The Horse's Back

Body Talk for Thinking Owners

Jane @ THB

Debunked: The Lie That’s Told About Adjustable Gullet Saddles

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One of the best innovations in the world of saddle making has been the interchangeable gullet plate in the synthetic saddle tree. I mean, there’s no getting away from it, it’s brilliant. With the removal of a few screws, every horse owner can adjust their own saddle in minutes. Easy.

saddleWhy so good? Well, they can be fitted to a lot of horses. They can accommodate the changing shape of a growing young horse, as well as seasonal weight gain and loss, or the development of back muscle through training.

So what’s my problem with them?

Unfortunately, such saddles are often accompanied by extra inventions,
this time originating in the marketing department.

Before I go on, I must declare an interest here. I fit saddles. What’s more, I fit saddles with interchangeable gullet plates. I’m not going to say which brand, because that’s not what this post is about. I say this simply to demonstrate that I’m not against adjustable saddles.

My problem is very much with the misleading statements that are made in order to sell them, and in particular the notion that these saddles can be adjusted to fit any horse. Not just a single weight-changing or shape-changing horse, or a few horses in the same yard, but any horse.

They can’t. It’s not true. They simply can’t.

 

Back to the horse’s back

XchangeLet there be no doubt that many horses experience a lot of pain from ill-fitting saddles that are too tight, or too wide, at the front of the tree. Most people are familiar with the sight of horses with white hair behind the shoulder blade, and areas of mild to profound muscle wastage.

The so-called wither profile is incredibly important for this reason. Gaining a correct fit across the gullet (and I mean gullet in the Australian sense – referring to the front of the saddle tree only, rather than the entire channel) is a highly important aspect of saddle fitting.

Yet it isn’t the only aspect. Astonishing as it may seem, horses are 3-dimensional organic structures. Yes! And they have many profiles in that area where the saddle sits.

S/W Ver: 96.66.76RThink about horses’ backs. The gullet plate matches the profile across the withers. But what about the profile along the withers, as well? Withers have different heights and lengths…

There are other profiles, too. There’s along the spine. There’s across the back at the rear of the saddle area, close to the last ribs. All of these profiles have both lengths and angles.

This is one of the reasons why many experts in the world of saddle making and fitting refer to the 9 points of saddle fitting. Several of these points involve the length and angle of the profiles I’ve just mentioned.

genesisGoing back a few years, the common view was that there are 5 points. Times have moved on, anatomy and biomechanics are better understood, and saddle design has evolved dramatically to reflect more recent ideas about how a saddle should interact with the horse’s body and movement, as well as the rider’s. And yet…

Fitting saddles isn’t like buying a pair of socks

Going by a single measurement might be OK for some things, but it isn’t for saddles. There’s more than one measurement involved, and I’m not just talking about the rider’s seat size. Think again about horses’ backs.

  • We have high withers, middling withers and rangy tabletops. High withers can extend way back into the area of the saddle.
  • Looking along the spine, we can see dippy backs, straight backs and bumpy backs.
  • Looking across the spine, we can spot angular A-frame backs and smooth, flat and pudgy backs.
  • It’s easy to spot uphill and downhill backs.
  • Not to mention short backs and long backs (or, to be more accurate with saddle fitting, rib cages).
  • And spines may have wide spinal processes or narrow ones.
  • And how about round rib cages that spring out nearer the spine, or narrow, flat-sided rib cages that drop sharply away, and everything in between?
  • This is before we even look at damaged backs, uneven shoulders, laterally curved spines, and all manner of physical issues affecting the horse, rider and the saddle in between.

Horses have a combination of these features. Many horses have one or two that can make saddle fitting a bit tricky.  Some have combinations that make saddle fitting an utter nightmare.

The saddle’s tree must reflect all those variations. It’s what makes saddle fitting such an interesting challenge, and occasionally a very hard one.

 

More on this Topic

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But what about adjusting the flocking?

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Well, what about it? Adjusting flocking is the saddle fit version of fine-tuning. It is not changing the overall fit of the saddle.

Adjusting the flocking when the tree is the wrong shape is like (ahem) whistling in the wind.

It’s like adding an extra hole to your belt in an attempt to make a pair of jeans fit, despite the fact that the waist is a size too narrow and the legs 6  inches too short.

Adjusting the flocking only works when the tree is already a fundamentally good fit. The same goes for any flocking substitute, such as risers or wedges inserted into the panels. It is not enough to make a saddle fit the horse, when the tree is the wrong shape.

The message is being massaged

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Adjustable gullet plates are now free of the original designer’s patent restrictions and a number of companies are now using them.

As already said, that’s great, providing the saddles are fitted well.

And who determines that? It can be hard to be sure when certain departments continue to make this ongoing, inaccurate claim about their brand of saddles being adjustable to all horses.

It’s marketing at its worst. It’s not just misleading, it’s plain untrue. Worse, it’s willful mis-education that leads horse owners into the mistaken belief that because they have the right gullet plate, then their saddle fits and their horse can’t possibly be in any pain. 

It bugs me that people are being misled. It bugs me far more that horses end up being the silent incumbents of a problem with so much potential to lead to back pain. (And I have worked with the results first-hand.)

As I said earlier, when the saddle fits, FANTASTIC. In fact, FANTASTIC with bells on.

And when it doesn’t, it’s the horse who suffers, no matter how many professionals are saying that black is in fact white, and that with the right ‘system’, an adjustable saddle can be made to fit any horse.

It can’t.

June 2019 update: 5 years after publishing this article, I received the following message from the Ruiz Diaz company in Argentina:

“I am part of the team producing Pessoa, PDS and Anky saddles. I just want to let you know that we have been working on our saddles for better fitting on the rest of the body and not only the withers. Thanks for your article once again, it was really nice to read your words and realize that with a wrong concept we have been saying that the x-change system was fitting every horse but there is much more apart the horse withers.”

