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  Discussion on Shoulder Sweeny symptoms
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New Member:
Kfisherx

Posted on Sunday, Sep 22, 2002 - 3:41 am:

I have a 6 year old Arabian who was kicked by his mate in the right breast over 9 weeks ago. The would required 150 stitches and took weeks to heal but it looks awesome now. For the first two weeks, my Arab drug his leg around. He then started to walk with a pronounced limp on his right leg. Now he has great forward and inward movement but no backward movement. A few weeks ago I noticed his reluctance to move his leg back so I made him take walks with me and he could walk almost normal after about 10 minutes. Now he never walks normal. His shoulder bone is very pronounced. It has been nine weeks and he seems to be getting worse instead of better.

I had a vet/chiropractor out today and he said he thought it was Sweeny shoulder. He left me with boxes of acupunture needles and a machine to preform electro-acupunture. I also have access to an infrasound machine. This Vet said I could not hurt him by taking him for walks and such.

I read this article and two things strike me. One is that the horses who have this supposedly walk forward and out (or away) whereas mine walks forward and in. Is it possible for a horse with should sweeny to walk forward and in?

Second I note that stall rest is the reccommended non-surgical option. My horse goes out to pasture every day. Should he be more confined?

Thanks for any advice you can give.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Sunday, Sep 22, 2002 - 3:50 pm:

Hello Karla,
Yes it is possible but the different gait suggests there may be other nervous or muscoskeletal injuries beside just the suprascapular nerve. A thorough examination of the exact location of the injury along with further diagnostics like suggested in the article: testing for sensory innervation and radiographs of the shoulder may reveal other problems. These may change the treatment and prognosis.

Concerning rest, unfortunately the experiment did not compare the results with rested and unrested horses so I cannot tell you if confinement is required however the results were so good with stall rest (hand walking should be OK) that I recommend it. Many have felt the prognosis was not this good for nonsurgical treatment and it may be the prolonged rest made the difference. Also the instability of the shoulder may result in arthritis if exercised to heavily.
DrO
Member:
Jam49

Posted on Monday, Sep 23, 2002 - 2:54 am:

Karla,
My friends horse was also kicked in the shoulder and her vet said it was Sweeny. Not much hope all the muscle was gone. My friend turned him out on pasture land that had hills, he would have to climb to go with the rest of the horses. Rowdy was turned out for 1yr. That was the best thing for him. Rowdy was able to be ridden again, he regained some muscle in that area but still had a large area with only bone. Rowdy also started to sweat in the area that was hurt. The vet thought this was the nerves growing back. Maria was able to ride him doing almost every thing she once did. Roll backs flying lead changes, stopping backing up. The vet was impressed. So do not give up hope. Rowdy is no longer alive he died from complications from eating cheat grass this yr. Up until the time of his death he was being ridden still going strong.
Judy
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Monday, Sep 23, 2002 - 6:31 am:

Judy, we are not able to determine what the best for Rowdy would be since we cannot compare it with if he had been rested. It is usual for there to be some muscle recovery and many Sweeny horses go on to be useful. In the article there is a report that 7 of 7 completely recovered following stall rest. This was unusually good results.
DrO
Member:
Kfisherx

Posted on Thursday, Sep 26, 2002 - 10:21 pm:

Judy. Thank you for the story. I am highly encouraged by the stories I am hearing of this injury and the prognosis. I believe that horses have a better ability to heal from nerve injuries than people even. I am also frustrated because I know it will be many, many months before he is able to be better (if at all). It is hard to wait for those months and see him be so disabled.

With regard to my first post, I am going to back peddle a bit. I bought a new book on horse lameness and learned that sweeny shoulder gaits have the horse stepping out only when the weight of the horse is on that leg. So I stood in front of my horse and watched more closely. When he lifts his forarm up, he lifts it up and in, (almost crossing his other leg in fact) but when the weight of his body is on the leg the push is in an outward direction. It pays to be informed. The picture of the horse in the book with sweeny shoulder looked identical to my horse so it is probably a text-book case.

I found a Rehab place just a few miles from my house with a pool and accuscope technology. We will start his rehab with this stuff and I will then turn him out (ALONE and only when supervised) in his hilly pasture. Since he cannot move faster than a walk anyway, I cannot see this as being harmful.

We have a very interesting and long road ahead of us.
Member:
Jam49

Posted on Friday, Sep 27, 2002 - 12:52 am:

karla,
I wish you all the best with your horse. I know what Dr.O was saying about not knowing what was the best for Rowdy. It is always good to read and hear of other peoples experience. It gives us some insight into the time and dedication involved to help our horses heal.
Judy
Member:
Kfisherx

Posted on Friday, Sep 27, 2002 - 3:48 pm:

Judy;

Actually your post helped me to make a very cool discovery today. Dr. O's article refers to 7 horses who were stalled during their injury with an average noticeable heal time of about 7.4 months and muscle mass growth in 15-18 months.

Stories like yours are many on the internet. I am communicating with about 10 people who have experience with nerve damange and horses. All of them who turned their horses out on hills had a seemingly quicker recovery time for muscle mass regeneration. (the initial noticiable healing of 7.4 months seems consistent) I am not involved in formal analysis yet so these statements merely reflect my gut feelings.

My gut feelings led me to do some experimentation with my boy today. I took him out to the hilly pasture and I walked him at different angles on the hills and I watched his gait closely. Amazingly his gait was almost normal with one of my experiments. My horse cannot move his shoulder backwards currently on flat ground. He can only move it outwards a ways and then he stops his bad leg and brings his good leg forward. I noticed that if I walked him along a hill with his bad leg towards the down that he has full range of motion of his shoulder and can walk almost normally. His head comes up (pain) on the backward thrust but the ability and willingness to move the leg backwards is there.

I am contacting my Vet and letting him in on the discovery. This certainly will not help the nerve to heal quicker, but the muscle mass regeneration might be improved with this discovery.

Is there some similar other Sweeny study somewhere that I can participate in with my boy? I'd like his misfortune to turn into something positive for others if possible.
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