In addition to what Roxanne says, check your horse's diet or do actual bloodwork for Selenium deficiency..this could be an early warning for you. Selenium is missing/inadequate in most feeds and essential in the Kreb's cycle which is the breakdown of nutrients into energy. Lack of selenium causes a build up of lactic acid which, in turn can cause tying up.
Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway. ~ John Wayne
From: skyhorseranch@xxxxxxx To: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [RC] tight rear muscles and hindend lameness Date: Wed, 15 Apr 2009 09:42:17 -0500
I have a question on tight hindquarter muscles/hind end
lameness. What usually causes it? How much time is needed off? My horse did 50
miles on flat terrain w/ some mud on Mar 28 (prior he did one LD and one hard
hill 50 in Feb/Mar w/ lt conditioning on weekends and prior to first ride, had
been in training/being ridden before I got him). He is still fairly new into
conditioning and new on trail riding in general. Tends to overwork himself. He
was pulled at the finish at the Mar 28 ride for tightness and slight hind end
lameness - he was short stepping. Did not have any other problems. Recovered
quickly at home. Gave him a week off, did one day of light pasture riding the
following weekend (didn't see/feel any problems), and then a week later took him
to a two day ride this past weekend. He did the first day, lots of sand, fairly
flat, as a 25 mile LD and slow time avg 5 mph (this is the horse that has
problems at the start, he was much better, but still overworks himself).
Finished fine. Eating, drinking, happy.
We tried another slow LD on the second day, but it was
raining and the trails became difficult. He was easy to ride and went on a loose
rein after 5 miles (at least that was positive!). At 15 miles the vet could see
something "very subtle" in hind end movement and was tighter on rt
hind. had the option for a re-ck but decided to pull. I suspect I may have
asked more of him than he can handle and will go back to LDs until I see a lot
of improvement. So do you think he is just muscle sore and is over-doing
it? I ck his muscles daily, he just seems to be the sort that might
have tight strung rear muscles? On trail he pulls a lot, jigs, and
sometimes I do one-reins tops and reinbacks to get a better handle on him. This
last ride I made sure to put a cooler and sheet on him as soon as we came into
camp - but it had been raining and would have been easy for his muscles to get
cold even while out on trail.