 

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Why Thinking About Neck Threadworms Still Leaves Us Scratching Our Heads

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Less than 12 months ago, I wrote about neck threadworms and how they might be behind many horses’ frantic itching. The uptake on that article continues to astonish me. It has now had well over 60,000 visitors from all over the world and is still climbing steadily.

All text (c) Jane Clothier, https://thehorsesback.com No reproduction without permission. Thanks!

Itchy horses, it seems, are a perennial worry for thousands if not hundreds of thousands of horse owners (that’s counting the many who haven’t read the article).

At time of writing, it’s Spring in the northern hemisphere, and the reader numbers are building up again. So are the microfilariae levels.

The itchy horses are starting to scratch.

And the more I think about the neck threadworm issue, and read comments under the articles, the more I’m scratching my head.

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Who am I to write about Neck Threadworms?

Unsurprisingly, there have been a few knock-backs as well. I’m not a vet and, although I read as many papers as possible and discuss my thoughts with research vets before I post my blog articles, my assertions, which are based on observations and backed up with research, have still tickled the inside of a few noses.

To be honest, neck threadworms aren’t exactly an easy subject. Filarial nematode parasites are a complex life form so fundamentally different to those within our normal understanding. They rely on more than one host and undergo several stages in their development – they make the caterpillar to butterfly transformation look unambitious. (What, just two life stages? Onchocerca Cervicalis (neck threadworms) has twice that...)

And we are looking at not two, but three species here. The horse, the neck threadworms, and the biting midge (culicoid fly) that does the middle man part. The microfilariae leave the horse, courtesy of the midge, get flown around, travel through the midge’s body parts and enter different larval stages, and are then returned to the horse when the midge returns to ingest blood.

A lot of people are confused, and I don’t mean just horse owners. There are vets working for manufacturers of worming products who swear that their product can bump off the adult neck threadworms.

This would be welcome news to the World Health Organization, I’m sure, as decades of research have yet to find a chemical that successfully infiltrates the central nervous system of the adult Onchocerca Volvulus (the human version of the parasite, which currently affects an estimated 18 million people throughout Africa, Latin America and the Yemen) and eliminates it.

Moving on…

1. About standard texts on neck threadworms

“Oh, but those are the wrong signs for neck threadworms.” After “we don’t have that problem around here”, a lot of people are hearing this line when asking for professional help with their itchy horse. The problem, apparently, is that their horses don’t have the ‘typical’ itching along the ventral line, ie, the underside of the neck and belly.

I do wish that instead of saying, “it can’t be that, as it’s not described that way in the textbooks”, more people would wonder instead if there were something that could be added to those textbooks.

Textbooks tend to be based on research that other people have done. In the case of neck threadworms, there is relatively little out there. This means that a lot of information that finds its way into books and training is already reasonably dated, and not exactly far ranging.

Here’s how to put together a program of treatment for your horse with neck threadworms (and maybe the Itch) – How to Fight the Big Fight Against Neck Threadworms

2. Neck threadworms may be the same worldwide, but biting midges aren’t

This is something we’re especially aware of here in Australia, where geographical isolation has led to the evolution of some remarkable indigenous species, found nowhere else in the world. Our ticks are different. Our flies are different. We have marsupials.

Most of the research on neck threadworms hails from the US. When findings of research involving vectors – the biting midge ‘middle man’ – are applied worldwide, it’s important to remember that some conditions can be ‘similar but different’.

Indeed, when we look at research on Onchocerca Volvulus, neck threadworms’ well-studied cousin that affects humans, we can come across statements like this one: “Many simuliid species have been incriminated to a greater or lesser degree in the transmission of O. volvulus, their relative vectorial roles contributing to shape diverse transmission patterns across endemic areas.” (Basáñez M-G et al, 2006.)

Say what? Different flies are active in different areas and create different patterns of transmission? I think the point is made well enough.

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3. The biting midges must be studied too

If we consider the possibility of different culicoides acting as vectors, then other differences come into consideration as well.

European studies into Sweet Itch (Summer Itch, Queensland Itch) have shown that different types of biting midge have a preference for different parts of the horse’s body.

What? But that’s breaking the rules, surely? Yup. That’s what nature does – makes its own rules.

4. More rule breaking

It doesn’t stop there: studies of cattle in Darwin (a hotbed for livestock research due to its tropical climate) have revealed the presence of more than one type of Onchocerca, with at least two species of the parasite being found in the ‘wrong’ animal.

This suggests that one or more species of biting midge are ‘cross-contaminating’ the parasite by moving from one species of mammal to another. Possibly. But the point here is that variation exists – we can’t assume that because a few studies have identified certain conditions, these are replicated globally.

5. Neck threadworm life cycle: what happens and when

Another point that isn’t clearly answered by existing research is how much the microfilariae travel. If the adult worms are living in the nuchal ligament, that is where they give birth to zillions of microfilariae. Some flies must bite in this area in order to ingest the microfilariae and take off with them. It then follows that there are millions that don’t get ingested, and die off. It’s the die off that causes the itching, both during normal times and after treatment with ivermectin.

So here we have itching that’s not on the ventral midline.

It’s more remarkable that horses do itch on the ventral midline. If adults live in the nuchal ligament, mostly, and microfilariae are dying on the ventral line, either the microfilariae are traveling long distance, subcutaneously, or there are adults living in the ‘white line’ that runs from the the sternum to the umbilical area.

At the very least, we can say that this is problem isn’t confined to the underside of the horse.

If your horse has the Itch, Queensland Itch, Sweet Itch, Summer Itch, Summer Sores… sometimes it’s really neck threadworms. Read the original article, The Disturbing Truth About Neck Threadworms and Your Itchy Horse

6. And look at the behavior of itchy horses

Whatever the country, whatever the culicoid species, the horse that’s going insane with itchiness can only ever scratch the parts that it can reach. Most horses can easily scratch their toplines on branches and fences, whereas far fewer are seen scratching their bellies on the ground. Horses will always break the skin in any area that they scratch in earnest, and consequently the blood attracts the biting midges to that area.

