Horse 'tight behind'

[noblesteed]

THe farrier and various other horse people have said my horse is 'tight behind'. Am I correct in thinking this is to do with his stifles being a little too 'close' to his body? It results in a slightly unusual gait in his hindquarters, he walks as if he has 'pooed his pants' (excuse the expression but it's the only way I can describe it) and his hock movement can be very slightly stilted, however he jumps well and can do a decent dressage test so I am not bothered about that. He passed a 5 stage vetting and has had correctional shoeing to attempt to straighten it up.
Does anyone have any experience of horses with this conformational defect? Does it cause any problems in later life, as he is 12 now?
As he is now barefoot behind, his feet have now grown in a strange shape and I am worried that without corrective shoeing his 'condition' will now get worse, so do I have the shoes put back on? (very reluctantly I have to add!) Thanks!

 

[crunchie1]

I'm afraid without photos/video I couldnt comment on the confirmation however if you are concerned you need to get your vet to take a look and give their opinion.

Also, in terms of shoeing - speak to you vet and farrier collectively once the vet has seen your horse and get their opinion on what to do.

Good luck

 

[Allover]

Does he see a physio? If he were mine i would look into a regular massage sessions (with a sports massage therapist) and use lots of stretches to help loosen him up for 3-4 months to see if this helped him.

 

[SheadonSaffron]

I would definitely suggest getting a physio to have a look at your horse and advise on this - it is very possible that the 'tightness' is muscle tension rather than conformational defect. If it was conformational, I'd have expected them to describe him as 'close' behind, rather than 'tight'. You can find your local Chartered (i.e. fully qualified) physio at www.acpat.co.uk.
Sue

 

[noblesteed]

Maybe 'close' behind is a better expression. It is certainly conformational but as I said he passed a 5 stage vetting. He wasn't a particularly expensive horse, and we don't take competing seriously, but I do want the best for him. The farrier is somewhat lackadaisical, I asked him about his strangely shaped feet and he said 'well with his condition you would expect him to grow like that and we'll see in spring whether he needs shoes back on'.
He has had a chiro look at him after a tumble and she put his lumbar region 'back' so I might call her out again to assess for any changes since he has had his shoes off. He does improve with regular lunging, but this terrible winter has put paid to that for at least another month.
However part of me feels that if he is fine in himself not to go looking for problems...

 

[Allover]

If he has tightness issues then i would stick with a good massage therapist rather than a physio or chiro, the equine sports massge association has a list of practitioners on their website. Carrott and leg stretches will definately be beneficial if you are shown how to do them correctly. It is easy to go looking for "problems" with our horses but i find that more often than not we can make them more comfortable in their work.