This is the view of my horses topline near the rear from the side. You can see there is a curve. Then straight, then the normal point of the hip. He’s about 25-26 and his back never looked like this. He’s retired and lately have had trouble keeping weight on. Had the vet out, blood tests done, tested for cushings, but everything came back fine. I’ve texted this to the vet but it’s the weekend and I said don’t worry about it until Monday. Any thoughts?
This is probably not the case if it is new for your horse, but a horse at my barn has a profile like that and it is an old injury of fractured spinal processes right where the back of a saddle might hit.
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He has probably lost some muscling between being retired and weight loss.
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Looks like just normal loss of condition that can occur as they age. 25-26 is about when I noticed this look in one of my geldings (who crossed the rainbow bridge at 28). Not saying your gelding is near death or anything, just that it does get harder to keep weight on and a lot of what we see is also lack of muscle, which just happens in older horses (and people, etc.) Heck, younger horses that lose condition can look like this as well.
Lots of high quality forage (baled or bagged) and a fat supplement like Nutrena Empower Boost or Renew Gold Senior helped my guy fill back out for what remained of his life.
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Atrophy, not alarming at his age.
I’ve had OTTBS show this during let down, when they lose their track muscle and condition then build it back properly.
I wouldn’t be alarmed.
