Things I can do to help my mare's back and gluteal soreness at home?

[fivestrideline]

Chiro tends to need to be “regular”, depending on how they hold the adjustments. Basically, if the soft tissue is tight and pulling on everything, you need to work on that or you’ll be having the chiro out weekly.

A lot of people do it monthly or every 6 weeks for maintenance, or on an as-needed basis every 3 or 6 months. It all depends.

I’m not a fan of chiro myself but some people and their horses have good luck with it. Much like any bodywork, treatment once or twice is almost useless; but a routine (monthly, bi-monthly, bi-annually if lucky) of regular treatments and complementary therapies can have great results.

[hemitheconyxcaudicinctus]

@Scribbler

I feel looking at these photos that her SI may be behind her point of hip, which can make horses more susceptible to the ligament tears we call hunters bump.

Does this look like a hunter’s bump proper? Or just topline undermuscling?

(also disregard that fetlock boot slipping down…)

[Posting_Trot]

OP: have you ever had the horse checked for Lyme disease? Given that you don’t really know where she might have traveled in her earlier life, it is quite possible that she could have picked it up. (That is: the disease may not be endemic in your area, but she might have lived previously in an area where it was endemic).

It’s a relatively inexpensive blood test, but just make sure that the vet will do the Cornell test and not a snap test.

The reason why I am suggesting this: Lyme disease can have a multitude of symptoms, ranging from all over body-soreness to on-again-off-again lameness, and behavior changes, including intense reactivity in some horses and lethargy in others, etc.

It would be worth ruling Lyme disease out, if you can.

[hemitheconyxcaudicinctus]

I actually have that slated for a blood draw in addition to her physical. Hoping and praying it’s not Lyme, I’d rather it be random difficult to diagnose pain than Lyme - having had it myself for 5 years and having researched it in horses while pursuing my degree, I think it invokes the same feelings in me the possibility of KS brings up for other people.

[outerbanks77]

@hemitheconyxcaudicinctus

Does this look like a hunter’s bump proper? Or just topline undermuscling?

She looks slightly rough-coupled to me, which means there is a bit of a dip in the lumbar area. This can predispose to a hunter’s bump injury, which is a ligament tear that will typically cause the hips to sit unevenly. So it’s impossible to tell from the side if it’s a true hunter’s bump or just rough-coupled conformation. Some in-hand work could be helpful to her to develop more strength and suppleness, and hopefully be more comfortable in the process.

You might also look into kinesiotaping. Someone at my barn recently got certified, and we have been doing a lot of taping on one of my mares and it seems to help her a lot. Since I have easy access to a professional, I haven’t done it myself, but simpler taping on the larger muscle groups is not super difficult or technical, and is within reach for an owner who is willing to spend some time learning. The book Physical Therapy for horses addresses taping, and there are lots of YouTube videos.

[hemitheconyxcaudicinctus]

Vet is hopefully coming out to examine her, do a blood draw, and potentially do an adjustment on the 7th. By this point because of having to take a few huge steps backwards and return to groundwork she hasn’t been ridden for about 3wks. Should I continue to abstain from riding her until after the vet has seen her? I don’t want to make her pain worse but I’m also worried she’ll be super fresh from this much time off when I AM finally able to pick up riding her again. Worth noting that I have an instructor who is willing to get on first and it’s more about not wanting to hurt her.

[Pally]

@fivestrideline

Slightly OT but when looking at conformation, would the “ideal” be SI above the point of hip? Or in front of POH? I like to kill time by studying conformation and I have seen most TBs and crosses (including mine) with the SI well behind the POH.

It’s actually the lumbosacral junction that you ideally would like to see above or slightly in front of, rather than behind, the point of hip (tuber coxae). It’s not so easy to see the LS junction in pictures so we can use the sacral tuberosities (the pointy bits that get really pointy with the hunter’s bump) to help guess. That said, the LS junction is very easy to palpate in person - run your fingers gently along the lumbar spine, and when you come to a soft dip in that area (after the back, before the pointy bits), that’s it!

To the OP, I would recommend holding off riding and stick to groundwork for now. You can use the groundwork both to help her with the mental/emotional side of things as well as work on building the right kind of physical strength. You mention her upside down neck… well that kind of “upside down” build is actually throughout her whole body. Whatever you do with her, you want to keep a close eye on the posture she is using… no exercise will help if she is bracing and hollow in the way she does it, but if they encourage positive postural signs like dropping the head while lifting the base of the neck, coiling the loins, etc, then it’s positive. I would focus on slower work where she can unwind the old patterns and build new ones carefully.

Besides the already mentioned resources which are all great, I would also add looking into TTouch teachings. It’s a mix of bodywork and training which aims to keep the horse in a relaxed state and work with the nervous system to create desirable patterns and connections.

[hemitheconyxcaudicinctus]

@Pally

Besides the already mentioned resources which are all great, I would also add looking into TTouch teachings. It’s a mix of bodywork and training which aims to keep the horse in a relaxed state and work with the nervous system to create desirable patterns and connections.

Linda Tellington-Jones’ book on training/retraining actually just came today! Excited to get into it. Still waiting on the corrective exercises book to give some ideas for things we can do on the ground outside of the exercises I’ve found in some other ones.

[IPEsq]

She looks like western pleasure QH or appendix to me. Also agree on hunter’s bump.

As for the splint, they can do that just goofing around in the field and interfering. It’s quite common and not something I’d associate with any specific training. Versus something like bucked shins or osselets or things like that.

I also agree her conditioning and muscle development is not good and won’t be helping the back soreness issue. Have you done X-rays since buying her? I would start there. And X-ray the feet since you have commented on poor foot quality and conformation. Front foot problems can lead to back and hind end issues on these types just as easily as hind foot problems.

Depending on what X-rays show, continue working through basic behavioral issues. Then once that has improved and as tolerated now, introduce some core work and strengthening from the ground. You might then need vet help to break the pain cycle to get her back under saddle with things like shockwave or injections. But I think you have more steps to take building your relationship with the horse before that will do you a lot of good.

Sending her somewhere for training and physical rehabilitation is also something to consider. Like with a water treadmill or other non-ridden conditioning modalities from skilled handlers.

[BatCoach]

@lorilu

Look up Posture Prep with Dr. Pat Bona. It’s like a rubber curry that you use in a specific pattern ACROSS the muscle fibers to loosen the fascia. Here is her website; it has videos etc. Pretty sure you can get the tool in other places, but the education is on the website… https://drpatbona.com/product/posture-prep-for-horses-single-unit-pricing/

My horse loved his posture prep! Very affordable and helpful.

[Jealoushe]

Can you post a video of this horse moving without tack on? I’m curious about the hip. Something doesn’t look quite right there.

[mfglickman]

I know it’s expensive but I’d recommend finding someone to do some massage - maybe once, maybe twice, before having a chiro out. From what I’ve learned, the chiro stays better if the muscles are more relaxed first. So hopefully you get the most bang for your buck

I’ve been having a massage therapist on my 2 mares for almost 2 years; this past year two more people from my barn signed up. Some of us do every 2 weeks and some once a month; it made a nice convenient and consistent stop for the therapist and she in turn gave us all a discount on each massage. She teaches us some strokes specific to each of our horses; one young woman, in particular, has made incredible strides on her young Hunter by keeping up with his bodywork between massages. I personally tend to be all thumbs and have a very opinionated older redhead mare so my results are inconsistent (little mare yawns when she sees the massage lady’s car though!)

Anyway, good luck and I hope you find what’s bugging her - she’s very cute!