Ridecamp: Re: [RC] back problems

Amy,

>>Does anybody else have any suggestions? <<

I'm very much a newbie and not a ton of experience
into horses, but my mare has had a ton of back/hind
end lameness problems since I purchased her in
November, 2000... For what it's worth this is what
worked with her...

I went through about a year with my current horse's
back problems; she's a 7 y/o mixed mare. When her
problems were diagnosed she couldn't even stand a
brush across her back. The root of our problems was a
saddle that was not symetrical. The left pad was
considerably (1/2") thicker than the right. Even after
taking the saddle off of her and riding her in a
saddle that fits her she strains her back very easily.
The first three or four months that we were treating
her back she also had EPM, so she was on pasture rest,
but my chiro came out monthly, then every other month
for four months, and now we've gone 4 months, no
problems. Side reins and circle work did little for
Star's back... what really strengthened it was tons of
hill work and lateral work on hills (leg yields in and
out of circles on hills, shoulder in, etc...) and
small cavaletti type jumps. For some reason side reins
seemed to make her back worse, maybe "forcing" her
into a frame that she wasn't happy with? I also read
the book I think it's called The horses Back, but I'm
not sure and we do the groundwork exercises every day
in that book.

Hope this helps,
Stephanie

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