My horse did lose a little weight recently due to being put in a heavier work schedule. His feed has been upped and I’m comfortable that this is addressing the weight problem. However, noticed this bump on his haunches and I don’t know whether it’s normal, a weight/topline thing that will resolve itself, or something I need to be proactive about addressing. He has seen a chiropractor once about 8 weeks ago and is due again but had to postpone due to nasty weather. Chiro did remark on that area but I don’t remember exactly what was said.
Note: I did have to zoom out to get the pic so it is a little distorted, but I still think shows what I’m asking about.
i see a horse with no muscles/flesh on the topline. especially from the hip to the loin bones, he needs 5 centimeters more flesh/muscle.
also i see a short croup and too sloping.
a horse needs to collect/self carriage , with balance , and they only can do that with a croupe. who has length, and is slightly sloping.
your horse has not the right angulations in the hind, also you see the straight hind leg.
most of the time these horses can only have a propulsing movement, not carrying/collection.
so if you have a heavier work schedule, know that your horse hasnt got the right angulations/lenght in his whole body do do this easy. so it takes lot of energy and also he could be not very easy with riding, as you are going to collect him more, cause it is not something he does naturally. and you can overtake him.
also i would feed him more, and then give hime heavier work schedule, cause of he has less muscles, he gets musclepain very easy, cause he gets muscle acidification very quickly. and also pain when you overtake him in work.
hope he gaines weight asap , so you can enjoy working/riding heavier work schedule!!
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Hi there,
Does your horse often stand the way he is in these 2 pics? Front legs back, hind legs forward?
If so, likely tight muscles involved perhaps with other issues.Standing this way affects how we see his angles
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Agree. I don’t see a hunter’s bump. I do see a slightly underweight horse with an underdeveloped topline who is standing really wonky.
ETA: True Hunter’s Bump
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I see an underweight, undermuscled horse who isn’t standing square. I don’t necessarily see a true hunter’s bump.
Pictures are only a moment in time, but horses should generally stand at rest with their cannons vertical (90 degrees relative to flat ground). Most of the time, anyway. If your horse tends to stand like he is in these pics - front legs back under himself and hind legs forward - you are likely dealing with a larger issue vs “just” the SI. Bilateral hoof soreness, nutritional deficiency, improper or excessive work, soft tissue issues, saddle fit, etc.
No need to panic, but postural issues like this are early warning signs that something may be bothering him. It’s good to take pics regularly to track these things.
If you can address the core reason for the posture and lack of muscle, the topline will smooth out and his bump will be less noticeable. It’s not a true hunter’s bump, which are generally permanent and the result of injury (to my understanding).
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Thanks for your response. We are beginning to work on collection but it is new for both of us. I appreciate your insights!
Hi there, no I think that is something weird that came out of the photo when I zoomed out, it gave sort of a fish-eye effect. In reality he stands more square than this (but does usually cock a hind foot).
Thanks for the comparative picture. I agree the photo makes it look like he’s standing weird but I think that was just an effect of zooming out. Agreed he is underweight. Thank you!
HB can only be determined by looking from the rear, because it’s a lateral injury
From the side, a true HB can look exactly like a conformationally peaked SI, or a postural issue with a tipped pelvis, or an SI made visible by lack of muscle/weight.
This guy looks to have a longer loin and a LS gap (lumbo-sacral gap) a bit behind the point of the hip (it should be directly over it). This least to over-use of glute muscles since the SI joint can’t flex as well as if the gap was where it belongs
It takes extra special care and time to teach these horses to use themselves as properly as they can.
How often does he stand with his hind legs underneath him? 1 or both.
Collection is advanced, he has nowhere near the muscling for that. Can you explain more what you mean by “collection”?
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Thanks for the picture. I didn’t know it was a lateral issue so I’ll check from the hind as you suggested. He is a little turned out on the right hind and will often rest that toe while standing.
You are right about collection - there is probably a better word that I could have used. I am working (with my trainer) to ask him to use his hind end a little more and not lean on the forehand/bit and rather carry himself. Very beginning stages of that, yes agreed it takes time and proper conditioning. I am not asking him to hold a “frame.”
On muscling/weight in general, he had June-November off for a hind leg injury so lost a lot of fitness that we are trying to rebuild. Thank you for your reply!
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I would ride your horse this way:
Long and low is a way of riding the horse so that the horse stretches the nose forward and downward as if it were sniffing something on the ground. This stretch causes the horse to elongate the topline, constrict the abdominal muscles and step farther underneath its body.
Working Your Horse Long and Low - Strides for Success
‘The key that unlocks a horse’s potential’: how to master riding ‘long and low’ - Horse & Hound
this link also explains a lot.
also this is the best way, to stretch the muscles and they grow, also when they bend/curve, they follow that way easier with longer muscles, cause they are loose in muscles.
also if you ride long & low, you can ride with a very light connection with the mouth of the horse, and you sit very easy, cause the horse has self carriage, and just ride not too fast, but slow, that the horse has balance. so he makes good/correct strides.
i always count with every stride, so i know i have my horse has the right tact, when i go straight forward or on turns.
especially when im doing contra canter, a horse can get more flat and not the same rhytm/tact, and if i count out loud, the horse will follow the tact easier, because i count .
Good luck!!
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Just be careful to truly understand what FDO - forward down and out - really means. It’s not simply dropping the neck and stretching it forward and down. A horse can do that by dropping it out of the withers, and that’s not good at all.
Proper FDO (aka “long and low”) starts with the hind end. Engagement, lifted back, then neck lifting out of the withers, all 3 always always allllwaaayyyyys. From there it’s where you ask or allow the horse to place his head
If his head is “falling”, he’s not engaged. If he’s sought contact, and it following that contact down and out as you allow, or to think another way, if it’s seeking contact to the point he’s able to quietly slide the reins out of your relaxing fingers without changing what his body is correctly doing (engaged, back lifted, etc), then that’s what you’re after
Just like “collection”, there are a lot if misconceptions about what “long and low” really mean, when done correctly
Just some things to think about 
This quote from the first link speaks to this, in a different way:
"Working your horse long and low involves stretching and elongating his topline, from the tail to the poll. "
if the neck is dropped from the withers, the topline isn’t stretched
And also, remember, L&L/FDO is a stretching position, not working outline. It does take correct work to do it, but it’s also correct stretching. Use it between harder movements. This is different from working in a longer and lower outline than a more upright shorter outline (i hope that makes sense), and just as important
Riding on a loose rein, allowing the horse to stretch forward (and still engaged) is one thing (and perfectly good work). That’s not L&L/FDO, but it IS another form of recovering from harder work that requires a more compact outline
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I wish I could heart this a few more times!
OP- this is great, detailed advice.
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