02/09/2024
Examination of a horse in its relaxed posture is the very first part of my assessment when I am evaluating a patient. It is very common to see a horse at rest with a hollow back (spinal extension) where there is a dip behind the withers (and often in front of the withers as well) and a tightness along the topline that suggests the horse is braced. This is generally considered to be abnormal and detrimental to the horse’s long-term comfort and soundness because you can imagine how this extension through their topline only becomes exacerbated by the weight of a rider when mounted.
Spinal extension can be related to or worsened by pain in an area or areas of the musculoskeletal system, improper tack fit, improper housing/feeding situations, abnormal social structure within a herd (a horse that is always on alert), gastric ulcers or other digestive upset, improperly trimmed/shod feet that cause abnormal stance throughout the body, etc.
As caretakers of the horse, let’s assess and acknowledge where we can improve their comfort, lifestyle, soundness, and posture. If you are unsure if your horse is battling tension or improper posture (even at rest!), let’s evaluate together and discuss. Other very good sources available to better understand proper posture are Yasmin Stuart Equine Physio, The Balance Through Movement Method, Amy Skinner Horsemanship, Heart Equine, Tara Davis, The Equine Documentalist, and The Veterinary Spinal Compendium. I can add more sources as I remember them so that you might be able to identify a source or sources that resonate with you and your horse.
This is 6 week's change in this horse's resting posture.
By resting posture, I'm refering to how the horse chooses to stand when halted. I appreciate, as I have mentioned before, that each picture is simply a moment in time, however assessing resting posture you will help you to recognise patterns in your horse's stance.
In the top photo, you can see a loss in the horse's natural spinal curvatures. We have a concavity in front of the wither and behind the wither, with a steep drop from the top of the wither to the mid thoracic region.
This reflects that the horse is in thoracic extension (hollow) and if we add the weight of a rider to this posture, the horse will have to work harder to move from this posture towards neutral or spinal flexion (rounded) - following the path of least resistance, a lot of horses will find themselves in greater extension.
In the bottom photo, you can see the horse has redeveloped their natural curvatures, his spine is angled more towards neutral - and his resting posture opts for a longer frame.
This suggests to me from a therapy perspective, that this horse might have greater freedom and range of motion through their spine - though this should be assessed through dynamic observation and palpation to cross reference.
We can visualise the skeleton which then helps us to visualise the orientation of the muscle structures interacting within it.
Notice how the horse's skeleton in to top photo appears a little 'compressed'? Notice how the muscles of the superficial dorsal line appear 'shortened'?
And then notice the comparison in the bottom photo - how everything seems longer?
In training our eye to our horse's posture and what this means, we can then start to make even better choices for their exercise.
This means we can make effective changes to their posture, which will support their bodies for the rest of their life.
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