Won’t the D-rings be too close under the saddle? I have the back warmer, and I think it wouldn’t work because the D-rings in the front are too close to the “girth” loops. I think most people would longe in the BOT back warmer with a surcingle. I just leave it draped over my horse while I’m tacking.
Has anyone had any success with Robaxacin for this issue? I can see where my horse’s muscles are tighter when it’s cold, and I wonder if that would help.
I never used it but others in my barn did. If just warming and taking the other steps discussed isn’t working, Robaxacin is a good choice used properly for legit reasons like this. Not only for relief but to break that psychological dread it’s going to be uncomfortable so they tense up making themselves more uncomfortable.
I wouldn’t hesitate to try it.
Thanks for sharing what’s worked for your cold-backed horses, everyone! I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one with a horse (even non-TB) who seems to struggle with topline stretch/acceptance of aids on the coldest days, and that many of you have found solutions that work for your horses.
Since I last posted we’ve had a couple of days where the hours available to me to ride were below 0F, so horsey had a couple of days of just grooming with her favorite massage curry and hand-walking. I can’t elicit ANY response to palpation for pain, even when it’s -15F. She’s not touchy just hanging out, or even when I first get on and walk her on a long rein – it’s when I try to ask her to pick her back up and channel some energy through her topline into the contact that the struggles begin. Today it was in the 40s so we did an easy ride and she was adjustable off my seat and softly coming through her back into the bridle no problem. I did take out my large heating pad and plug it in until it was hot, then removed the cord and put it under the blanket on her back while I prepared supplements and got my tack out.
A new trend has been starting over the last couple of rides that may be a clue. She tried to halt periodically during today’s ride, holding up her tail each time like she needed to pass manure, with some passing of gas. She pooped several times immediately after I got her back to her stall. Last time I rode her she stopped a couple of times with her tail lifted and passed gas, but I didn’t think much of it since it was the first time I’d experienced that behavior and I just figured it was part of the cold weather evasion suite. Today she was otherwise pretty good, after about 40 minutes of riding I got this potential discomfort-related elimination-oriented behavior every few minutes. She kept working when I bumped her forward each time, but it’s really not like her to put the brakes on to pass gas. Maybe the bute-related GI issues are still causing pain, and her threshold for tolerating it is just lower on cold days?? Anyone seen anything like this?
So, to recap, things I’ve tried on the cold days without success:
Things I’ve tried since I started this thread and jury is out on:
Things I plan to try:
Things that aren’t practical in my situation but may be last-ditch options:
Things I won’t try:
It may be that all we can hope for during the winter is maintenance of basic body condition, and re-muscling and real training will have to wait until spring. But if anything more than just general ageing is going on I’d like to get to the bottom of it!
Bloodwork is borderline useless for Mg levels- the body is really good at borrowing from bone when needed to maintain blood level concentrations. I might just try feeding magnesium for a week or two to see the difference. It’s really hard to overdose them orally because they’ll pee out the excess (IV injection is a different story).
Why is a Lyme titre not practical?
Nothing to add other than good for you for being observant of simple changes in her behavior that others might ignore because other horses do it.
Melly, the last day I rode him was lifting his tail, passing gas [he had never done that, even on new spring grass] and passing manure under saddle.
Knowing your horse and what is ‘normal’ for them is key to knowing when you have a problem.
I hope you get this one figured out soon.
Hmm, you could try treating for ulcers for 10 days, perhaps the next time the forecast calls for very cold temperatures. Maybe the cold weather changes her eating and drinking behavior and aggravates her stomach?
Could she not be drinking enough on cold days and be slightly dehydrated? If I recall correctly dehydrated muscles are at greater risk of tying up, so perhaps there is some lack of stretch-ability thing going on if she’s dehydrated. No amount of warming up can change that…
Perhaps a heated water bucket?
[QUOTE=DJohn;9000215]
Won’t the D-rings be too close under the saddle? I have the back warmer, and I think it wouldn’t work because the D-rings in the front are too close to the “girth” loops. I think most people would longe in the BOT back warmer with a surcingle. I just leave it draped over my horse while I’m tacking.
Has anyone had any success with Robaxacin for this issue? I can see where my horse’s muscles are tighter when it’s cold, and I wonder if that would help.[/QUOTE]
Yes, the D rings wouldn’t be in a good spot. I’ve used it under a surcingle, but I wouldn’t ride in it. He’s long backed anyway, so as a saddle pad, it doesn’t go very far.