As the immune system goes into stratospheric hypersensitivity, intense itching can become an all-over sensation. Remember having chicken pox, or measles? Or ask any person who has such an uncontrollable immune response.

Let’s not overlook the possibility that horses displaying lesions on their undersides are in the more advanced stages of parasitic infestation, or are rugged (fewer areas are available for the midges to bite), or even – taking the earlier points on board – that they live in areas where local midges prefer that part of the horse’s body.

7. And let’s not forget owner behavior

Who is that calls the vet, and why? Not the horse… An owner who notices their horse scratching its mane and tail head is way less likely to contact a vet than the owner who sees bald, scratched patches on their horse’s underside.

It’s the difference between “dang, my horse has the itch” and “what the heck’s my horse doing, rubbing under there?”

It entirely makes sense that the more advanced cases, with all over itching and rubbed patches, are more likely to be seen by vets, and to make it into veterinary research. (Note: in research, not all horses whose nuchal ligaments were dissected at necropsy displayed ventral lesions, far from it, although many tested positive for Onchocerca Cervicalis.)

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Where to next, with neck threadworms?

Well, what do you think? I know what I think. I know what I’ve experienced with my horse.

I trust my observations. I trust the research that I’ve read and that fits closely with my observations. And no, I’m not cherry-picking research to prop up my own emotionally driven ideas.

At present, other explanations aren’t available, but lots of questions remain. Looking at the ones here, it’s easy to understand why research is such a long and painstaking process – it’s not possible to go from A to Z or even A to D without covering the intervening steps.

For the horse owner, just one thing is clear, and that is that we have a horse being driven mad by itching. So, please do stick with ivermectin for identifying the initial reactions. Stick with ivermectin or moxidectin/praziquantel wormers for reducing the problem (moxidectin will not cause the itching response post-worming).

And remember, that not every itchy horse has neck threadworms.

 

 

© All text copyright of the author, Jane Clothier, www.thehorsesback.com. No reproduction of partial or entire text without permission. Sharing the link back to this page is fine. Please contact me for more information. Thank you!

 

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Reference

Basáñez M-G, Pion SDS, Churcher TS, Breitling LP, Little MP, et al. (2006) River Blindness: A Success Story under Threat? PLoS Med 3(9): e371. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0030371

 

 


 

 

Buying an Ex-Racehorse: Can You Spot the Major Physical Issues?

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The ex-racehorse: a huge heart, a strong work ethic, great athleticism, wonderful sensitivity… and, potentially, a host of physical issues. Are you able to identify the problems so often present in these superb equine athletes?

A sports career can be tough on the body, as any committed athlete will admit. No matter how successful the athlete, the wear and tear and dings and dents will just keep on coming. It’s an inevitable consequence of making the body work at its outer limits of strength, speed and endurance: there are going to be times when the body just can’t make it or just can’t take the pressure. And that doesn’t count the spills and collisions that happen along the way. The same is as true for any top athlete as for any trainee who doesn’t make it past the foothills of success. And the same is definitely as true for racehorses as for any human Olympiad.

All text (c) Jane Clothier, https://thehorsesback.com No reproduction without permission. Thanks!

 The damage carried by ex-racehorses

racehorseJust how much damage an ex-racehorse displays in its physique depends on several things:

  1. the methods of training used,
  2. the speed with which the training was introduced and stepped up,
  3. the athletic qualities of that horse’s body – conformation, maturity and sheer unquantifiable athleticism,
  4. the treatment given and recovery time allowed for injuries at the time they occurred – assuming all were recognized (not all are visible or obvious),
  5. the demands placed on the horse in terms of number of races and recovery time between races,
  6. the length of time spent in racing, enabling the above to occur,
  7. the horse’s mental and emotional ability to cope with physical problems (it varies enormously).

exracer1As in any sport, there are things that are done well, and things that are not done so well. Informed training and misinformed. Well judged and misjudged. Just as in the rest of the equine world.

Some thoroughbreds come out of the racing industry in fine fettle and have splendid second athletic careers in high end competition. Many have lower level issues that come right with some rehabilitation, leaving them suited to successful but less demanding careers. Others may be more suited to recreational homes, where life is one long pleasurable trail ride.

Unfortunately, many thoroughbreds with moderate problems land up in homes with people who are quite unaware of their horses’ issues.

What would you look for when buying an ex-racehorse?

pleasurehorseWhen working with clients, I see a range of issues that come up again and again in ex-racehorses. I also see plenty of unsuspecting owners who didn’t know what they were buying at the time.

There’s a huge amount of love around, but the horse is often showing discomfort or pain, and the owner is only just realizing that (a) their horse may not be able to participate in the activities they’d hoped to experience together, and (b) getting the horse to a point when they can deal with these issues may cost considerably more than the horse did upon purchase.

It’s a sad situation. I believe that when looking at ex-racehorses, even those that have already had a couple of non-racing owners, you could do a lot worse than check for the physical issues listed here. Even better, get a vet to check the horse… but even then, you could run through this checklist before getting the vet in.

Don’t forget to read this guest post: 8 Golden Rules for Helping Your Thoroughbred Get Right Off The Track

There’s functional and not-so-functional when it comes to ex-racehorses

Not all the physical issues are deal-breakers, of course. A horse can have one or two and still be able to function perfectly well (although if it’s straight out of racing, some rehabilitative work is going to be necessary). A big part of your buying decision will come down to:

  • the number of issues you can identify,
  • the severity of those issues,
  • what has already been done to assist the horse with those issues,
  • how much they will affect the kind of riding you wish to do, and
  • whether YOU are capable of providing the rehabilitation and retraining needed to support the horse through those problems – or if not, whether you can afford to pay somebody else who can.

