Re: RideCamp: girthy horse

[Ruth Bourgeois <ruthb@tdsi.net>]

At a lesson last fall, I learned a very interesting, useful bit of info
that may help your girthy horse:

The instructor watched me tighten the girth on my mare, who pinned her
ears a bit and looked annoyed when I was tightening the girth. She asked
me if the horse had had any farrier work done recently and I told her
yes, just had her shoes pulled and feet trimmed a couple weeks earlier.
The instructor told me that sometimes when the farrier pulls the front
foot forward and rests it on the stand to work on it, if they pull it
off to the side a bit instead of directly out front of the horse, it'll
pop a little vertebrae out. She showed me the spot behind the horse's
elbow that can be effected by this. Then she showed me how to pick my
horse's front leg up, pull forward, then back towards her chest, to
realign the vertebrae properly. She told me that this happens with
shoeing work sometimes, and the horse is definitely hurting when we
tighten the girth. It's not that big a deal to "fix", using the proper
technique (an equine chiropractor could show you how to do this). I did
both my horse's front legs as the instructor showed me to do, and my
mare was no longer sensitive about being girthed up. And, she walked out
more freely for that lesson than she had when I'd rode her just the day
before! 

I'd always used TTEAM touch on girthy, cinchy horses and that helps too.
But after that lesson, I've watched very carefully when my farrier picks
up my horses' front feet. He's pretty good about not pulling the leg out
to the side at all, but if the horse acts up at all, or tries to pull
away, I can see where it'd be easy for that little vertebrae to pop out
of place. Maybe Jim P. or Heidi can comment on this - explain it better
than I have here.

Ruth


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