Tell me about lordosis

[Scribbler]

I saw a horse today with real full blown lordosis, an older saddlebred mare that broke down in showing. A teenage girl of my acquaintance has her as a rescue/ rehab project.

It’s not my horse so I m not going to post a photo, but it is extreme and shocking to see. My idea of “sway back” up to now was broodmares and OTTB that lost topline. I’ve never seen anything like this IRL. The outline of the animal hardly looks like a horse.

Is there any hope of normalizing a horse like this? I know lots of exercises for building top line but that’s when you’ve just lost muscle. This doesn’t look like anything you could ever fix.

[Highflyer]

No, it can’t be fixed. It’s relatively common in Saddlebreds, and I think there’s supposed to be a genetic component. But it’s not painful and usually if you can get a saddle to fit correctly (the hard part) it’s not a huge deal. We had a TB with it and he was pretty nice to ride-- we used a half tree exercise saddle and a foam lollipop pad.

[soloudinhere]

Lordosis is a change in the spinal structure. It can’t be fixed by “building topline.”

Saddle fit is the difficult part. The change doesn’t generally bother the horse. But it is an obvious deformity and makes saddle fitting difficult/impossible.

[Bluey]

We had an irish TB that was born with an alarming amount of lordosis.
He did run well in steeplechases and was imported to the US.
He made a nice jumper, winning his share.
He was a lovely, uncomplicated horse and talented and correct jumper.
His too low back didn’t make him move or jump oddly.
That his rider was a very fine one helped him look good and do well.

We used two pads on him, a thick fluffy hospital fleece western pad and a regular thick English pad.
He looked ok when saddled, but alarming to see his bare back.
He never had any soundness issues from it.

Now I think the kind saddlebreds inherit is different.
For what I remember, that is a weakness of the spine’s connections that over time lets the back drop.
I think that kind of lordosis may be more worrisome.
There probably is some remodeling with that.
That process can hinder function in some horses.

[luvmyhackney]

It doesn’t hurt them and typically they are fine to ride with a properly fitting saddle.

I rode at a ASB barn that had a multi world champion mare with lordosis. She was still sound in her 30s. Looked funny but carried a bunch of 10 and under kids. She was a pistol. They used a queen memory foam pillow under her saddle pad to fill it in.

Actually there are many ASB’s with lordosis that show and win.

[RAyers]

Lordosis is NOT a disease. It is simply the curvature of the spine dorsally. Kyphosis is the curvature sternally. In humans the lumbar and cervical spine tend to be lordotic while the thoracic spine goes from lordotic to kyphotic. Same in horses.

[Lizrd]

There is one that lives in a pasture near me. I always enjoy seeing her out and about. Her condition is quite pronounced so I wonder what passerbys who don’t know horses think. She has been out with this herd for years and they don’t seem to mind.

[kiwichick]

I have to admit, that more often than ive seen not, horses with lordosis seem to really excel at their chosen sport. Maybe thats just a perception thing, and people are more aware of it because they didnt think the horse would stay sound, but there are some upper level horses around that have pretty decent doses of it.

Besides I have that much trouble fitting saddles to ordinary shaped backs, I fail to see how they could be harder to fit at least you know what you need to fix!

[FatCatFarm]

Definitely a genetic component in Saddlebreds and Arabians, and seems to run in families.

[kashmere]

I had a TB with (relatively mild) lordosis. Saddle fitting sucked, but she never had any issues stemming from her odd shape. With a saddle on and moving correctly, she was a really pretty horse. No tack in the field, well… :lol:

She was a great mare who carried me over and through a whole lot of stuff.