The list that follows is by no means exhaustive – there are always more problems, especially as a combination of different problems can throw up further secondary issues. And I don’t go into hoofcare, which is worthy of another introductory article in its own right. However, it’s a major issue, so I’d recommend learning more about that too.

What I’ve decided to focus on here are problems that you can identify quickly and relatively easily. Most are visually identifiable. You can then get a more knowledgeable person to help you assess the horse or get a vetting completed before making a decision. Better still, do both.

 

1. Sacroiliac Damage – Not Whether it’s There, but is it Slight, Bad or Appalling?

This problem really is the number one, as every ex-racehorse has damage to the ligaments in this area. Depending on severity, there can be lesions that have healed, or lesions that have resulted in lasting weakness.

Frequently, when damage to the ligaments is  severe, there’ll be further changes to the pelvis that are also visible. These may may or may not have the same root cause (see 2, below). One general rule, though, is that the horse won’t be symmetrical.

SAMSUNGMajor damage can rule out a future athletic career, while moderate damage may require rehabilitative work to strengthen the back and prepare the horse for future work. Minor damage isn’t necessarily an issue once the ligaments have healed.

Check for: asymmetry of the tuber sacrales (the two bony ‘pins’ of the croup), with one side being more than 5mm higher than the other. The horse may walk with one side of the pelvis lifting higher than the other – a hip ‘hike’. The muscle development over the glutes on top of the hindquarters may be uneven. These horse are nearly always cagey about picking up a back foot – they’ll swiftly lift it really high and then lower it into position. The horse can also find it hard to stand square, instead standing with hind feet close together – one toe may be angled outwards. Always look for problems with the lumbar spine as well (see 3, below).

 

Sacroiliac dysfunction2. The Pelvis Can Be Equine Ground Zero

As well as sacroiliac problems, ex-racehorses can have other structural damage to the pelvis. Some of it you can see, some of it you can’t. The most important thing to do is check the pelvis for overall symmetry. What you’re checking for isn’t just pelvic rotation, ie. one side being higher or further forward than the other, but also distortion.

Distorted PelvisIn horses that have had heavy accidents at a young age, the pubic symphysis (the lower cartilaginous join between the pelvic halves, directly between the legs) hasn’t formed properly. The pelvis may be forced wider due to impact or stress, and this part never joins.

What problems does this cause? With a severely distorted pelvis, a horse can’t work equally well on both reins and may not be able to canter at all on one rein. These horses also have a higher risk of having hidden stress fractures – hairline fractures that can worsen after a further fall or trauma later in life.

Indeed, make sure that all the pelvic ‘bony landmarks’ – the point of hip, point of buttock, croup – are actually present. Sometimes fractures lead to ‘knocked down hips’ or one tuber sacral may have dropped due to a fracture of the pelvic wing.

Check for: Pelvic symmetry, by checking the positions of the bony landmarks. If you know the horse and it’s safe, stand on a box a few feet behind to take a look down the back of the squared up horse (if it can square up, that is). Otherwise, hold a mobile phone directly overhead to get a straight-down-the-back photo, ensuring it’s dead center. ALWAYS STAY IN A SAFE POSITION – CLIMB ON A FENCE TO LOOK, WHATEVER. JUST STAY SAFE.

 

© All text copyright of the author, Jane Clothier, www.thehorsesback.com. No reproduction of partial or entire text without permission. Sharing the link back to this page is fine. Please contact contact me for more information. Thank you!

 


3. Heading North, South, East or West… the Lumbar Spine

If you’ve found any sacroiliac or pelvic issues, you’ll probably find problems in the lumbar spine too. Lateral imbalance in the pelvis will, more often than not, rotate the lumbar spine to one side or the other. Lumbar issues can also be found all on their own.

Lumbar 1A long-term rotated lumbar spine will usually have some fusion between the vertebrae, and/or overriding dorsal processes (the part of the vertebrae you can feel). Fused areas are painful for the horse while they’re happening, and OK once the fusion is complete. But if fusion cracks, it can once more be extremely painful. Many horses compete just fine with some fusion, but if it’s severe, there’ll be problems with flexion, both vertical and lateral.

Check for: Use your hand to check the lumbar spine for the ‘lumps and bumps’ that can indicate overriding processes. Looking from the side, is the lumbar spine raised – ie, a roached back? This will usually tilt the pelvis back if it’s a longer term problem. If the pelvis is tilted forward, you’ll find there’s often a longer dip in front of the croup – the sacrolumbar gap is larger than normal.

 

knees4. Knee Bones: Take a Bag of Chicklets and Shake Them Up

Or so said Tom Ivers, one of the original equine sports therapy experts and a racing trainer to boot. Equine knees are delicate and complex, with many small bones (carpals), and undergo a lot of stress in a racing career.

Problems such as slab fractures and bone chips in the carpal bones happen due to over-extension (when the joint is bent back slightly) at high speed, or from constant loading on the same bend. Then there are more complex fractures, when the carpal bones break into more than two segments.

Check for: Puffiness around the joint, especially in front, due to previous swelling in the joint capsule. Old bone chips and slab fractures may have been dealt with at the time, but there can be lasting damage within the joint that leads to osteoarthritis (carpitis) later on.

 

buckedshins-15. The Stresses Left by Sore Shins

An ex-racehorse may have had an episode of sore shins in its early career. This is stress to the periosteum (the soft surface layer over the bone) caused by concussion – the body’s response is to lay down extra calcium to strengthen the bone. The bone recovers, but anywhere there’s been remodeling, there’s weakness in the bone.

If it’s severe, there may be an undiagnosed stress fracture that can go catastrophic under high pressure at a future date.

Check for: a curvature on the front of the cannon, which indicates that the problem was bad for heavy remodeling to occur.

