effective and less traumatic for Teqi if we carried on with the original plan - I agree.

So the saga continues. My beautiful mare, lame for the first time in seven years, and although she is enjoying all this dinner that she is having to have I'm sure shes missing the work a bit! I continue on with the vet treatment and light work, maybe the physio will end up being consulted if there is no change; we will see.
But for now a message to the weather gods - hard ground is evil!! more rain next year please!!