Interesting thought on Robaxin. I may have to try that. My horse recently had another growth spurt and was a bit more back sore even after a couple of acupuncture and massage sessions, so I did about a week of Robaxin, and he did great. (My vet thinks its worthless to do any shorter time with it). It was relatively warm then, though. I haven’t tried it during one of the colder snaps but will report back if I do.
GiantSteps - my mare sounds very similar to yours in that she gets cold-backed in the cold weather (upstate NY). What I’ve done is the following (like many people on here have stated): she wears a BOT sheet, I use a BOT saddle pad, I warm up with a quarter sheet and do a slower warm up than what I do when the weather is warmer. In regards to the warm up, I walk a lot more initially and then when I ask her to go from there if she wants to canter my (very good) dressage trainer says let her canter and she has me get in a little half seat and not worry about the contact at that point. Once mare is happy doing her canter we trot for a bit then put her together. This protocol has worked well for us. We do our entire warm up with the quarter sheet on.
If she’s acting very touchy we will give her some devil’s claw for a day or 2. When she’s cold, I think the stiffness then sore muscles so the devil’s claw helps to provide some relief. I’m very intrigued by the heated blanket and am looking for a microwavable heat pack to try!
lifting tail and turning tail to the side - early symptom of kissing spine.
“suddenly cold-backed” to me, is the same terminology as “back sore”. ‘Cold-backed’ just seems to be a nice way of avoiding admitting the actual issue: that your horse is protecting their back from something and is experiencing physical pain. You, the saddle, weight of a rider, whatever. Could be for any reason - SI issues, kissing spine, arthritis, poor saddle fit, sore hocks… the list goes on.
I’m sorry to read you aren’t willing to try a chiropractor, pulling a titer, or robaxin, for your mare.
Part of the problem might be the weight of the blankets… but I am willing to bet money she is sore because of something off balance; maybe the blankets did it, maybe improperly fitted saddle; maybe it really is the colder weather and she is not moving around as often, etc… I know I am slightly stiffer in cold weather, and so are our horses when first warming up, but they are not ‘cold backed’. And if they were, that would be cause for alarm.
Adding that when my horse is gassy, he won’t go forward or lift his back, in any weather. The stopping to pass gas is a sign he isn’t feeling great. If you only see these symptoms along with the cold, then it could be that she isn’t moving enough (so, making her stiff and slowing motility, and then when you ask her to exercise, that gets the motility going again which may be uncomfortable), or maybe she isn’t drinking enough, or she is more stressed by the cold. See if you continue notice a trend between the GI symptoms and the cold.
Thanks for all the ideas, folks! Today was another warm day and another soft, lovely ride with a bit more uphill balance than yesterday and some movements on the more collected end of the spectrum (SI, simple changes) without any tension. Two consecutive supple rides tempt me to get my hopes up, but we’ll see what the next cold snap brings.
As for the new suggestions, horse is currently on a full omeprazole treatment dose (taper scheduled starting next week) and mg supplement, has BoT products, gets long slow warmups in a quarter sheet with half-seat canter, had a recent saddle adjustment, had a thorough lameness exam and hocks injected even more recently, as mentioned before. Guess my lists were not very complete! Not mentioned earlier, she has a heated waterer and is drinking normally, according to barn staff (and I see her drink quite often, but who knows total consumption, given auto-waterer). Will try to figure out a way to monitor that more closely – the outlet problem plus boarding barn norms/setup make it difficult…
Robaxin is definitely on the talk-to-the-vet list, but not something that I can try while I wait for a non-emergency appointment with my preferred vet and not something I’d do without a vet’s input anyway. Lyme titre is also something I’ll consider, but given a titre that indicated no active Lyme infection as of ~9 weeks ago as well as the the near-zero risk of exposure and lack of stressful events in the meantime, that also seems like it belongs in the long-shot category. Not ruling it out, but planning to investigate the many items on the list with better odds first. The only things I absolutely refuse to experiment with are chiropractic (this one is an agree-to-disagree thing for me, and I respect other opinions but have firm, experience- and evidence-based reasons for mine) and NSAIDs (bc horse goes off feed and poops like a cow when they are administered). Oh and also spending stupid amounts of money on products whose effects replicate other items in the experimentation arsenal (cough Thermotex cough).
Beowulf – thanks for the heads up about kissing spine symptoms. That’s going near the top of the vet question list. Her core/back are strong and she only time the tail goes up is when she postures to pass manure (or pre-manure gas) but it’s a worrisome possibility so I’d like my vet’s assistance in ruling it out (or, heaven forbid, in).
