Sacro Iliac injuries are a common cause of performance limitation in many of our equine athletes. While this injury is quite common in sport horses, it often goes undiagnosed. The most common complaint from the owner/trainer of the equine athlete is "he just isn't right behind" versus an obvious lameness. Many of these horses will have had their hocks injected recently with the response that "he is better but not right". While the injury can occur in either of the two hind limbs, I find the right Sacro Iliac is injured more frequently than the left. The injury usually is caused by the horse doing the splits behind. Often times, this occurs when the horse is running in his paddock and slides to a stop. In race horses, it occurs in the turns with theoutside hind leg extending up and across the midline when he is at full extension. In the Jumpers and Event Horses, it can occur when the horse gets in too deep to a jump and he has to rock back over his wide spread hind legs. This injury could also occur during a trailer ride if the horse slips and falls behind.
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