What does everyone love the best for supportive therapies and products for a horse with low back/SI tightness?
We regularly cold laser (which is immensely helpful) and she gets shockwave. I’m thinking of getting her a Back on Track sheet unless there is another brand blanket people prefer? Or is there something else out there everyone is using and is life changing?
24/7 turnout.
Why is the SI sore?
No products, but chiro and massage therapy on a regular schedule and 24/7 turnout.
Turns on the forehand help loosen my horse’s hind end.
Regular massage and chiro, Surpass, and our barn has a PEMF blanket I can rent that my horse really enjoys.
The biggest difference was a combination of injections and then regular rides with my trainer to help her move more correctly though.
Certainly figuring out why there is tightness would be helpful. Have you/your vet considered a round of methocarbamol?
Are you happy with your farrier? What do the hind feet look like? IME, the feet can often be the root of these kinds of issues. I had used the same farrier for almost 30 years on all of my horses when I finally changed to a very well-respected therapeutic barefoot trimmer/farrier. She discovered that my guy had NPA in his hinds and began the process of correcting it. That along with getting a saddle that the horse approves of (even though the saddle at the time had been fitted and deemed to “fit”…horse didn’t think so). I also added his beloved Cashel foam wedge cushion pad (that I had stopped using because I bought a Mattes pad that I thought would be wonderful…turns out he prefers his $45 half pad to his $300 saddle pad, of course).
So…feet fixed, happy saddle and pad combo, and then nutrition: plenty of magnesium and MSM for him.
What else? Lots of butt tuck and tummy lift stretches. Lots of backing (both on the ground ad under saddle), and working over poles when possible.
And I just bought the equicore/equiband system, and that really seems to help him use himself correctly to build the right muscles while working. I’ve only used it a few times so far, but he actually seems to like it.
But honestly, if I had to pick three things that truly are non-negotiable for helping my guy: fixing his feet, figuring out the saddle and pad combo that makes him happy, and magnesium. I feel that if any of those three weren’t in place, I’d still be battling the issue.
My guy had such severe SI tightness/soreness that my local vet thought he’d torn a ligament. Turned out that the SI discomfort was secondary to flat palmar angles/thin soles in the hinds, and grade 4 ulcers.
We fixed the trim, added hind shoes. and treated the ulcers. He got 24/7 turnout for the summer, as well as monthly chiro/acupuncture and massage. It took a solid 6 months to really get ahold of it, but our chiro (also a DVM) said his lumbar/SI region felt normal at his last visit.
IMO, products like Back on Track are good for maintenance, not so much for treatment of an active issue. YMMV, though.
RhythmNCruise makes a very good and often overlooked point about the feet and the hind angles being NPA - negative plantar angles.
That will indeed cause low back pain.
Been down this road myself. What worked: back injections, methocarbamol, acupuncture, correct shoeing on a short (4 week) cycle - forEVER - that’s just how it has to be. A correctly fitting saddle with regular fit check-ups. Lots and lots of turnout and lots of walking under saddle and correct schooling - getting the back to lift and loosen and teaching them to stretch properly. And time. Oh boy does it take time. I also massage with Sore No More liniment.
And check the hocks and other joints for pain.
I cannot emphasize the correct shoeing enough.
Yes! I do this as well. Mr. Horse loves his rubdowns with Sore No More.
And you’re so right about the walking under saddle. Lots of walking, walk/halt/walk, turns on the forehand, walk/halt/back/walk, leg yields at the walk, walking over poles, etc. The more I do and the better walk I get, the better the rest of the ride goes.
I give one of my geldings with a tight back 10 cc of Estrone IM / week - shake the bottle well first - helps a ton
There’s a great book called 55 Corrective Exercises for Horses and it has exercises specific to different issues. I try to work on the same thing and the exercises I use from her book are walking over 5 ground poles 10x, backing your horse 30 steps, and tail pulls. She also suggests belly lifts but I have always been useless when it comes to those.
BOT is not the only company that makes effective products of this type.
I am riding a gelding who has a lot of years on him as a lesson horse. I was using the BOT/ThinLine Contender II saddle pad on him, but something was not quite right behind the rear edge of the pad.
I got the horse a Fenwick Western saddle pad that extends over his loin. He is much happier with me. It is worth a try.
There are no products but proper Horses Therapeutic Spa which will help in making their health better than any random products.
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