IPEsq – interesting that your horse has similar behaviors when he’s gassy. We actually had the worst of the weird gassy behavior on a warm day (though had seen shades of it on cold days). Today it wasn’t an issue, but she warmed up WAY more quickly and we were able to accomplish more in less riding time – there was no post-ride urgent pooping today, which is something that seems to be associated with the weird gassy behavior. Do you know if there’s any pharmaceutical gas relief available for horses (like simethicone for humans)? She hasn’t shown any signs of gas colic, but the new preamble to pooping that involves gas seems to suggest that this might be a source of discomfort.
I’m all ears if anyone has new ideas to add, particularly with regard to some of the mechanisms on the suspect list (GI function, muscles and nutrition/metabolism, kissing spines…). Meantime I’m keeping a log, planning a vet appointment, and continuing the heat and vitE experiments. I’ll update if I make any progress in figuring this out.
As for the kissing spine comment, It’s totally possible. 80% of horses have some form of kissing spine, some handle it no problem where others react.
I just found out after 9 years of having my horse, and a weird outing at an event that my horse has mild kissing spine. Although its extremely mild, it seems to make him react. This is probably why the heating pad helps in the winter, with wearing heavy blankets, and having tight muscles, the blanket helps him relax.
It really is too bad you won’t even consider a chiro 
I do understand many people have had terrible experiences with it, but I promise that’s because of the practitioner, and not the practice. And there are areas where there are no good ones, so it’s easy to run through a couple of them with the same bad results and declare the whole thing snake oil lol.
That said, I think it’s unlikely a chiro would help in this case. It MIGHT, but I’d be more inclined to look to massage work instead of chiro work in this particular situation, since it appears to be temperature related.
[QUOTE=JB;9003908]
It really is too bad you won’t even consider a chiro I do understand many people have had terrible experiences with it, but I promise that’s because of the practitioner, and not the practice. And there are areas where there are no good ones, so it’s easy to run through a couple of them with the same bad results and declare the whole thing snake oil lol.
That said, I think it’s unlikely a chiro would help in this case. It MIGHT, but I’d be more inclined to look to massage work instead of chiro work in this particular situation, since it appears to be temperature related.[/QUOTE]
Agree with JB. Maybe not relevant in this particular case, but there are chiropractors… and then there are chiropractors.
I live in one of the few meccas of equestrian education; there are several very incredible chiropractors all within an hour’s reach of me.
The one I use is also a veterinarian - she is my “mysterious ailment vet” – she is one of those rare chiropractors that is worth her weight in gold and then some.
She is not a quack in any way. She was able to tell my horse had a mild choke episode two weeks prior from just chiropracting him. She has been instrumental in the care of my KS horse and has made an incredible difference in his way of going and comfort.
Not to argue with OP but I agree on the Chiro. Ours was VERY helpful in assisting Melly to have at least a few really good months. My belief in good Chiro will never be shaken.
On the Robaxin… I was thinking it seemed like overkill… but then thought about when I am standing around in the cold and my back tenses up to stay warm… and then eventually just ACHES.
So, maybe.
You can give simethicone to horses. I’m not sure of the dose. For my horse, he was only having abnormal sounds in the upper right side, around the cecum, so my vet advised that I put him on Platinum Balance and try a diet adjustment, as we didn’t want to give any medications that might impact all of the normal sounding parts of the gut. This horse tends to be gassy and sensitive, and other than changing the grass hay, I’ve done about all I can do.
However, he was pawing more during this last real cold snap (during hand walks etc…too cold to ride), so I am trying Ranitidine for a few days and may do that again the next cold snap. Although it’s no longer cold right now, we had extremely high winds that are stressful. He is not on omeprazole currently. We’ll see how he is to ride today. We’ve done a lot of bloodwork and can’t really find a reason for the belly issues.
I get being wary of chiros, but what about acupuncture? I regularly treat my horse’s lumbosacral area, back and neck to help with the chronic tightness of his muscles. Some of the GI referral points are in those sore spots as well. He’s on about a 4 week schedule at the moment and that’s what we need to maintain better muscle quality on palpation. Fwiw, I’ve taken xrays of his whole spine and he doesn’t have bony problems in the T spine.
methocarbamol is great, its the horse version of Robaxacet. Would be something to look into for those tougher days when you know their back will be tense.
I found acupuncture helped a ton for my horse’s painful back. When he was in a really bad cycle, we did a few rounds of sarapin in the back too, which definitely helped.
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