Is it possible?
Young horse had some discomfort issues soon after import, changed saddles via professional saddle fitter, teeth floated, shoes added, etc. Then he was injured and on stall rest (+rehab) for 7 months - it’s been a super fun first year!. He is just now coming back to full work and feeling great *knock wood.
Excellent neck genes through his sire and damsire but his dam was less endowed - is there any hope?
I can share my experience with rebuilding a lost topline after prolonged rest, but the “neck gene” comment has me confused.
It was a bit of a joke 
My favorite topline restoring activities are:
45 minutes of hand walking per day for two weeks. Not walking, marching.
Trotting over cavaletti a few times a week.
Lungeing in side reins maybe ten minutes at trot each direction. Easiest done saddled and bridled so you can just take the side reins off and have a short ride.
I wouldn’t ride until after the two weeks of hand walking.
That’s the extent of my knowledge, but it’s worked well for a couple of horses.
A fellow rider at the barn brought her horse back from pasture after a year of surgery and rehab on her shoulder. She got on him immediately, no top line regimen. He never looked the same and has a dip in his back to this day, even though he was a young horse when this happened. He’s ridden in multiple half pads despite a custom saddle that never fit him the same after his little vacation.
I would also make sure he is getting the correct nutrition. The addition of a ration balancer could be helpful. Nutrena Empower Topline Balance and ProElite Topline Advantage are both great choices.
I’m guessing she means the dam had either an upright neck or a bit of a ewe neck, or had a low-set neck.
And coming from dressage land, the best way I know to build a topline is to work the horse over his topline - meaning teaching/encouraging him to come “through” from behind and into contact. Lunging in properly adjusted side reins and riding him in more of a “training level” dressage frame with soft elastic contact than in a long and low frame with very little contact. That will help him build the “bridge” that connects his hind end to his front end and develop the core strength he needs to lift and round his topline. And of course, starting out with LIGHT work for short periods of time so you don’t overstress his body as he comes back into fitness.
I have seen that kind of program work wonders for horses with less than ideal neck and topline conformation - including several with a propensity for ewe necks.
The dam just had a thin neck, not ewe or upright, she was also 21 when he was foaled, so that may have been a factor. His neck is a good length and set well, just thin and lacking in muscle.
Regardless, he’s just back in full work after spending several months at rehab, followed by 8 weeks of tack walking and trotting. Is starting to feel stronger, so able to hold his shape a little longer each ride: we’re not necessarily asking for that at this point but he’s actively reaching for contact and tracking well behind.
I’m not sure if his grain was reduced when he was on stall rest and tack walking, but I’ll double check on that. He gets the same senior feed that all the horses get, plus free choice hay, supplemented with alfalfa 2x daily and platinum performance GI. I’ll ask the vet to evaluate his nutrition when he’s next at the barn.
Just happy to hear there is some hope, now that he is finally feeling well!
Horse: 16.1 hh 2007 New Mexico-bred TB, sound, mostly sane, barefoot, lived on the range w/ broodmares and cattle from his 45-day Cowboy Training™️ at age three until age nine when his owners gave him to me in 2016. Then, he had a TB walking-around-his-whole-life topline, so not great, but not terrible, plus a small, but recognizable roach.
Me: formerly a good rider w/ excellent dressage fundamentals, now 65 – so, meh🤷🏻♀️ – semi-retired teacher currently on a low, low budget. I’m basically a working student for a local dressage barn to keep my horse housed and earn lessons.
As of about a month ago, and for the first time, TB has an actual topline and his roach is all but gone. I can see it because I know it’s there, but there is clear muscle attachment at his loin, and I am over the moon.
It’s been a long struggle to fit him for a saddle, mostly because of my budget. I ran through three used saddles before I found an ancient proto-Schleese and had it fitted correctly about five months ago.
Almost simultaneously, I put him on a compounded glucosamine injection that my vet formulates. We decided to do it when an intermittent right front gimp prompted x-rays and showed a little arthritis. TB gets it once a month.
I’ve also scheduled regular lessons, more consistently than in decades. We ride in a lesson every week, sometimes twice, unless it’s pouring rain. My work for the ranch/barn is the only thing that has made this possible, and I never want to stop. When it’s just me and TB working away, I am way too impressed, way too easily. My instructors both know what TB and I can do, and they push for it.
For my horse, it has taken the combination of two, maybe all three, adjustments: serious attention to his saddle, sticking to a lesson schedule, and though I wouldn’t guarantee that the injections are helping, my hunch – which is all I have RN – is that they are. (n.b. I haven’t changed his diet at all. He’s a ridiculously easy keeper, a little chunky on one orchard and two alfalfa flakes per day.)
So, altogether, it has taken some eight years to put a topline on this horse. I’m a million percent sure you can do it for yours much, much more quickly.
Without a picture of him now, and even right before he went out of commission, it’s all a guess.
Muscle develops to the extent that feet, saddle fit, work, time, and diet allow
His neck is genetically more like one parent, or the other, not right in the middle.
