It’s obviously hard to say without seeing the horse, but… The best option would be to do some training, in hand, to help the horse open up through the thoracic sling, lift the spine up and lengthen his neck. Horses such as this are usually hollow or flat through the back, with the ‘upside down’ neck appearance. They are dropped through the sternum.
I would favour an osteopathic approach or a veterinary chiro who does acupuncture – massage alone will help, but not with the deeper spinal correction at the cervicothoracic junction.
Saddle fit obviously needs improving, although this horse will change shape a lot with *correct work… ALso, check for underrun heels in the fores, as these add to the poor posture and hollowing behind the scapulae.
Good luck! This is a lucky horse!

Hi Betsey,

The comments tend to come in spurts, depending on the circulation of the articles. Many people have notifications switched on, so you may get responses 🙂 If you join the FB group, lots of people there are more than willing to discuss back and saddle issues, with many of them being very qualified to do so!

Hi Lolly,

Sounds like a great dissertation! So would you find thermographic evidence useful at all then?

Hiya,
Sorry to gatecrash this Q&A you guys have going, but I’m in the middle of writing a dissertation on ill-fitting saddles and the relation to clinical manifestations of pain and back pathologies. I am using a Tekscan CONFORMat as apposed to the Pliance mat (our uni only has a Tekscan) but iv had to research papers from Hilary Clayton (she uses the pliance mat) so I can get object info on the various technologies available and there pros and cons etc. (I digress, but hang in there il get to the point) – The pliance mat I found to be superior over the Tekscan in only 1 way – it is not a whole unit like Tekscan is (picture the shape of a dressage saddle pad that’s what Tekscan looks like). The pliance mat has a gap down the middle (longitudinally along the dorsal aspect of the thoracolumbar spine) and as such, this eliminates the likelihood of false recordings of focal areas of pressure that may arise (with the Tekscan design ie; no gap) as the rider mounts (irrespective of how lightly or evenly). The downwards force of the riders weight in the saddle can cause the mats without the spinal clearance the pliance has to displace the pressure mat and thus appear to impinge the spinous processes when infact the spine has clearece its just the mat being pulled down as the riders weight is added to the saddle. Additionally, (appologies in advance if you already know this) but in response to the comment “research using a Pliance sensor mat and thermal imaging to assess saddle fit? They found that areas of pressure did not necessarily produce heat. More often pressure either side of the withers was cool, while pressure to the rear of the panels did create heat patterns. The results were inconsistent in this way” The main reason for this (and this is a commonly known limitation of ALL pressure sensing devices) they only measure the pressure perpendicular to the surface – and although perpendicular pressure is the most accurate, and its possible that pressure at an angle may be recorded, though it will likely register at lower than the true value and as such is not reliable in terms of object evidence. lastly, both the size of and spatial distribution of the sensors in each different kind of mat effects the coverage of the measured area. if sensor coverage is insufficient, total force measurements will be erratic due to inconsistencies in the number of sensors activated and small focal areas of high pressure can be missed (or as you put appear to not show any heat, which could also be possibly due to a breakdown in communications with the central nervous system as a result of chronic focal pressure causing failed motor neuron signals from the spinal cord and damage to nerve endings etc) ……….but that’s just my two pennies worth hahaha! anyway, hopefully some of that may be of interest to you guys and maybe even help……either way, I love this blog (cant believe iv only just found it) and fully support both your views and appreciate your passion.

I feel this is due to the amount of pressure being applied. Most tissue damage I found due to pressure is above 3mm. Starting there the heat also seem to increase. Some time we found that the pressure was not constant allowing the skin to cool. Also one needs to take in shearing movement of both the saddle and pad. Shearing forces can be seen ever with out a pressure map. It is notice at the back of the saddle where the hair is, shall we say sheared or rub off. You can also have this same force at work along the side of the horse where your fenders are on western saddle or your leathers on English type saddles.

Hi! It’s certainly multi-factorial and severe laminitis would have created considerable tension through the forequarters and back through pain-related tension and postural change. This horse will need rehab work to mobilise the back again and redevelop muscle. Laminiitis really does affect the whole body, as I’m sure you know!

It’s also worth mentioning, although it may not be the case here, that muscle atrophy due to saddle fit doesn’t correct simply because a saddle is taken away or the horse is out of work – rehabilitative work is always needed to rebuild the back muscle.