Alfie

Zoe’s horse Alfie had ‘sacro-iliac’ problems – he was disuniting……

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“I am struggling at the moment with my horse ‘Alfie’ suddenly becoming disunited at the canter, but only on the right lead.

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He has never done this before and has only started in the last couple of weeks. I was doing some research into possible causes and was led to your page about ‘sacro-iliac’ problems and his symptoms are almost exactly the same; appears normal at the walk, a little stiff but not too bad at the trot and disunites within the first few strides of canter on the right lead (he is perfectly fine on the left). He warms up out of it after about 20 minutes. You suggest that this may be a symptom of a mineral imbalance.

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About a week ago I started him on your Premium Horse Minerals at the recommendation of my coach as a way to improve an ‘attitude’ problem, but it looks like it may also be the solution to my other problem.

He is currently being fed beet as well as your suggested oaten chaff etc. In terms of grass he is on a very bare paddock but I have been opening him up to a small section of longer grass each day. I presume I should stop doing this and just feed hay instead?

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My main question is, how long should I expect to be waiting before I may see results?

I am unsure about whether or not to call a vet and am thinking I will try this first, but don’t know how long I should give it. I am entered in the Canterbury Show-Jumping Champs this weekend in the Show Hunter and am in two minds about whether to go or not.

On the one hand, he is ok once he’s warmed up and jumps perfectly fine from both leads, but on the other hand I don’t want to risk making anything worse. Is this a possibility?

Do you have any recommendations about what I should do? “

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We visited Zoe and Alfie on Thursday 12th morning and took the video clip in which you can see he couldn’t do a circle on the right lead without disuniting. Zoe he said it was the same when ridden. Plus he was ‘lack-lustre’!

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A visit to the local Vets the day before had shed no light and with the Canterbury Show Jumping Champs at McLean’s Island coming up in a couple of days at the weekend, Zoe had been thinking she would still take him along and scratch if need be.

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A test run with Alfie established that he would readily eat both the Alleviate Gold and the AlleviateC/SOS in high doses. The aim of adding these supplements was to improve his strength and co-ordination because in the majority of cases that’s all the problem is! Zoe gave him 40gms of the Gold and 50gms of the SOS twice daily from then on.

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A few days later Zoe reported:

“Alfie was awesome over the weekend, winning the Marriott Stables Rising Star Under Saddle, picking up a 3rd in the Open Horse 95 HOYQ and having an unlucky soft rail in the Junior High Points 1m but still jumping an awesome round!”

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He only disunited a couple of times over the whole weekend so he isn’t 100% yet but we know he will continue to improve. We would normally allow/expect 2-3 weeks for these ‘sacro-iliac’ issues to resolve so we too were pleased with the improvement within just a few days".

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‘Sacro-iliac’ issues are extremely common all over the world. Unfortunately all too often, they are not recognised for what they actually are: manifestations of mineral imbalances which are affect the horse’s strength and co-ordination. Such problems particularly show up in the hind-quarters because that is where the largest muscles of locomotion are located.

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‘Hitching’ a leg, ‘knuckling over’ and ‘Locking Stifles’ come under the same category and respond equally well.

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They are all in our experience, relatively straight forward to remedy with some simple diet adjustments – make sure you pm us if you are struggling with the same issues!