here’s what i know (waiting to talk to my horse chiropractor)
-poll stretches (either side of front legs)
-carrot stretches (in between front legs)
any other suggestions would be great … thanks
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Carrot stretches with the neck and nose as elongated and reaching as you can get. Also up really high and reaching.
So not just low.
I ride elderly lesson horses. I have come to presume that all of them are somewhat sore at their poll, all the times that the horses fight the halter when tied up probably leaves some lingering bruising and/or injury to the poll area of the horse.
I provide these elderly lesson horses with BOTH the Back on Track Poll Cap and I put a Fenwick Face Mask with Ears over the poll cap. These horses relax a little bit more at the poll and my rein aids go “through” better when I put both of them on. Since I have hand problems I just think it is more fair to the horse to make sure that poll pain is not irritating them.
Does it work? Well when I introduce these to the horse there is the WTF is THAT reaction at first complete with a giraffe neck. 2-3 times later the horses start cooperating when I put them on, some of the horses will even lower their heads a good bit so I can get this gear exactly right on them. Then the horses seem to end up lighter on the bit and more responsive to light rein aids.
You could try putting one of both of these on your horse before doing these stretching exercises just to make the horse more comfortable at first.
Do you know why your horse is sore in the poll? I’m curious. My rescue mare came to me with horrible horrible teeth - huge hooks meaning she couldn’t chew right. For a few years she would not allow me to touch her poll.
What did finally help that area was Masterson type work where I just held my hand there - just above her skin and let her release. How that work is SO powerful I do not understand but wow. Ya’ll know what I mean?
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Do you know why he’s sore in the poll? If he got there because he’s chewing on one side of his mouth because he got a little sharp on the other side, helping him open up his neck won’t help.
Absent guidance from his care team, I’d be inclined to encourage movement all the way along the spine- the stretches you have noted, but also carrot stretches back towards the stifle (you may want to push on his inside shoulder a little while you do this to encourage him to stand up instead of collapsing on the inside leg). Belly lifts. Tail tucks.
Remember to move slowly- no matter what my horse tells you, slingshotting his head to the side to snatch the carrot before it runs away is not a therapeutic exercise.
If the horse is comfortable letting you work on the neck and poll, look up the Posture Prep thread for techniques to help soften up the muscles.
Does he eat from a hay net at all?
Pulling hay from the net the same way constantly will absolutely cause poll pain.
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so he’s still young (6 year old) warmblood and coming back into works after having a year off (before i bought him)…
he did eat from a hay net (not anymore because of this) and is unfortunately a cribber so that doesn’t help matters
we are still looking into the exact causes of why he is sore … because of his age, we’re not jumping right into injections … he is on some muscle relaxers and bute for a week and i am adding in more frequent chiro/acupuncture for him so hopefully something here will help (have only done chiro once on him since i’ve had him, granted that’s only been since july)
he does have a custom saddle that fits him
and that my saddle fitter comes out to check … so that’s not an issue . he also isn’t overtly lame anywhere