 

bowed tendon6. Tendons, Tendons and More Damaged Tendons

Injuries to flexor tendons are extremely common amongst racehorses, with the deep digital flexor tendon and superficial digital flexor tendon being the most affected. These can be relatively minor lesions, which heal up quite nicely, to more serious ruptures that end a racing career.

There is always a risk of re-injury due to the weakness, and in serious cases, a second rupture could be catastrophic. It often depends on the quality of treatment and length of rest given at the time, as well as re-conditioning before returning to work.

Check for: a thicker area of the tendons indicates an old injury that has healed, while a curvature along the length of the tendon is a classic ‘bowed tendon’, sign of a far more serious injury.

S/W Ver: 96.66.76R7. Small but Vital: Fractures in the Fetlocks

Fetlocks are vulnerable due to hyper-extension, when the back of the fetlock comes too close to the ground when all the weight is borne on one foreleg at high speeds. Extremely high forces occur at the back of the fetlock and pastern as the horse lands the forefoot. Poor hoofcare, in the form of ‘low heel, long toe’ imbalance, also plays a significant part in this.

With fractures, the big, big issue is the type and location. A damaged sesamoid (the two small bones at the back of the fetlocks are the sesamoids)can play havoc with the vital suspensory ligament. So if you see signs of a problem, you’ll always need to know more, and that will usually mean involving a vet.

Check for: Sesamoid fractures will show up as ‘over-rounded’ or ‘apple shaped’ fetlocks, where swelling from an old injury has disrupted the joint capsule and/or extra calcium has formed around a restricted joint. Are the fetlocks of the forelegs the same size and shape? If one joint is larger and rounder, or if the ligament at the back of the foot feels thicker, with puffiness above the back of the fetlock, be suspicious.

Original article by Jane Clothier, www.thehorsesback.com posted 9 Feb 2014. All text and photographs (c) Jane Clothier. No reproduction without permission, sorry.

 

S/W Ver: 96.66.76R8. The Stifles Cop It, Nearly Every Time

There are numerous causes for stifle issues in ex-racehorses, but you can take the view that if there’s a problem anywhere in the hindquarters, the stifle usually suffers. This includes any pelvic imbalance that leads to unequal loading of the hind limbs, never mind the forces of running on a unilateral bend…

Then there are the rotational twists that can happen in collisions and on bad ground. There are so many ligaments around this complex double joint that it really isn’t hard for it to get compromised.

Check for: A regular click as a hind leg starts to swing forward. This is the patellar momentarily catching, which can happens due to the lateral imbalance (causing misalignment in the femeropatellar joint). Other signs are visual: distension (swelling) of the joint may be visible from the side-on view, or from the front looking back towards the tail, depending on which part of the joint has been affected (femeropatellar or femerotibial).

 

Hocks9. Bringing up the Rear: Hocks Are Vulnerable Too

The hock comes under major stress due to being so involved in providing propulsive power in the gallop. As a major hinge joint, it is central to jumping out of starting gates/barriers, when it’s subject to the load of almost the entire horse. In the gallop, it must alternate between being compressed to absorb concussion, being rigid to build energy, and then extending fully to dispel energy and move the horse forwards.

Frequently, it’s doing this while subject to uneven loading on a bend. Then there are the unplanned twists and traumas. Well-conformed hocks may deal with this pretty well, but over-straight hocks and ‘cow hocks’ mean that the joint is less able to withstand high levels of work. It’s common for DJD to develop in the lower bones of the joint, especially on the side that’s on the inside of the bend the horse raced in.

Check for: look for puffiness on the face of the joint. Also look for bog spavins – these are specific fluid bumps on the front of the joint, which indicate underlying issues. Bone spavins are their bony equivalents, being hard bumps lower on the face of the joint, which indicate the presence of established DJD (arthritis). Also, listen for a crunching noise or a crack when the hind foot is lifted.

S/W Ver: 96.66.76R10. A Crash and Bang on the Shoulder

Racehorses can experience awkward impacts at the base of the neck, above the point of the  shoulder. It can happen when bunched-up horses collide or run against railings, during a fall, or through everyday routine, such as a severe knock against a stable door. One outcome can be damage to the supraspinous nerve, which runs over the face of the shoulder blade (scapula).

When damaged, this can lead to wasting or even paralysis of the muscles over the shoulder blade itself, which is a problem, because these muscles stabilise the shoulder joint. This condition is known as ‘sweeney’. Mild cases usually recover, but more severe cases can be left with permanently wasted muscles. With reduced function in one shoulder and a shortened stride, the horse won’t be suited to demanding sports.

Check for: a lack of muscle over the shoulder blade itself. This is more than just tight muscles – the spine of the shoulder blade will be visually obvious and easy to identify through touch.

And There’s More… There’s Always More

S/W Ver: 96.66.76RIt’s hard to know where to stop with an article like this, but I hope this is a good start when it comes to assessing a horse. You may be thinking that many of the problems are those you should check for in any new horse purchase – and you’d be right. However, anyone who works regularly with ex-racehorses will recognize that there are certain sets of issues that come with these former athletes.

What I haven’t covered: neck issues are common (calcification at the top of the nuchal ligament, misshapen atlas and atlanto-occiptal junction, etc), hidden stress fractures (radius and tibia are most common, but also the scapula… and others), the fractured ribs that come with sideways impacts in a race, misalignment through C6-T4, and quite a few more… but all are harder for the non-professional to assess.

Other information is more of interest to people working in the field. For this reason, I’m adding some links below. Please feel free to mention your own in the Comments…

To finish off, here are two horses that raced in Australia, where it’s common to train horses at the very racetrack where they run most of their races. In the state of NSW, the horses run clockwise (the bay), while in the state of Victoria, they run anti-clockwise (the chestnut). A view straight down the ‘unstraight’ spine can tell you so much!

 

spines

 

Has this Article Helped with your Thoroughbred?

If so, you can help me to help horses by making a one-off Paypal donation towards the site’s running costs.

