Page 84 - April 2016

Change in Behavior May Mean BaCk ProBleMs in horses
Many back problems show up first as a change in the horse’s performance and/or attitude
by Heather Smith Thomas
There are many types of back injuries in horses, including acute and chronic problems, and repetitive injuries due to use of the horse. Any of these can hinder ability to perform. If the horse has a painful back, he is often reluctant to do movements that hurt and may become grumpy.
Many back problems show up first as a change in the horse’s performance and/or attitude. It may be subtle to start with, but the horse is not performing as well as he was earlier. He may be irritable about working, resenting the weight of a rider, or not travel- ing straight, or he may just be “off” from his normal performance. He may demonstrate discomfort when his back is palpated or groomed. Some horses show soreness in the saddle area, or behind the saddle as far back as over the top of the croup, when experiencing primary back pain. Resistance to saddling or to tight- ening of the girth may also be a sign of back pain.
Tia Nelson, a veterinarian/farrier at Helena, Montana, says back problems can cover a wide spec- trum of situations and present a variety of signs. “The horse may simply not be performing as well as you’d expect, or he may suddenly change behavior and start bucking. He may be reluctant to take a certain lead, or be reluctant to run if he’s a racehorse, or refuse to jump if he’s a hunter/jumper. He may not want to go downhill if he’s ridden cross country. A sore back can be very inhibiting for any athletic horse,” she says.
“Some horses resent being saddled because they know the saddle is going to cause more pain. They become cold-backed or sour about having a saddle put on their back or about having a rider get on. Identifying the problem can sometimes be a chal- lenge, however, to pinpoint where it is,” says Nelson.
The horse’s back is long, with many regions at risk
for injury, strain and pain. “I see a lot of lower back pain due to strain and also saddle fit issues. Back pain can be due to something as simple as improper saddle fit, or as complicated as being kicked or wrenching the back when slipping, falling, or just putting a foot down wrong. The back can be injured if a tied horse pulls back and the rope breaks and he tumbles backward,” says Nelson.
“If a horse’s front feet are too long in the toe, with or without underrun heels, his lower back may show compensatory pain. If one part of your body hurts, you try to protect it by taking the weight off that part. A horse trying to put less weight on the heels of his front feet will be using his lower lumbar spine too much, try- ing to shift more weight to the rear legs. We see a lot of horses that are back sore because they are actually foot
sore. As soon as we correct the foot issues, the back pain resolves,” she says.
It’s important to deter- mine the cause so that you can try to eliminate or treat it. “If it’s a poorly-fitting saddle, we need to change saddles. This is something we can fix fairly quickly, but how quickly may depend on how long the horse has been ridden with the poorly-fit- ting saddle,” says Nelson.
Veterinarian/farrier Tia Nelson uses a variety of treatments for backs, including chiropractic manipulations and acupuncture.
For proper diagnosis of a back problem, it is impor- tant to have a clinical examination and a complete history. “The history is significant because we need to know if the horse has avoidance behavior or reduced performance. Does the horse refuse to jump or won’t jump the way it used to? Does it jump differently, or
Kent Allen, DVM,
Virginia Equine Imaging,
Middleburg, Virginia, says
back problems are more
common than most people
realize. “Horses with back pain often present as avoid- ance behavior or a performance problem. The horse
is trying to avoid what you want him to do because it hurts him,” says Allen.
Diagnosis
Kent Allen, DVM of Virginia Equine Imaging, palpates the back of a horse as part of a clinical exam, which is a crucial part in identifying the cause of back pain.
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SPEEDHORSE, April 2016
equine health