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Veteran
Posts: 172
 
| I have a horse that has been examined by the vet. He is sound, sane, and healthy. Vet checked my equipment and all is a good fit. Only downside is the horse's conformation isn't the best. He has a little bit of a long back and his back gets sore. The vet said to put him on muscle relaxers for a couple of weeks. Does anyone have any suggestions or products that they recommend to keep the soreness away? |
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 Thick and Wavy
Posts: 6102
 
Location: Nebraska | make sure your saddle tree isn't cracked! Mine was and it took forever to find. The vet and I couldn't figure out why my mare was still back sore. We did a few weeks of muscle relaxers, time off, injecting hocks, ect. It ended up being the saddle tree the whole time. |
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Veteran
Posts: 172
| brlracerchick - 2015-04-22 12:43 PM
make sure your saddle tree isn't cracked! Mine was and it took forever to find. The vet and I couldn't figure out why my mare was still back sore. We did a few weeks of muscle relaxers, time off, injecting hocks, ect. It ended up being the saddle tree the whole time.
Dumb question - how do you tell if it's cracked other than the obvious looking on the under side of the saddle? |
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Thick and Wavy
Posts: 6102
Location: Nebraska | Mine when I set it on the ground, put my knee on the seat and pulled the horn would move. There was a definite difference between doing that with the broken saddle and one of my normal ones. I ended up finding the crack on the tree where the fenders are, so I could see it too.
ETA: my saddle had never fallen, been fallen on, or had anything happen to it that would even hint that the tree could be broken.
Edited by brlracerchick 2015-04-22 12:05 PM
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 Veteran
Posts: 178
| Have your horse xrayed to check for kissing spine. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 639
Location: God's country...aka TEXAS | joplin21 - 2015-04-22 12:17 PM
Have your horse xrayed to check for kissing spine.
^^^THIS!!!! A lot of horses don't show a lot of symptoms and then the back x-ray shows kissing spine. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 1182
Location: Do I hear Banjos? |
One other thing to consider. When you ride does he hollow out his back? Do you have to turn tight circles to slow him or get his attention? What sort of riding gets him sore?
A horse that hollows his back, puts head way up...or that you have to circle to show down/get attention...they can often sore themselves that way. |
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 Expert
Posts: 3815
Location: The best kept secret in TX | All I can think of is a poor fitting saddle or a cracked tree.
If the saddle doesn't make contact down his whole back the saddle bridges and only touches the front and back of the horses spine. Not all of it. Therefore it creates a bridge over the horses back and puts pressure on the middle of the horses back thus creating a sore back. A bridge pad can fix this.
Here is a link to a saddle fitting guide. http://www.circley.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/common-sense-saddle-fitting.pdf
For sure check to see if the saddle is cracked as well. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 953
| Buy a BOT blanket  |
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  Sock eating dog owner
Posts: 4557
Location: Where the pavement ends and the West begins Utah | Body wash. Vinegar,alcohol,witch hazel , absorbine. One cup or 16 oz. Of each mix in warm warm water up to 5 gal. Apply on already wet horse.use all or some and save for next day. Works like a full day massage. If using rim shoes on hind feet pull and use something else.They will cause a horse to sore up. |
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Expert
Posts: 4766
Location: Bandera, TX | Cowpie gave great advice! Esp on the rims, some horses need them and others just can't tolerate them due to their style.
Have the vet check the electrolytes to rule out that as an issue. Put epsom salt paste made with SNM gel on the back leave on and brush off in the morning.
I used some compounded Robaxin from a pharmacy out of Houston. The horses loved that stuff. Much easier than hitting the vein daily. Tell your vet to find info on the pharmacy. I can look once I get home tomorrow for you, PM me if you need the info. |
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Thick and Wavy
Posts: 6102
Location: Nebraska | uno-dos-tres! - 2015-04-22 9:50 PM Cowpie gave great advice! Esp on the rims, some horses need them and others just can't tolerate them due to their style.
Have the vet check the electrolytes to rule out that as an issue. Put epsom salt paste made with SNM gel on the back leave on and brush off in the morning.
I used some compounded Robaxin from a pharmacy out of Houston. The horses loved that stuff. Much easier than hitting the vein daily. Tell your vet to find info on the pharmacy. I can look once I get home tomorrow for you, PM me if you need the info.
my vet gave me robaxin as well, until we found out it was my saddle tree. |
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Expert
Posts: 1409
Location: Oklahoma | You may have already done this but also check for beans :)) |
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Married to a Louie Lover
Posts: 3303
| Turnburnsis - 2015-04-22 11:31 PM
You may have already done this but also check for beans :))
Mine will get a little uncomfortable and funny when he has one as well.
If everything checks out equipment wise and xrays show no kissing spine, I would give him some time off to heal and then bring him back in a program designed to build topline. Starting with lungeline work in a bitting rig to encourage working up under himself and then lots of long and low work. |
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 Expert
Posts: 2457
| OK - so one other thought ..
This is the only thing I can think of that is different from the above - if you're doing a lot of long trotting to get one back in shape, make sure to change which diaganol you are trotting on. If you constantly are trotting on one diaganol you will sore one up in the back.
Hope ya figure it out! Good Luck! |
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Expert
Posts: 1611
| uno-dos-tres! - 2015-04-22 10:50 PM
Cowpie gave great advice! Esp on the rims, some horses need them and others just can't tolerate them due to their style.
Have the vet check the electrolytes to rule out that as an issue. Put epsom salt paste made with SNM gel on the back leave on and brush off in the morning.
I used some compounded Robaxin from a pharmacy out of Houston. The horses loved that stuff. Much easier than hitting the vein daily. Tell your vet to find info on the pharmacy. I can look once I get home tomorrow for you, PM me if you need the info.
Ditto to cow pie and this post!
Also, what saddle pad are you using?
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Veteran
Posts: 172
| Great advice! I am using a 5star pad |
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Veteran
Posts: 172
| How do you make he Epsom salt paste with sore no more? |
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 Warmblood with Wings
Posts: 27846
Location: Florida.. | If he checks out and saddle is ok Id also give a few weeks off.. then start building up his stomach and back muscles.. do exercises to strengthen them.. work him over his back also and not hollow if he is riding that way.. a strong back can help alot.. |
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