"I bought Murphy straight out of Ireland and he arrived weedy and weak, yet when I started riding him he was 'lovely lovely' and as it was July, we had a great start together. That Christmas, my generous husband bought him a new saddle, which was fitted by a master saddler. We live just outside Basingstoke in Hampshire, I work mainly from home and Murphy is on a livery yard literally just a couple of fields away, so it's ideal for me and all went well until his behaviour started to deteriorate when ridden, to the point where the yard owner suggested he might be turning into something of a lunatic as he became fitter!
"He was examined by my vet, along with my physiotherapist and X-rays were done, but nothing was diagnosed, except the possibility of soreness caused by the saddle. Having had intense physio to correct the muscular soreness, Murphy had no more behavioural issues, which stopped overnight after the treatments. We went on holiday shortly afterwards just when he was coming back into work and, whilst we were away, the yard owner called me to ask if the vet could check Murphy again as he didn’t seem right once back in the school - and this time he was diagnosed with a strained suspensory, or more accurately, proximal suspensory desmitis in his left hind leg, potentially secondary to the back soreness.
The injury is a niggly one, with better prognosis from acute causes, but with potential for reoccurrence due to it being similar to carpal tunnel syndrome. The vet treated him bilaterally with a cortisone injection and three shockwave sessions, and a recommended work rehabilitation programme. He also suggested doing some research around microcurrent therapy as, although there was little scientific evidence, he knew of people talking about success with it in relation to soft tissue injuries, amongst other things.
"I did the research and came across ArcEquine, then had a detailed conversation with Ian Thirkell at the company about Murphy and as I wanted to give the horse the best possible chance, I initially hired an ArcEquine unit for him. I used the machine religiously every day for 10 weeks, after the initial cortisone injections and shockwave therapy, alongside a programme of very careful rehabilitation.
"We started with 10 minutes in walk on the lanes, under saddle, straight after box rest. Yes, we did have some 'hooleys' and I thought I was going to die more than once! I remember calling the vet after four weeks of this and said - 'I can't do this any longer' - but we did, for another two weeks, and then another two weeks, and then another and so on, building up a little bit of trot by two minutes more each day. I'm thankful it was all in the summer and we were so lucky with the weather.
"The 10 weeks of treatment with the ArcEquine ended in October and we switched to using the unit for maintenance. At the same time, Murphy was turned out for the first time using Sedalin, the dosage of which was reduced over five days and he reacted well, remaining calm throughout. Next we started with some arena time, five minutes of walking 'large' only, and only 3 x a week, continuing to slowly build up the work. This spring, we introduced 20 metre circles again whilst in the school, trying always to keep him as balanced as possible, all the time still hacking out on the roads.
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| Bryony and Murphy. Courtesy NicolaElliotPhotography.co.uk |
"He was scanned just before he was turned out and it was fairly inconclusive, so the vet suggested we should go on the way the horse felt, not the way the scans looked. I am aware that the prognosis for this sort of injury in a hind leg is tricky, but on the plus side, we know that an acute injury has a better prognosis and that's helped by Murphy's good conformation.
