Go to a physical therapist!! Get him or her to tell you exactly what is going on and to give you exercises to strengthen the parts that need strengthening!
Suffered through a winter of “tennis elbow” a few years ago. My PCP, who also has a specialty in sports medicine, sent me to a great physical therapist. She told me many elbow problems are actually wrist problems, gave me several strengthening exercises, and explained the bio mechanically correct way to hold and use the fork.
She also taped my arm with kenisio-tape for a few weeks. I noticed the most relief when the arm was taped. Fortunately during that time I was scheduled to be out of town for a while, so the arm got rested as well. She/I continued to tape the arm for about a month at which point it no longer bothered me. I continued the exercises for a while longer, but eventually stopped. I’ve only had one brief period later when my arm flared up and I went back to doing the exercises briefly.
Once the inflammation was under control, being aware of using the arm properly has kept it from returning.
A good PT can be a valuable help; time and money well spent. Good luck; tennis elbow can be a real pain in the…, well elbow.
My tennis elbow is not from mucking stalls, but rather too much bad posture internet surfing shame shame shame
I’m going through PT now, tried to do some strengthening exercise. For now, best treatment really is ice and 6-800mg ibuprofen to decrease the inflammation.
My biggest issue is that my horse is ginormous and has a tendency to bloat up belly, i have a really really hard time to girth him up. When he’s not bloated, i can do 2 holes on one side and 3 holes on the other no problem, but on a bad day, the tip of the strap is no where near the billets. With the tendonitis, its no fun at all 
any tips would be appreciated!
Put something under your wrist to lift it for typing and using the mouse. Use talk to text on your phone.
When tacking up, you should catch with a halter.
Brush saddle and girth.
Put girth down on offside. Do girth up loosely.
Continue to groom and pick out hooves. Do girth up slowly on both sides, every now and then.
Put on bridle and by the time you walk to the mounting block your girth is tight and it has taken no extra time.
This is also how you tack up for a horse that is cold backed. This is also how you tack up so the horse does not react to the girth being tightened.
Got it in both arms last winter, bizarrely from running (was training a lot of miles for spring race). The comment that it may be connected to your wrists is important-- my natural wrist “posture” when running is mostly palms down. The repetitive arm swing with palms down (plus a hard winter so lots more carrying hay, more mucking, etc, ) did me in. A separate injury (stress fx fibula) forced me into pool running, where the resistance of the water corrected my palms-down position. Now I keep thumbs up and my arms are soooooo much stronger and no tennis elbow.
Long way of saying: pay attention to wrist rotation-- you are straining the elbow a lot more when you have palms down.
ETA - the strap that worked the best for me had a dial, so I could get it in the right position, and then crank up the pressure.
[QUOTE=SuzieQNutter;7932699]
Put something under your wrist to lift it for typing and using the mouse. Use talk to text on your phone.
When tacking up, you should catch with a halter.
Brush saddle and girth.
Put girth down on offside. Do girth up loosely.
Continue to groom and pick out hooves. Do girth up slowly on both sides, every now and then.
Put on bridle and by the time you walk to the mounting block your girth is tight and it has taken no extra time.
This is also how you tack up for a horse that is cold backed. This is also how you tack up so the horse does not react to the girth being tightened.[/QUOTE]
Suzie- prob is I can’t even get the girth on the loosest hole, today was especially bad. Groomed, walked, groomed, tried again, can’t even buckle at all. 
I would say you need a longer girth. When I first put it on I am letting the horses back warm up to the saddle with the girth totally loose.
When I first started back riding even doing it this way I was not able to ride every day because of doing up the girth. I thought I would never push a wheelbarrow again.
The Doctor I was sent to for Workers Comp told me I would never ride again. I was given a very long lecture that I should be at home having babies. It didn’t matter that I didn’t even have a boyfriend.
Since the last chiro I have been able to do 2 girths daily and push a wheelbarrow.
Isn’t it funny how things work out? Now I am able to do the girths up but have a hubby who will tack up for me without me even asking…and NO children thank you very much!