 

Now check out this article OTTB rehabilitation: 8 Golden Rules For Helping Your Thoroughbred Get Right Off The Track

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Revealed: the Common Equine Arthritis You Won’t Read About in Textbooks

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elbow-header2

 

Sometimes, a person from outside a profession successfully identifies something that has been unnoticed, overlooked or wrongly assessed for a long, long time. Coming from another direction, they see something that has been hidden in plain sight, simply because nobody looked there before.

Update: this post was written with Sharon’s support in 2013. Finally, in 2022, Dr May-Davis is publishing her findings. This article will be updated with full details once her paper is in print in a peer-reviewed journal.

© All text copyright of the author, Jane Clothier, https://thehorsesback.com. No reproduction of partial or entire text without permission. Sharing the link back to this page is fine. Please contact me for more information. Thank you!

 

One lady who’s working in the field

If you’re looking for a different set of eyes for equine musculoskeletal pathologies, they don’t come much sharper than those of Dr Sharon May-Davis. Few people have the razor sharp eye she has for a hidden pathology or condition in the horse.

Teaching biomechanics, Sept 2013
Sharon, seated, teaching biomechanics, Sept 2013

Sharon is also a biomechanics expert and – significantly – a practical anatomist. She has been conducting private equine autopsies for many years – it’s not for nothing that she’s been labeled The Bone Lady and Equine CSI.

She also uses these 2-3 day dissection workshops to teach equine professionals and horse owners more about how their horses move and the damage their bodies can incur as a result of breeding, illness, injury or work.

Sharon is therefore uniquely placed to provide a source of raw data that is all but unparalleled.

Evidence from the dissection table

Some years ago, Sharon noticed an unusual action in the elbow of horses. She mentioned this to qualified practitioners and was informed that this action was quite normal. Not convinced, she began videoing horses prior to dissection and, within a short period of time, was able to match this action to a change in the elbow.

Humerus, radius and ulna, showing damage to cartilage
Humerus, radius and ulna, showing damage to cartilage

Not to beat around the bush, it’s an unusual form of degeneration in the horse’s elbow joint that involves all three bones. It’s a form of osteoarthritis that strikes the humeroradial joint and the ulna, causing deep and dramatic gouges into the cartilage, and eventually eroding bone.

When the joint is opened up, blood is frequently found in the synovial fluid (haemarthrosis). The fluid also displays decreased viscosity.

This is more than a little bit odd, as arthritis of the elbow is supposed to be rare in the horse.

Yet Sharon has found it to be present in numerous horses that have been euthanized under veterinary supervision for completely unrelated reasons.

Note: that’s not just some horses, but many.

Do you know where the nuchal ligament attaches on the cervical vertebrae? You think so? Evidence from the dissection table might prove you wrong – read more about Sharon’s findings on the nuchal ligament’s lamellar attachments…

This equine arthritis is visible in the living horse

The vital connection from video to dissection has enabled Sharon to indicate the presence of the elbow osteoarthritis in the horses she had been treating as an equine therapist.

It’s easy to spot, being a noticeable jarring in the elbow as the horse moves downhill – a kind of double action. Significantly, it’s what can be termed a gait anomaly, rather than lameness.

Does it sound – and look – familiar? It’s very likely that you’ve seen it in horses before and wondered what it was. The fact is that it’s so common, many people think it’s a normal action. It’s not. It’s a form of equine arthritis.

Sharon tells us she has seen the elbow problem in all types, breeds, sizes and ages of horses. Some affected horses have been elite dressage and eventing competitors. Interestingly, the problem is only presenting in ridden and driven horses.

If never worked, horses appear to remain forever free of this particular joint change.

Why the fuss – isn’t this just regular arthritis?

No. Arthritis of the horse’s elbow is considered to be rare in equine veterinary medicine.

How it should look: healthy radius and ulna (unridden horse)
How it should look: healthy radius and ulna (unridden horse)

The key to why it doesn’t often get diagnosed and is considered rare could be the absence of visible lameness. The arthritis identified by Sharon does not cause a distinctive lameness in the horse, although it does bring on a notable gait change, with the double step in the joint’s motion on the downhill.

Riders of such horses often just feel that their horse is a bit ‘off’, feeling a hesitation in the movement, but without being able to define the point of origin.

There are a couple more reasons why it’s not very visible: first, the action of the elbow is highly integrated with the overall shoulder action, and second, the massive triceps muscle has a further stabilizing effect on the joint.

Radius and ulna of ridden horse, showing cartilage wear and blood in joint
Radius and ulna of ridden horse, showing cartilage wear and blood in joint

And even if the elbow is explored, the relatively tight joint space means that degenerative problems are rarely seen in diagnostic imaging, although inflammation can show up in thermographic images.

When, unusually, a problem has been recognized and vets have attempted a corticosteroid injection of the joint (which happens to be the most difficult joint to access), blood has been found to be present.

A closer look at Sharon’s findings

Sharon May-Davis first presented some of her findings into elbow arthritis at a conference in Australia in February 2013: the Bowker Lectures at the Australian College of Equine Podiatherapy. Presenting alongside Prof Robert Bowker and Dr Bruce Nock amongst others, she discussed the club foot in the horse, and noted how the elbow degeneration she observes on the dissection table is always worse in the forelimb with the more upright hoof.

If the condition is bilaterally present, it unfortunately appears worse on the side with the slightly upright or higher hoof. What’s more, and according to Sharon, this also applies to the limb where an inferior check ligament desmotomy (surgery undertaken with the aim of correcting an upright hoof) has taken place and the ligament has later reconnected.

She has, as already mentioned, since established that it can occur in any ridden or driven horse. Here, she describes the problem in her own words.

“The action looks like a slip and or clunk into the shoulder or a shudder or a sliding / slipping action. It depends upon your perspective. The actual change in the action begins when the foreleg is in the ‘Stance Phase’ during the stride as the limb goes into the posterior phase of the stride. It is more obvious going down a hill.

