Ultrasound of the equine shoulder by Dr Oakley
Beach body
Tuck is enjoying getting back to work with long lines and Equiband to regain his beach body. Not bad for a 25-year-old rehabbing from colic surgery!!
William’s Warm Up - Shoulder Sway
This is a great warm-up exercise for the shoulders. Put your fingers on the withers and pull them towards you. Then use your forearms ( and core!) to gently push them away. If you have a light touch, you will be able to feel the scapula moving on top of the ribs.
Continuing William’s Warm Up. This is a part of the routine I do before I ride that reminds him that his body can move in different ways. “ Wag the Horse” is usually the first thing I do to make sure the whole spine is moving. ( shown in a previous video) Here I am demonstrating lateral bending of the rear end. What moves and what doesn’t ?
Last week we started from the end of “William’s Warmup”, today we will start from the beginning. The series of mobility exercises that will be presented take about 5 minutes and I do them before tacking up, to remind his body that it really can move in different ways.
The specific exercises will vary from horse to horse depending on their body issues.
“Wag the Horse “ involves holding the base of the tail and gently wiggling his body. You can see that the movement goes all the way through his body to the head and neck. The purpose is to check for relaxation of the muscles and see if there are areas of resistance to lateral movement. I wiggle him 3-4 times to check mobility. The video is 8 seconds long, in case it is showing up as an endless loop 🙂
Equine vets, mark your calendars! Join me January 10 for Wednesday Night Live 7 pm EST or on demand. Ultrasound of the Foot and Pastern. RACE approved.
Rehab is a perfect time to improve your horse’s suppleness, strength and coordination. William has been working hard at his rehab exercises while recovering from a foot injury. It took him 3 months to be able to do this exercise in a full body, correct manner and he has now learned to shift his weight to his hindquarters.
This “simple stretch” is a actually a very complex movement. The steps are:
1. Pick up foot and flex knee and elbow
2. Pull shoulder forward very gently
3. Extend lower leg forward gently while asking the horse to shift the weight to the diagonal hind leg and not lean on you
**Keep the hoof as close to the ground as necessary to avoid tension on the back of the leg.
** Be sure to engage your core to protect your back!!
If your horse is very flexible or hypermobile, do not encourage more shoulder stretch.
In this video, I flexed William’s knee and elbow and he initiated the rest. This is the day he learned to transfer the weight to his hind quarters and it was the first day he did it under saddle at the canter. Time spent on rehab exercises is rewarded under saddle!!