For immediate relief polo wraps bags of ice around your elbow. For me it made ALL the pain go away & I wore the ice while I continued to work. Very bad idea. Bad Bad & I should have went to the Doctor. Too bad its temporary, but did work long enough where I could ride a horse or finish cleaning stalls.
I have this trouble too. the Back on Track brace at night helps alot. I added a shovel type handle to the handle of my manure fork. Shortened the fork so it matched my height. Play with that to see. A custom manure fork! How cool! On the wood handle I wrap vet wrap to give me a better grip.
I don’t get tennis elbow, but I’ve been getting hand and wrist pain while mucking stalls since I was in my teens. Considering the ergonomics definitely helps! In my case, using a shortened pitchfork with a thinner handle makes all the difference.
[QUOTE=Faye;7932670]
My biggest issue is that my horse is ginormous and has a tendency to bloat up belly, i have a really really hard time to girth him up. When he’s not bloated, i can do 2 holes on one side and 3 holes on the other no problem, but on a bad day, the tip of the strap is no where near the billets. With the tendonitis, its no fun at all
any tips would be appreciated![/QUOTE]
If you go with a longer girth–one that can reach the first holes when he bloats–does that make it too long to tighten when he’s relaxed? A longer girth is the easy answer, but I can see how that might not work if he really blows up.
Longer billets would solve that problem, though.
I shockwaved my elbow twice a few years ago (it is an approved therapy for tendonitis). Now I can deal with just voltaren when it flares up.
Try Boiron Arnicare Arnica Gel. You can now purchase at walgreen
Yeah I’ve got the t-shirt for that one 
Straps help, a bit. The ultimate solution is rest and lighten the work load. It’s how I figured out how many stalls/paddocks I can do in the winter. I can do 6, I can’t do 8.
[QUOTE=Simkie;7933259]
If you go with a longer girth–one that can reach the first holes when he bloats–does that make it too long to tighten when he’s relaxed? A longer girth is the easy answer, but I can see how that might not work if he really blows up.
Longer billets would solve that problem, though.[/QUOTE]
I think longer girth may work, but i’m embarassed to say he is already using a 56…
The root of the elbow problem is often your body position while doing all those horse-related jobs. Your elbows must be supported by your structure (bones). If you hold your elbow out to the side it must carry the weight alone–and elbows are not meant to do that. Try keeping your elbow tucked into your side, close to your ribs, especially during the lifting part. Also keep your hips straight to avoid creating a twist and sore lower back. You will need to slow down as you muck at first to address your postural habits, but it’s worth the effort.
Many of the suggestions are excellent for treatment after the fact. Addressing your posture will help with prevention and maintenance.
Body therapy like Ortho-Bionomy would help with both the pain and posture.
Good luck!
thanks so much everyone, this has been super helpful. I ordered the stuff from Canada, Thank you! I am going to try to Back on track brace, i was surprised it isn’t that expensive! and my mom has a tens machine that I am going to borrow and try.
I know when it happened. we had a bad stretch of really heavy rain, and I over loaded the wheel barrow with wet manure. It was the flipping it back and forth that I think stressed out the tendons. I just have to learn that it takes just as much time to do a few half full loads as it does to do one big one!
[QUOTE=Faye;7932787]
Suzie- prob is I can’t even get the girth on the loosest hole, today was especially bad. Groomed, walked, groomed, tried again, can’t even buckle at all. :/[/QUOTE]
Another suggestion might be a girth extender http://www.jefferspet.com/products/leather-girth-extender-havana and/or a girth with elastic on both ends. The extender and elastic can make it easier to get the girth buckles and billet straps together initially, and the elastic makes girthing up SO much easier (as long as they’re not over-tightened).
I had it too - from mucking out my ONE horse’s stall every afternoon. (I board, barn staff cleans stalls in the morning). I was lucky because I could just stop with the extra mucking for a while, it went away. But boy do I sympathize.
