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Elite Veteran
Posts: 911
 
Location: Durango CO | Anyone who had experience running and maintaining Sway back horses please chime in. Did they stay sound?Saddle and pad fitting issues besides what may seem obvious?Any maintenance issues?
Edited by Lil_Pony35 2016-12-27 9:28 PM
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 Take a Picture
Posts: 12841
  
| I would say there would be a strong possibility of kissing spines. Very painful. There are too many sound horses hanging around to invest in a swayback horse. |
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Expert
Posts: 4766
Location: Bandera, TX | I've had several that ran out for +100K on the track that I took care of. If they got the moves and the bloodlines I wouldn't hesitate. I'm currently breaking a colt for barrels that has a slight back issues. He has incrediable moves hopefully he'll make a great one cause he was bred to become one. |
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Veteran
Posts: 138
| In the Saddlebred world swaybacks are not that uncommon, most seem to stay sound and do their job well into their teens.
As a kid one of the lesson horses was swaybacked, still gave daily lessons well into his 20s. I don't remember any mention of him having issues. We all loved riding him bareback! |
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I am your favorite rash and you know it
Location: Being pushed over the edge, NM | streakysox - 2016-12-27 7:36 PM I would say there would be a strong possibility of kissing spines. Very painful. There are too many sound horses hanging around to invest in a swayback horse.
Completely disagree. There are some extremely successful swayback/butt-high performance horses on the track and the arena. Corona Cartel and many of his progeny being only one example. Lordosis and kissing spine are different and I'd take lordosis over KS any day of the week. Swaybacks may need some special tack fitting skills but other than that they're completely normal, sound, and healthy. Many jockeys have told me they love riding a swayback, say it's like being on a Harley leaving the gates, and plenty of trainers will say a swayback actually seems to have an advantage in some cases |
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 Midget Lover
Location: Kentucky | I have a mare that has a slight swayback. She is a BAMF. She was diagnosed with KS at age 19. I have retired her but before that, I would get her injected and she'd run in the 2D at large shows, 1D locally. She started showing KS symptoms when she was 18. I'm not going to keep injecting her, so she gets to live out her life in my pasture. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 690
Location: Georgia | I rode a Prime Talent that had a high butt and slight sway back. He was a QUICK little thing, got across the pen faster than horses twice his size. His back was never an issue. |
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 Not Afraid to Work
Posts: 4717
| Vanessa - 2016-12-29 11:11 AM
streakysox - 2016-12-27 7:36 PM I would say there would be a strong possibility of kissing spines. Very painful. There are too many sound horses hanging around to invest in a swayback horse.
Completely disagree. There are some extremely successful swayback/butt-high performance horses on the track and the arena. Corona Cartel and many of his progeny being only one example. Lordosis and kissing spine are different and I'd take lordosis over KS any day of the week. Swaybacks may need some special tack fitting skills but other than that they're completely normal, sound, and healthy. Many jockeys have told me they love riding a swayback, say it's like being on a Harley leaving the gates, and plenty of trainers will say a swayback actually seems to have an advantage in some cases
I agree with streakysox. The way KS is described to me, horses typically get KS where a persons seat sits because the person weight causes the vertebrae to bend and then touch. So a horse who is already "bent" I would feel would be more likely to have issues with KS. This was described to me when asking about saddle fit more my KS horse. That particular vet did not recommend a treeless saddle for a KS horse because of the weight distribution.
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 Expert
Posts: 1612
Location: Cocoa, Florida | I had one that I sold and still tune on that has a sway back and it's getting worse because she's letting him gain so much weight and loose his top line that when I put my treeless saddle on him i feel like it almost folds in more! However, it doesn't seem to have effected his performance tremendously at all.
There are many exercises you can do to help their backs, my chiropractor showed me some things to do to help. |
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Married to a Louie Lover
Posts: 3303
| Good friend of mine's awesome now retired rodeo mare is bad swayback.
We had her saddle fitted at a big race and the guy from Martin wasn't quite sure how to handle it, was blown away when we told him the 1D trophy saddle he was fitting to her she'd won just the previous summer. She had a built up felt pad her dad made to lift the saddle up. Once retired she was declared sound for breeding even. Never had any issues related to her back directly. I think she was 18 or 19 when they retired her as hock and knee injections weren't lasting more than a month or 2 and it was just getting too hard on her.
So yes, it's possible. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 950
Location: MO | My Boyfriend's horse is swaybacked. He runs locally 1D/big shows 2D with him at 200 pounds. When I run him, he has been in the 1D at big shows. He is awesome. Needs hock injections every other year but has not had one issue wuth his back...ever.
I do love to see the look on some people's faces when he is walking him around with or without a saddle. He looks like he is pregnant even when in awesome shape and then goes out and runs the way he does. :):) |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 911
Location: Durango CO | Thanks guys. Can i send someone a pic to resize for me so you can see what her back looks like?Also what's the best way to keep their back " up and toght" for lack of phrasing. |
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Take a Picture
Posts: 12841
| It seems that a swayback is fairly common in Standardbred Horses. For the most part Standardbreds are not used for barrel racing where you slide into a turn, gather up and push off. These horse perform quite well whether racing or showing. Since the objective of control of a barrel horse is to round histheir back, it may be a little difficult for the horse to round his back. A horse that is running down hill or is hip high is not particularly a swayback horse. (I avoid those, too). Most swayback horses' withers and croups are close to the same height and have a dip in the middle. Google images of swayback horses. Many of the images are extreme but some peopleare not and will give you an idea of what this condition looks like. They are not running downhill or hip high. |
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I just read the headlines
Posts: 4483
| Martha Wright ran one and won a lot of money on him. I can't remember his name but I believe when Sheri Cervi was young, she ran him too. I know Ed said they had to have a special saddle made for him. |
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 I Prefer to Live in Fantasy Land
Posts: 64864
Location: In the Hills of Texas | My sister bought one when he was in his late teens and he was one of the soundest horses ever. He was from Arizona and ran in the WPRA circuit and stayed competitive into his early twenties. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 672
| stayceem - 2016-12-29 11:34 AM
Vanessa - 2016-12-29 11:11 AM
streakysox - 2016-12-27 7:36 PM I would say there would be a strong possibility of kissing spines. Very painful. There are too many sound horses hanging around to invest in a swayback horse.
Completely disagree. There are some extremely successful swayback/butt-high performance horses on the track and the arena. Corona Cartel and many of his progeny being only one example. Lordosis and kissing spine are different and I'd take lordosis over KS any day of the week. Swaybacks may need some special tack fitting skills but other than that they're completely normal, sound, and healthy. Many jockeys have told me they love riding a swayback, say it's like being on a Harley leaving the gates, and plenty of trainers will say a swayback actually seems to have an advantage in some cases
I agree with streakysox. The way KS is described to me, horses typically get KS where a persons seat sits because the person weight causes the vertebrae to bend and then touch. So a horse who is already "bent" I would feel would be more likely to have issues with KS. This was described to me when asking about saddle fit more my KS horse. That particular vet did not recommend a treeless saddle for a KS horse because of the weight distribution.
From my research and questioning multiple vets on kissing spine, the cause is most often due to a horse repetitively being used/ridden with his head up and a hollowed out back. Being ridden like this they don't engage their abdominal muscles and round out/protect their back. Weak abdominal muscles makes it harder to round out their back and if not corrected by a rider that is aware the problem compounds.. |
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