“So far, 100% of ridden horses exhibit this condition to a varying degree (under dissection). Horses not ridden and with no abnormalities do not exhibit this condition (under dissection). Horses in harness also exhibit this condition.

“What does the joint look like? There appears under dissection to be substantial degradation in the cartilage of the humerus, radius and ulna.

“Most horses appear to handle this condition and continue with a normal life if not pushed to extremes. Although this sounds career-ending, in fact it is not. Once the horse gets through the worst of the wear pattern they re-settle in the joint and continue on with work.

“High level competitors require joint support to help sustain the elbow and other joints that may compensate for the change in action.

“Horses that jump are more inclined to land with straighter forelimbs. Be mindful that jumping and downhill work could possibly make the condition worse.

“Riders often feel instability in the horse’s forelimbs when traveling downhill and some even question the horse’s proprioception.

“Bodyworkers massaging the triceps (particularly the lateral triceps) actually exacerbate the condition as the massage releases the cast-like formation that this muscle provides.”

Here are some more examples of the elbow in action.

More research is needed, but so is support

Humerus and radial bones of ex-racehorse, showing arthritic wear
Humerus and radial bones showing arthritic wear

Despite finding and documenting a huge number of dissection cases involving this particular issue, all unaided and unfunded by outside bodies, Sharon has consistently met with brick walls and skeptical responses when she has put the information forward to relevant authorities.

Why? It’s not as if she’s new to this. She has previously identified congenital malformations in the caudal cervical vertebrae of thoroughbreds, and in the atlas of Spanish Mustangs, as well as asymmetries in the femur structures of racehorses due to racing (published in the Australian Veterinary Journal).

She isn’t looking for funding (although she obviously wouldn’t say no), but would like to have this research taken up for the benefit of all ridden and driven horses. The sooner the problem is recognized and investigated, the sooner that episodic pain in the horse can be recognized, with appropriate joint support or rest given where appropriate.

And the sooner we can all learn more in our great drive towards improved equine health, the better. As Sharon says,

“In truth, we are still in the dark. Seeing it is one thing, analyzing it and providing a preventative program is something totally different.”

 

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More Information

Shop for the Best Discounted Pet, Equine, & Livestock Supplies!Sharon May-Davis, PhD, M. App. Sc. (Ag and Rural), B. App. Sc. (Equine), ACHM, EBW, EMR was the Equine Therapist for the Modern Pentathlon Horses and the Australian Reining Team at the Sydney 2000 Olympics. She has worked with the Australian Champion from seven differing disciplines and has a particular interest in researching the musculoskeletal system. She also conducts clinics and seminars in relation to her work and regularly presents in the Northern and Southern hemisphere.

 

 © All text copyright of the author, Jane Clothier, www.thehorsesback.com. No reproduction of partial or entire text without permission. Sharing the link back to this page is fine. Please contact jane@thehorsesback.com for more information. Thank you!

 

10 Ways to Seriously Mess Up When Buying a New Saddle

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saddle-shop-header

Not long ago, I was having a think about the reasons that people buy saddles that so obviously don’t fit their horses. This is a regular spell of head-scratching that occurs when I’ve worked on a few horses with back and postural issues stemming from saddle misfit.

Now, in my view, a saddle fit session is a pretty critical part of buying a saddle.

It goes without saying, surely, that there’s a living, breathing horse out there in the paddock or stable and that the new saddle needs to fit onto his back – and that this suitability really does need to be established before the saddle is purchased.

Yet, many people still buy a saddle and only afterwards try to establish whether it will fit their horse or not.

It’s all a bit of a gamble – not only with their money, but with their horses’ comfort and back health.

All text (c) Jane Clothier, https://thehorsesback.com No reproduction without permission. Thanks!

What on earth is going on here?

Good question. Either people are genuinely unaware of the reasons for fitting saddles, or they do know but are marching to a different, louder drumbeat when they go shopping.

To make more sense of this, I decided to apply the psychology of consumer buying behavior. At the simplest level, there are five stages involved in a purchase:

  1. Need recognition (we feel the need for a new saddle),
  2. Product research (we learn what’s out there),
  3. Evaluation (we consider everything learned through our research),
  4. Purchase decision (we carefully select the most suitable saddle), and
  5. Post-purchase behavior (we react positively or negatively to our choice).

english-saddlesWell, how tidy is that? Too tidy, maybe. The problem is that we all behave erratically when shopping, being influenced by our  personal biases.

These are preferences, beliefs and thought processes that hold up our personal view of the world – and our illusions. Biased behavior includes:

  • Cherry-picking information by being selective over what we see, hear and read,
  • Yielding to peer pressure,
  • Favoring someone’s viewpoint because we like them (whether we know them or not – take celebrity endorsement),
  • Supporting our self-image (actually how we think other people see us),and
  • Being totally inconsistent in our behavior, just because we do that.

We’re none of us exempt from this. Being emotionally charged, biases are very motivating.

What happens is that they can leapfrog us from need recognition straight to purchase decision, making us ignore the research and evaluation findings or leave them out altogether. (And this forms the basis of every advert you’re ever likely to look at.)

10 Emotional Saddle-buying Decisions

Here are 10 ways that you can succumb to biases that skew your saddle purchase decisions.

"I could be that good too...where's my credit card?"
“I could be that good too…where’s my credit card?”

1. Your instructor or trainer uses that saddle

Whoah… this could cause some shouting, but instructors, trainers and clinicians don’t always know all there is to know about saddle fit, even though they know HUGE amounts about riding and training.

No offence meant, honestly, but some riding instructors give their students terrible advice about saddles. They say one fits, when it doesn’t. Horse owners just follow this well-meant advice, because they really believe in and admire their instructor.

Some trainers and clinicians even use a favorite saddle on all their own and their clients’ horses. It suits the rider, so… Some of these cause damage and the clients often don’t realise until someone else points it out at a later date.