^THIS. My TB gelding was an absolute string bean when I got him. Some of that was age (5). His conformation isn’t exactly textbook. We’ve been really diligent about correct trim and hoof balance (including annual radiographs). He’s a bit of a Prince and the Pea type about his saddle, so it’s taken some trial and error to find the right saddle and the right fitter.
My goal for him is the hunters, but moving to a barn with an excellent dressage trainer was a game changer for us. The attention to detail with regard to straightness and truly correct engagement from his hind end and over his top line made all of the difference in the world.
Protein is obviously important to building muscle, but make sure you’re basing that in an adequate total calorie density. It’s awfully hard to build muscle if you’re using most or all of the calories just maintaining. Adding a fat source (Empower Boost is my guy’s preference) has really helped. It takes time - these photos are just over 3 years apart. Top was a few days after I got him in December 2020, bottom is February 2024.
Still a work in progress but it’s so rewarding when you finally put the puzzle together to find the right combination.
I totally forgot to add in - and genetics, meaning conformation.
I’ve seen this a lot, where Hunters are developed to be, well, Hunters, and go around lovely and soft but they don’t have muscling along their topline, because they’re never worked in a way that develops that.
IMHO every single Hunter should be capable of putting in a decent 2nd Level Dressage test. If they can, they have been taught to use their body correctly, poll to tail, and aren’t just using their weight and momentum to get things done.
Of all the things mentioned my personal experience has been that diet is the most important. I’ve had one build a healthy topline when previously it was all bones by only going out in daily group turnout, no work whatsoever. We did a round of nexium, and then added a balancer for young horses (Purina Optimal) and B vitamin. Previously we tried everything including hillwork, cavalettis, long & low etc. etc. I’m sure all of it makes a difference but I’d start with a high protein diet first, saddle fit next, then maybe add the exercise and if still nothing I’d honestly x-ray the back…
I will add my voice to the comment of “walking” - I had a horse that was on stall rest for half a year. Vet said to hand walk him as much as we were able. We were doing just over 6 miles of walking a day (around 2 hours) - his condition was fantastic. Walking - not meandering. Walking briskly enough to get your heartrate up.
Beyond that, working long and low. Nose out and down, hind legs driving and reaching under, back coming up and swinging (and again, moving with purpose - not just plugging along on the forehand with no weight behind). I quite like using figures like serpentines or shallow loops to change the bend while you develop their understanding of moving like this, but again, just as they’re able to maintain because for a horse not used to this, it can be a real struggle. I’ve had one instructor equating it to going from a sedentary couch potato to being told to maintain a plank position for the duration of your ride time - it’s not a fair request, so incremental (and develop your expectation as they get stronger) is important.
The work is only part of the equation though, and there’s some really excellent comments on the necessity of dietary considerations and physical comfort, which will also going to be key components in this.
You can’t feed muscle that work isn’t supporting. A diet of 1400gm protein isn’t going to build more muscle than the required 700gm will build for the work the horse is in.
This is a GREAT exercise, but it’s a stretching exercise, not a working outline. Topline muscle comes from lifting the back via the abs and engagement from behind (which this stretchy FDO does), but it ALSO requires the horse to lift and engage his neck out of the withers. Poll below the withers is stretching the top neck muscles, which is absoutely important to healthy muscles. But it’s not what builds them
Long lining. I got a TB that was significantly underweight and undermuscled last year. Taught him to long line and ground drove him all over. Up and down hills, over poles, etc. Some circles and having outside rein really helps with establishing a connection. I prefer that to lunging in side reins.
1000%! Side reins require excellent skill by the handler AND a decent level of training of the horse, to ensure the horse is working back to front. Tooooo often, I see horses in side reins who are totally sucked back and while they might look like they’re working to the casual/less educated observer, they aren’t, and that doesn’t do the horse any good at all
In theory, I do too - I see plenty of horses behind the bit in side reins.
However, what’s the next best thing for someone who doesn’t know how to long line + a horse who doesn’t know how to long line + no one to teach them? Hand walking for a bit and then working under saddle? Lunging without anything on the bit (maybe in an EquiCore)? Loose side reins on the halter or side pull (this is something I’ve done with success)?
Just thinking out loud. Long lining is a skill that’s not easy or always safe to learn on your own, and not a ton of people know or can teach it.
That’s very true. I learned to long line when I was pregnant and wanted to keep working my horse without riding. I’m lucky to be in New England because when I was able to work with two different, experienced trainers when I started long lining my last two horses. It’s MUCH easier and safer to start with an experienced person on the ground there to help. Also, some horses are freaked out by the lines, so it’s important to de-sensitize them first. There are some good videos that provide instruction but nothing beats having someone there.
Without the ability to long line, I think walking in hand is very helpful, especially if you can take the horse out of a ring and walk them on slight (and increasing) hills. I have access to a good trail system and also several turnouts with good terrain for slow conditioning. Long lining in an enclosed space is highly recommended when you start out!
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