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PostPosted: Sun Jul 12, 2015 10:30 pm 
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A post from J.:

Quote:
We've got a bit of a problem with a really nice 2yo colt that I bred and now my brother and a friend of ours are going to race together and they need some advice. The horse has really big time speed & a great gait. He could have his 1st start ever right now and they reckon that he would win for fun only that currently he definitely has a fair amount of soreness in the sacra iliac joint in his back . This is causing him to get on one line around the turns and loose some of his momentum as a result. Just to paint a bit of a picture of the horse himself he's one of those that NEVER seems to trot or gallop even when jogging with no gear on, he's always pacing free legged, everywhere, even when loose out in the paddock, he paces all over.

Now does anyone have any suggestions as to how this sacra iliac problem could be improved or treated? Is it just time and maturity that will cure it or is there anything that can be done to improve his lot in life?




My reply:


Rear-end soreness has been an old nemesis to most harness horse trainers in America. I have found most any animal can develop it at any time. Hock lameness can be very confusing in that you may never suspect it as a primary form of lameness. A secondary form of lameness or even a third form of lameness as a result of hock lamness will often be far more obvious and often can be mistaken as the primary form of lameness when it is in reality the hocks or hock. In my personal experience, I would guess that the hocks would be the first place to look, if nothing else is obviously suspicious. In the past, I relied on the "Churchill hock test" religiously as did most of the vets, I was associated with, while racing on the Eastern Mid-Seaboard. This test was developed by my hero, Edwin Churchill, a true wizard and a man I will never forget. I will try to outline this test in a following post. Anyway, if a positive test is invoked, chances are you have found your culprit. Hocks are funny things. Sometimes there is no obvious outward indications of soreness or any obvious gait compensation, yet inflammation may be present. Often, if the hocks are sore, the horse compensates and the stress is absorbed by the "whirlbone" area (the rear-end). It has been my experience that usually the first-in-line for soreness after the hocks are whirlbone. The whirlbone soreness is the most obvious and will often be seen before one becomes aware of hock problems. Many times, both types of lameness will cause the horse to excessively wear the toe and outside branch of one or both hind shoes. Again, the harness race horse is an individual and you will get all types of manifestations that can be unique to that animal.

Chances are your horse's stifles are ok. Most of the time a pacer will not be good gaited if his stifles are the problem. The fact that your horse will travel free-legged tends to show that his stifles are probably ok.

Having worked for the old timers, (USA Hall of Famers) Joe O'Brien and Del Cameron--they would routinely paint the hocks, even on sound horses. It was common operating procedure and I have done it myself on my racing string. They and I would often use a mild working blister and paint the inner and outer sides of the hocks. If one gets a major reaction from the initial painting, chances are that you have hit the right area, because inflammation in that joint will usually, initially trigger a major blow-up of that joint--a good indication that inflammation is present. Most of the time a sound hock joint will not blow-up from the use of a mild working blister. We tended to want to see a nice scurf form in a few days from repeated painting. Depending on the type of hock paint you use, you may want to go 3 days on, then a day or two off, then repeat again, the three days on. It all depends on the paint, etc. Next you would want to go to the stifles. As with the hocks, working on the stifles was often a common operating procedure, even on sound horses. Blue lotion was commonly used on harness horse stifles between training trips, before a race and afterwards while cooling out. It can be used after or before jogging sessions as while. We want to see a nice scurf in the stifle area after use. My favorite lotion was "Meadowland's Blue lotion". It was a rather strong lotion that could produce a scurf in a few days. I would place the plastic bottle of lotion in hot water before applying it to the stifles with my hands, rubbing it in the hair well.

Ahhhhhhhhh, now the whirlbone! Careful manipulation of your fingers down the spine and in the whirlbone area will illicit obvious soreness behind. Sometimes one can almost drop a horse down to his hocks by the careful probing of one's fingers. In the old days, I would use McKay's Maxlin injectable by the case on my horses. I would put as many as 2 to 4, 50cc bottles into a horse's rear-end. McKay's was an iodine in peanut oil sterile injectable, a counter-irritant. I have had very good luck using it. Often times the sorer the horse was the next day after injection (i.e. one needed a broom to get the treated stiff horse out of the stall) then the better that horse will respond to this treatment and become sound. The FDA (USA's drug commission) took it off the shelves in the mid-1980s after it was used for eons by trainers and vets. Now in order to use something similar, one has to have it made up by a vet or pharmacist. But to tell you the truth after the development of a brand new drug, I have missed McKay's less and less. This wonder drug is "Rubeola Virus Immunomodulator" put out by the Eudaemonic Corp. of USA.

http://www.eudaemonic.net/vpn160000doses.htm

I have had tremendous luck using this with rear-end soreness on both standardbreds and thoroughbreds. I do not know if it is available Down Under, but I hope it is for your sake. There is a website that tells about it, but I don't have it handy. I would suggest you type the name into a search engine and it will probably take you to the company's site. The drawback is that it is rather expensive, but still very much worth while. My last success case using it was an old thoroughbred claimer who had been plagued with rear-end soreness for years. I injected him and he lowered two track records at both 2 mile and a 1.5 mile distances. Note that the Rubeola treatment may help out temporarily the horse's rear-end soreness, but if this soreness is due to hocks or some other problem, that it will reoccur. One must treat the seat of the problem!

