SOUND OR SORE? How to Tell if Your Horse Has a Sore Back

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By Len Brown http://thecorrector.net/id21.html SOUND OR SORE? How to Tell if Your Horse Has a Sore Back 1. Four Physical Traits Common to the Sore-Backed Horse.

1 By Len Brown SOUND OR SORE? How to Tell if Your Horse Has a Sore Back 1. Four Physical Traits Common to the Sore-Backed Horse. It isn't enough to claim, "My horse has never had a sore back." You must prove it by making three clear evaluations which will positively confirm whether your horse's back is sound or sore: observe telltale physical traits that indicate back soreness; record behaviors in your horse which are common to sore-backed horses; palpate the muscles; The only way to know whether your saddle is not hurting your horse is to properly probe the muscles under the saddle for soreness. First, stand back and take a fresh look at your horse's general appearance. As your eyes pass over his body, note these factors: 1. Do the muscles in the top loin (gluteals) look especially tense (some would call them well-developed) so that they stand out dramatically? 2. Does the muscle which extends from the poll to the point of the shoulder down the lower side of the neck (brachiocephalicus) look thicker and more developed than the upper half of the neck, resulting in an almost ewe-necked appearance? This is caused by the horse's travelling with a hollow back which forces him to fling out his fordlegs to maintain his balance, overworking the brachiocephalicus, or in Latin, "Levator Humeri" / to elevate the Humerus. The brachiocephalicus lifts that Humerus starting extension of the foreleg. It becomes overworked and contractied or in spasm due to repeated pinching of the trapzius muscle at the wither or a rider that's too far forward, both causing the horse to attempt to rebalance his body by head & neck up and overworking the Hamstrings & Gluteals + the neck muscle & many others.

3. Look for a hollow behind the shoulder on either side of the horse, (left). Muscle in this region tends to diminish or atrophy when the nerves and muscles are pinched repeatedly.

2 3. Look for a hollow behind the shoulder on either side of the horse, (left). Muscle in this region tends to diminish or atrophy when the nerves and muscles are pinched repeatedly. One almost never finds this trait in the young, unridden horse. 4. Does your horse have a "dropped" back when standing undisturbed in the stall or pasture? Lordosis is most often a result of extended, saddle induced, back pain. How two evaluate your horse for saddle related soreness, the length of time it's been there and how severe the damage is.

2. Evaluation of Behavior Now that you have thoroughly checked your horse for the visual telltale traits of a horse suffering from a sore back caused by saddling, it is time to evaluate his behavior.

3 2. Evaluation of Behavior Now that you have thoroughly checked your horse for the visual telltale traits of a horse suffering from a sore back caused by saddling, it is time to evaluate his behavior. This is the intuitive portion of your horse's examination. You will use your intuition, the unexplainable "feel" you have for your horse. Once you have ruled out dentistry and shoeing as possible causes of bad behavior and performance, the following acts of disobedience are usually directly linked to saddling pain, or the anticipation of it. 1. Does your horse resist being caught, act ticklish over the back, dip his back when brushed, act "cold backed" or buck when first saddled? 2. When girthed does he nip, side-step or rear in the absence of obvious girth chaffing? 3. Does he refuse to stand still when mounted? Does he move constantly rather than standing quietly after mounting? Does he dip his back and throw his head regardless of how carefully he is mounted? 4. Does he have a history of hitting riders in the face with his head and does he flip his nose? 5. Does he have difficulty walking calmly on a long rein, becoming more impatient as a training session or ride progresses, rather than becoming calmer?

4 6. Does he have difficulty taking a particular lead, or flexing his neck around to one or both sides without taking a step? 7. Does he "track up" more on one side in the rear than the other, and do his gaits appear uneven giving the appearance of illusive lameness? 3. Probe For Telltale Soreness In The Checkpoint Muscles. Three important muscles can let you know instantly if your horse is suffering pain due to his saddle even if there is no pathology visible on the back. The horse hurting responds to the pain by tensing the muscles that are overworked or damgaged. This contraction works it's way to related muscles that work with and against each other from one end of the horse to the other. The Result is "COMPENSATORY MUSCLE SORENESS". When the Longissimus muscles of the back are tight from pain in the withers / shoulder area then the back is dorsiflexed (contracted) This places extra work on other parts of his body which one might never believe could be sore from the saddle. We'll start with the Levator Humeri (latin for elevates the humerus) or Brachiosephalicus in your modern anatomy books. To lighten the forehand the uses his hamstrings, gluteals, and back (Longissimuss Dorsi). When the later isn't doing it's job, the others have to work extra hard. They soon fatigue and the Levator Humeri has to over work to get the front legs extended when the forehand isn't lighten soon enough. The head and neck go up to give more leverage in elavating the humerous which starts the extension of the foreleg. Many other muscles are over worked as well. The Latisimuss Dorsi helps move the shoudler & often is damaged directly by the saddle & or girth. the Trapesius gets it big time from the bars squeezing in on them from one or both sides. The Romboidius works to lift the shoulder up & forward and is directly opposite the Trapesius. All of these muscles are sored along with the 4 Triceps on each shoulder. It goes from there to the Deep Digital Flexor muscle that wraps around the Ulna (elbow) intertwined with the lower Tricep. That's when intermittant lower leg (suspensory) lameness starts from saddle pain. That muscle gives most of the travel to the Deep Digital Flexor Tendon which is the support cable for the front leg of the horse. The muscle & tendon working with the Pastern & Fetlock is also the "shock absorption system" for the front leg. Does your horse have a rough and choppy Trot? Are you starting to get the picture? A tendon is not a rubber band but gets 90% of it's travel from the Muscle that it's attached with. When you lose shock absorption from the Fetlock dropping, you overload bone Periostium & Tendon sheath surfaces in the lower leg. The next most critical overload is at the Navicular bone where the Deep Digital Tendon continues it's journey to it's attachment at the Coffin bone of the hoof. Without a loose shoulder and Fetlock dropping with a loose pastern for shock absorption the Navicular is Slowly damged, hence a condition called "Navicular". NOT a disease but a Condition. Shoeing too long at the toe and low at the heel are contributing factors as is allowing the frog to hit the ground as in you Barefoot, "no shoes" Natural Horseman. The three checkpoint muscles are the semimembranosis (on either side of the tail in the hindquarters,) the brachiosephalicus (following the lower half of the neck from poll to humerus,) and the Tricep at the elbow. Muscles under the saddle should also be palpated, but these three are all you need to know how longterm the ill effects of saddling & or riding has been in place. You will probe these muscles firmly with the ends of three fingers or your thumb held stiff from your fist. Remember that the force of the bite or kick your horse is likely to recieve in the herd environment is far greater than any force you could possibly exert by using your fingers. You will not injure your horse in any way by this probing, but you may discover that your horse's withers flinch as to remove a fly. Count to 3, it should have stopped at 2. To continue holding that pressure tells the story. If your horse steps away showing discomfort, he's obviously sore. Most novices probe too softly to illicit a reaction from their horse and are left with the impression their horse is not sore.

5 TTEAM therapy inventor, Linda Tellington Jones, once told me that one must probe as firmly as necessary to get a reaction to see if the horse is sore. I had asked because of people thinking I was palpating too hard and every horse would respond the same. They did back then because they were very sore endurance horses. I will explain the effects of each of these muscles to the rest of the horse and the reactions of each as to the story it tells.

Grooming Certification written portion

Grooming Certification written portion Vocabulary: Fetlock Joint The lowest joint on a horse s leg, located directly above the pastern. Similar to an ankle. Pastern A short bone on a horses leg in between