February 2005

Your Horse’s Aching Sacroiliac Joint

The reason for back or hind-end pain is difficult to pinpoint at all, let alone when it involves the sacroiliac joint—which also appears to be a prominent cause.

Working in slippery footing can cause a bad misstep that might result in a sacroiliac injury.

A University of Minnesota study reported that of 124 cases of suspected back pain seen at their clinic over five years, over half of the horses had a sacroiliac-area problem.

At the University of California, researchers examined the spines of 36 Thoroughbred racehorses euthanized for unrelated reasons and found acute injury or degenerative/arthritic changes in the sacroiliac joint in all the horses.

In the United Kingdom, the Animal Health Trust reported dressage and jumping horses to be high risk for sacroiliac region pain. Clearly, the sacroiliac region needs to be seriously considered any time a horse is off behind or has back pain. …