What is the sacroiliac?
The sacroiliac joint is the junction between the horse’s spine at the sacrum (“sacro”) and the pelvis at the ilium (“iliac”). The joint is buried under the heavy gluteal muscles of the top of the horse’s rump, lying just off the midline on both sides, on a line drawn between the back edge of the tuber sacrale and the spine. It sits at about the highest point of the rump. The tuber sacrale is the bony prominence just behind the flank that is commonly called the “point of the hip,” although it has nothing to do with the hip joint. This area has two sets of ligaments, either of which can be damaged and cause pain. The dorsal sacroiliac ligaments run from the tuber sacrale (“point of the hip”) over to the top of the sacrum. They don’t involve the sacroiliac joint directly, but they do help anchor the ilium to the sacral spine. The ventral sacroiliac ligaments are located deeper, in the area of the sacroiliac joint itself, which they stabilize. This assembly is designed to hold the horse’s