The idea that your horse is on one line is a bit worrying for me. Generally, whirlbone soreness does not put a horse on one line in my experience. I presume he gets on the left line going around the turns (counter-clockwise), this tends to indicate to me that perhaps a left leg is involved. You know a front left leg soreness could cause a left hock soreness,,,and so on. Compensatory lameness is very tricky at times to figure out. You will just have to be open to all sorts of possible angles. This is what makes a thinking trainer better then the rest.

No, usually maturity will not improve rear-end soreness in my experience. Its good that you can jog him free-legged, I presume that is what you are doing. I would avoid putting hobbles on him except for the last trip on work days. Sometimes hobbles adds to the problems and if he is good gaited--leave them off most of the time.



The below are selected summaries from a journal article outlining Dr. Churchill's methods and reasoning for this special type of hock test:

Quote:
"The average race horse is a more emotional animal and may resist examination. Therefore, at the race track, horses are best examined in their own stalls, in familiar surroundings and preferably with their own grooms on the lead shank. To examine a horse acurately, it must be relaxed. Sometimes hand feeding during the examination facilitates relaxation. An examination that is performed with the horse twitched or having a chain under its lip is really not satisfactory. It pays to take time to gain the horse's confidence. Don't blame the horse for being wary!"

The left hind leg is picked up and supported by the right hand. The fingers of the left hand are curled around the medial face of the hock joint with the thumb across the anterior surface. With the left hand in this position but using only the index and middle fingers, pressure is applied to the posterior aspect of the head of the medial splint bone. This test is a specific for hock lameness, if the horse FLEXES and ABDUCTS the leg. Digital pressure should also be applied to the area of the cunean bursa in search of sensitivity. Now the leg is supported with the left hand and the hock test repeated with the fingers of the right hand on the posterior aspect of the head of the lateral splint bone.

"If positive, it indicates a problem within the hock joint anywhere from the tibio-tarsal articulation down to the tarso-metatarsal articulation. It is not a spavin test such as the hock flexion test. The hock flexion test, at least for me, is almost useless in the diagnosis of lameness because a positive test can mean anything from trochanteric bursititis to sesamoiditis. It can be used as an aid in cases were a horse is not visibly lame. Then when the test is applied to each side of the horse it may help decide which hind leg is involved."

"The hock test described earlier in which pressure is applied to the head of the medial splint bone depends upon referred pain for its efficiency. I did not devise this procedure. It came about as a result of examining many thousands of horses for hind leg lameness. It gradually became apparent to me that pain over the head of the medial metatarsal bone was a constant finding in all types of hock lameness. It is my opinion that the alteration of the horse's gait is partially responsible for producing this pathognomomnic sign. By landing on the outside toe, excessive strain is placed on the medial structures of the tarso-metatarsal articulation including the second metatarsal bone. The same phenomenon is observed in the front leg. Excessive wear on the outside branch of the shoe of the front foot goes hand-in-hand with soreness of the medial splint bone of the same leg, including chronic splint formation. In early cases of hock lameness, pain over the medial metatarsal must be produced by extension from other areas of the hock. I strongly encourage you to try this test for hock lameness and not give up until you have perfected your technique. It is not something that you can learn to do in five minutes, but you can, once it has been learned, save yourself hours of time."


------------

Me, talking here: I have found this test to be very valuable in detecting hock lameness, particularly if it is rather obscure. Note that Churchill says that this procedure has to be learned and you cannot go out and expect creditable results the first time out. You should practice this technique on every horse you come across and become accustomed to the various responses such a test may produce in individual animals.

In my own words without Churchill's anatomical jargon, let me run you through this test one more time:

Taking the left hind leg, you should pick it up placing the flexed hoof in the palm of your right hand. I like to be in a squatting position so that I can rest my right forearm/elbow on my right flexed knee/thigh while doing this examination. This cuts down on the examiner's muscle strain and allows you to concentrate on applying pressure to the inside head of the splint bone with the opposite (left-hand) fingers. Ok, with the left leg being supported by your right hand, you take your right hand and place the thumb on the front part of the flexed hock with your index & middle fingers curling around over the inside lower portion of the hock--over the very top portions of the inside splint bone--you then apply intense finger pressure to this part of the splint bone. If the horse is positive for hock soreness, he will attempt to straighten and carry to the outside that hind leg. If he is negative for hock lameness, there will be no response. Repeat on the opposite hind leg, using opposite hands. No matter what technique you decide to use, you must have the hind leg in the air, relaxed, and you must apply a very intense, localized finger pressure to the inside head of the splint bone. I have long ago acquired hock bones from a dead horse to study on my own and know the structure of that joint as intimately as possible. I suggest you should do the same. It helps educate your fingers to what is felt under the skin. You Must only apply pressure to the inside head of the splint bone to elicit the "referred pain response" synonymous with hock pathology.


I did a webpage on the Churchill Hock test which can be seen at:

http://racehorseherbal.net/churchill.html

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