(There’s a variation on this one, too: attend clinic or do course, then buy saddle. No further comment.)

2. Your knowledgeable friend owns that saddle

A lot of horse-related knowledge is passed between friends. When it’s good, it’s good, but when it’s bad, it can be very bad.

No matter how much you like your friend, there’s a high chance that their physique and their horse’s is likely to be different to yours. And your friend will very likely ride differently too. These three points are frequently overlooked.

Saddler who learned from his father, who learned from... Photo (c)Nicola Valley Museum
Saddler who learned from his father, who learned from… Photo (c)Nicola Valley Museum

3. There’s a local saddle maker in town who makes that saddle

He lives close by and tells the local horse community all about what he does and what he makes. He’s knowledgeable, he loves his work and, dang it, he’s such a nice guy.

It’s possible, just possible, that he may know more about producing beautiful hand-crafted saddles than equine anatomy and biomechanics, having learned more from his father and other craftsmen than from modern schools of equine thought.

And, obvious as it sounds, there’s a difference between a saddle-maker and a saddle-fitter, although there are definitely plenty of saddle-makers who are also great saddle-fitters.

But at small town level it can, and does, go either way. (You can probably tell I’m trying not to offend anyone here.)

Can the buyer tell the difference? Frequently not, as so many people buy an expensive, custom-made saddle that doesn’t fit, but which can’t then be returned. (If this isn’t the case with your locally made saddle, then brilliant – I’m genuinely pleased for you.)

A famous rider's name doesn't doesn't make this saddle fit
A famous rider’s name is on the saddle, but it still doesn’t fit

4. That saddle is named after a famous rider

There are many saddles out there named after a top-of-their-game rider – it’s celebrity endorsement with bells on.

It’s a funny thing how what works for them makes that style of saddle suitable for hundreds of thousands of other riders and their horses, of all shapes and sizes.

And the buyer’s riding will improve to an unfathomable degree… won’t it?

Aspirational shopping aside, some of these saddles are amazingly good, but (no naming names now) not all of them are. This is particularly true if they’re occupying what we can call the ‘value end’ of the market.

This saddle fits all arabians - and is a bargain too
This saddle fits all arabians – and look, it’s a bargain too!

5. Your friend with the same breed of horse as you has that saddle

Some people constantly draw parallels between their own horse and that of a friend or acquaintance who has a horse of the same breed.

The prospective saddle buyer sees which saddle their friend has and decides it must be good for their horse too.

This is so much the stronger if the owner is much admired or is winning in competition with that saddle.

Yes, breeds obviously have prevalent conformational traits. But it’s not a given, as horses – and their riders – can be very individual.

Images of dream-like perfection
Images of dream-like perfection…

6. You’ve seen a stunning photo of that saddle in a magazine

And it really was beautiful. The horse was beautiful, the saddle was beautiful, and the rider was stunningly beautiful. An image of dreamlike perfection… in an advert. It always works, doesn’t it?

We’ll all look just like the stunner in the paradise-like photo once you buy the saddle.

No, I don’t think so either.

7. A Facebook regular recommends that saddle

We all know them and recognize them: the person who is very vocal on Facebook, being big in their own lunchtime with strongly held opinions. A queen bee, they hold forth at the center of a community of regulars who mutually reinforce one anothers views.

To the less informed reader, this verbiage may sound like unassailable fact. So when the queen bee says a certain saddle is the best and how it’s right for certain horses, her view may be perceived as being expert opinion.

(Hey, she may indeed be right, but not above and beyond someone who is standing look and assessing fit on actual, living horse – with a rider on board.)

Big brand saddle - but the design has had its day
Big brand saddle – but the design has had its day

8. When you were a kid, everyone craved that saddle

Times change, the knowledge-base grows and designs evolve. The industry moves on (although some companies don’t) and what was great back then may not be so now.

Brand names rely on consumer loyalty, but over long periods of time your loyalty may be misplaced. Formerly great brands may now be merely good, which is OK if the price reflects that change, but…

Have you noticed that people will buy used, 25-year-old spine-pinchers just because they were made by that company?

9. Your horse went better when you tried out that saddle

What? Surely this one’s a no-brainer? You’ve borrowed a saddle and your horse went better in it than in your old saddle, which was causing problems – that means the borrowed saddle is a good fit, doesn’t it?

Nope. It’s a sure-fire indicator that your horse is showing relief at not experiencing the same old pokes and pressure points when ridden, because at last somebody has taken the offending piece of leatherwork off his or her back.

What we aren’t seeing at this stage are the new problems that may emerge from this replacement saddle that may not fit, but in a different way.

It’s like repetitive strain injury – it can take time for signs of problems to become visible (although in endurance riding, problems can show up within a single day’s ride.)

10. You’ve never seen a better price attached to that saddle

In an online world, we’ve never been more able to shop around for that super-bargain.

And when we find it, it’s all so much easier to ignore any possible shortcomings. This is even more so when time pressure is involved, for instance in an online auction.

Try to bring in reason over emotion

Oh I know, it’s hard to do. We’re never going to escape the emotional side of shopping, particularly with new – or new to us – saddles.

The bigger the purchase, the more rewarding it’s likely to be.

Yet that’s all about us. Our horses are happily unaware of the thrill of shopping. To the horse, a saddle that fits will minimize the negative effects of bearing our weight on its back – while one that doesn’t fit won’t.

We owe it to our horses to make informed and well-considered decisions.

I realize that it can be hard to know if you’ve got a good saddle fitter, but involving a trained professional in the research and evaluation stage of your buying decision will certainly decrease the chances of making a catastrophic error that will cause pain and damage to your horse.

Alternatively, in this online world where you can find those superb saddle bargains, hop onto YouTube and take look at some of the excellent videos posted by professional saddlers. It really couldn’t be much easier.

 

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