And that is hard! I have to stand at the shoulder, back to the horse… hand nearest head under the jaw, holding the halter on that side… hand near the tail has the cookie held under nose but sort of on the outside of the face, drawing it closer to me/across my chest, - all to avoid the twist.
If anyone has a better method, please share!!
It’s so hard! Hard enough that we… don’t do them nearly as often as we should lol.
Our chiro has us do it where:
- I stand facing and holding the horse’s head, kind of holding the halter
- Using a treat to get her to start bending the neck
- But my outside hand (on the outside of the bend) is on cheekpiece of the halter,
- My other hand is just under the horse’s mouth with the cookie, not getting bit (hopefully)
- Between the hand on the halter and the hand under her mouth I can control how much she tilts. Sometimes it takes some holding/muscle to get her in position, but she has learned, for the most part, that this does not involve a tilt and it has gotten easier.
This has been what has worked best with her. She does not like it, however. Gets tail-slappy and moves around. I am trying for the lightest of touches that still evoke a response. We’re…evolving, I guess.
Hm maybe you could try the same thing but with curry combs? I know one horse that always lifts his back with “stiffer” curry combs!
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If they are stiff in their back muscles sometimes it hurts a bit to stretch.
Try taking the handle side of a hoofpick (so the round side, not the sharp side) and massaging down either side of her spine from poll to tail with it. I do small circles the whole way down, then move out a few inches from her spine and do it again. When she has a reaction to it, gently massage there for a bit. I watch their faces, because a lot of time you can see it in their expression when you hit the sore spot. Some of my horses really get into it and will lift their hind legs, stretch out their neck, etc to get more massage.
Also, a TENS unit is really useful for back pain or stiffness. I use a human grade unit. I got it for $100. My horses love it. Put some of your favorite liniment on the spots that you attach the paddles to so the electrical charges go to their skin and not just end up in the hair. Start on the lowest setting possible. Mine goes from 0-15 and usually the horses want it around a 3-4.
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Like these ideas, thank you!
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I tried a couple of things with my mare yesterday, and got the stink eye until I used my fingernails. Still got the stink eye, but she did raise her back and kept it up for a few seconds (she is nearly retired and has lost some topline strength over the past year.)
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