Re: Muscle Atrophy????

[Susan Evans Garlinghouse <suendavid@worldnet.att.net>]

> My horse was recently examined during her biannual vaccinations.  The vet who examined her, mentioned he noticed some "atrophy" in the hind section.  I had noticed some slight stiffness a few weeks back, that I characterized as what appeared to be some stiffness or arthritis.

> Is anyone reading this message familar with a similar situation or the ailments listed above?  Any ideas or suggestions are welcome.  I want to be sure about what the cause is BEFORE developing a case of paranoia.
> 
> Thanks
> 
> JB

Jeff, it may be something different, but I was in a trailer accident
with Cato some years back and after a layup to heal some tendon damage,
Cato developed some weakness and atrophy in his right gluteal muscle
groups.  My vet (a very good performance horse vet) couldn't figure it
out beyond thinking it was some sort of neural problem---the atrophy was
only on one side, even though the horse was exercised evenly.  To make a
long story short, we eventually called in a GOOD chiropractor, who
worked on him and solved the problem.  She said the pelvis had rotated
forward and partially cut off the neural signals going to the the muscle
groups on that side.  Anyway, it fixed the problems virtually
overnight.  Just a thought.

(And BTW, the chiro who actually fixed the problem was the second one we
called out---the first chiropractor we called didn't find, or fix, the
problem.  So if you do go this route, make sure you find a chiro who
really is experienced with performance horses).

Good luck!

Susan Garlinghouse