Chunk missing before the withers???

Roasted Chestnuts

Roasted Chestnuts

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My mare is coming back into work and today i took off her rug to work her and I noticed in front of her withers there seems to be a big dip in her neck almost like the muscle has just collapsed.

For some reason i noticed it very much today, cant think If I have noticed it before, and also her skin looks very 'loose' almost like she is dehydrated but she always has access to fresh clean water either in the field or in the stable and gets fairly sloppy feeds.

After she was ridden their were 'wrinkles' all over her and her neck has masses of them almost like her skin was hanging off her.

Shes looking a bit light of condition at the moment but no bones are sticking out and she is getting two feeds a day, access to grass and hayledge and stabled at night at the mo to get her off the grass. She is bright and raring to go. plenty of oomph and stamina despite a light working winter due to injury.

I am thinking of adding Oil to her feed as of next week (paid) to see if I can bulk her up a bit as my other horse is cereal intolerant and they are fed in the field in the afternoon by my field mate and they invariably swap feeds several times :o

Any suggestions???
 
She sounds quite dehydrated to me and me being me I'd have the vet out to check her over. I'd also be checking there isn't anything nasty in the water troughs in the field and that if she has an automatic waterer in the stable it is working okay.
 
Sounds strange, but i vaguely think i have heard before of someones horse having this- the wither bit sounds familiar??

Can you take a picture?
 
I know of it as a "broken neck". It is a lack of muscle in that area. Generally caused by tight shoulders. Is she prone to being tight in the front end? Loosening work through chest and shoulders should develop that line of muscle again.

A surprising number of horses do have this though.
 
I don't know. I have 40 years experience with horses and this would make me get the vet out. I also would not be working her until you find out what it is. Excellent advice above about the water troughs. Do they need cleaning? Hope you get to the bottom of this.
 
The skin thing is dehydration for sure but the 'chunk' missing there is common and is a lack of muscle and as crazyfreisian said it can be caused by tight shoulders/back, standing in a broken forward position. I see it most often in tbs and polo ponies. It's nothing to worry greatly about but more work on the lunge to loosen everything up and supple will help.
 
Thank you everyone :)

The water troughs are tubs that I need to check on a daily basis to see what the water levels are at and are cleaned regularly, same with the stable she gets a large tubtrug full of clean water (Im not posh enough to have auto drinkers, I do wish tho lol) which is cleaned everyday as she dunks her hayledge in it :)

Re the tightness in the shoulders, the work that she has been getting I havent felt or notices any tightness either under saddle or n the lunge but I may not have been paying attention so i will maybe lunge her tomorrow and look specifically for it although i have to say I am fairly observant for stiffness with my old boy having arthritus but well all miss things so will reassess.

If all the above doesnt ring bells vet will be out by the end of the week :) Oh and I will take a pic and post it later :)
 
my first question about the dip would be what rugs is she in. I have seen loads of this type of dip caused by rugs sitting into the withers. Rugs with no nexts are particularly notorius for causing it - but I also found that the Rambo rugs with the diagonal fastening caused the rug to be pulled tight in this area. They then restrict the muscle from working. Removing the rugs and putting the horse isn a totally different type along with feeding hay/feed from the floor and general correct fittening work will bring it back quite quickly.
 
Sounds like what happened to Gaz's horse (on TO). I can't remember what the outcome was with that though (so not very helpful from me! :p ). But could be worth asking him (not sure if he's on HHO?) or someone else may remember what that turned out to be?
 
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