Equine Sport Therapy - Further information

Should I speak to you or the Vet?

Your first line of contact should always be your vet – discuss the problem with him, ask if he thinks that your horse would benefit from a visit by me. Most of my work comes via veterinary referral and I will always liase with your vet regarding what I have found. Remember that all I do every day is look at horse’s musculature whereas vets are multitalented. In many situations the more information we can accumulate about a possible problem the easier it will be for the vet to diagnose the problem and arrive at a positive treatment.

How do I know if my horse has a bad back?

In my experience muscle spasm often does not cause a clinical lameness – rather as the rider you will feel that perhaps the horse is not quite working as well as he used to, or maybe something he earlier found easy is now more difficult. Usually the problem is more apparent in your flatwork, often work in one direction becomes significantly less easy than in the other. Trust your instincts if you feel there is something not quite right you are probably correct, remember you know your horse better than anyone else. Have faith in what you feel.

The vet says there is no obvious problem but something is not right?

Ask him if he thinks it might be a good idea to get someone to check out the musculature – most of my work comes via veterinary referrals. It gives me a much greater perception of where there might be a problem if I can discuss the horse with him prior to my visit.

How do I find the right therapist?

Over the last few years there has been a huge increase in the number of people working as ‘back specialists’ , when I started over 25 years ago we were quite few and far between. The only advice I can give is to go someone qualified and recommended by your vet or by referral. Finally they should be able to explain to you what they are doing and more importantly you should feel a positive improvement after treatment. Once again I would say go with your own judgement, finding the right therapist is a bit like finding the right trainer you should expect to feel results.

How many times will you need to come and see my horse?

Each horse’s problem tends to be unique to that horse so there are no hard and fast rules here. I think all horses benefit from being seen at least once or twice a year, and I like to see my competition horses every three or four months. Obviously if they have a fall or something unusual happens they may need to be seen more regularly – go with your gut feeling if you think your horse doesn’t feel right, get it checked out to make sure any problem doesn’t get worse. Remember muscle spasm is progressive, the longer it remains untreated the more the horse compensates for the problem and it may take longer to get him back working correctly again.

After a hard days work my horse doesn’t appear interested in work and gets grumpy, is there a problem?

This one is probably down to us and how greedy we can be. With human athletes if they over train one day they will automatically back off a little over the next few days. If we have a lesson we obviously want to get the most out of it and so often push that little bit more, by the same token your instructor will be keen to make sure you feel you have got the best out of it – but it’s the poor horse who has had to do that extra push, unfortunately he can’t say to you the next day " we worked really hard yesterday can you just ease up on me today and perhaps tomorrow so I can fully recover"?

When my horse has a break he seems to revert back to all the stiffness he had before?

Like us, if we are fit it is much easier to carry a little bit of a weakness, time off means a loss of this fitness and so any weakness will become more apparent.

If you only have your horse’s musculature checked once a year I would advise you book them in after winter. No matter how diligent we are it is always difficult to maintain fitness over the winter – reduced daylight hours and poor working conditions all contribute to a reduction in fitness. Certainly with older horses I always advise trying to keep them ticking over to maintain at least a base line fitness from which it is easier to build on when you get back to work and competition.

He’s still jumping but his flatwork is becoming terrible?

Remember that flatwork is the most unnatural thing horse’s do – they have evolved as animals of ‘flight and fright’ they are large animals so once they get rolling their momentum carries them along. When we do flatwork we slow them down and make the muscles work harder. If you find this hard to grasp, throw your hand and arm in front of you quickly, it’s very easy because the momentum carries your hand out straight – now repeat the exercise slowly, you will be much more aware of the muscles working. Running and jumping is quite natural to horses but slow controlled work requires a lot more effort.

My horse has suddenly got very grumpy – could it be a back problem?

Any change in personality or behaviour is usually due to something upsetting the horse. Unfortunately it could be a number of things, a change in home, training etc. It could also be that he is sore, all we can do is make a list of possibilities and work our way through them until we identify what is causing the problem. If I cannot find any muscle spasm it is simply one other thing we can cross off our list of possibilities.

How come my horse starts the season really well and then his performance seems to tail off end of May and June?

I wouldn’t want to make any comment about global warming, but for the last three years the ground has been quite reasonable then overnight summer seems to arrive and within days the ground goes from good to soft to rock-hard. These sudden changes mean the horse has no time to gradually adjust.

In the south-east where the ground is mainly clay the changes happen in a few days, many riders are now using pads on the feet to help relieve concussion. When I see these horses their musculature along the back is usually perfect but they are very tight through the shoulders or pectoral girdle. In ideal conditions the ligaments and tendons below the knee are supposed to act a s the shock absorbers, if the pectoral girdle is tight it means that they are struggling with the job and enlisting the help of the muscles and ligaments around the shoulder to help. Long term this will put excessive wear and tear in this area, your horse will suddenly become adverse to jumping drops and may well loose his natural front limb flamboyance.

A good therapist should be able to identify a problem in this area and eliminate a sore back as a possible cause, then liase with your farrier as to how you can shoe your horse to make him more comfortable.

I don’t seem to be progressing further with my training, where do I go from here?

As with everything there are many factors, which affect the horse’s performance, feed training, lifestyle, ability to do the job. All one can do is make a list of possible reasons and systematically go through your list crossing them off as you eliminate then as possible causes.

I have a mare that is always difficult in the spring is this seasonal?

Quite possibly, remember that the ovaries are in the lumbar region, when the mare starts to come into season after the winter and a new follicle starts to develop it can cause tension through the back, if there is already some tension there it will make the whole scenario more difficult for her. Once the weather gets warmer and she is cycling regularly it will be less of and issue. You might want to look at some of the many herbal preparations on the market to make life a little easier for her. Look at some of the best competing mares often their competition records show they do little in the spring but become real contenders by the autumn when the weather has settled and they are cycling normally.

Could it be my saddle causing a problem?

This is always a possibility and must be included in our checklist of potential problem areas. Young horses change shape quite dramatically as they mature and get fit. A well fitted saddle to a three or four year old may not be a perfect fit when the horse reaches five or six and his work level has progressed, and you are asking him to do more.