How long does your Backman work on your horse?

Elsbells

Elsbells

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How long does your horses Backman take? Does he or she watch you ride, or watch it move? Do they manipulate or just tweak?

Why do some seem to just lift a back leg, twist it a bit, lift your cash and leave within minutes while others take an hour?

I guess I'm asking are they worth the bother, or is it just another way to part a fool from their money?

I can't see how they can do a lot with an animal that weighs half a ton, twisting its leg skllfully or not. However, a summer turned away cures most IMO.

Opinions please.
 
Probably between 30 mins to an hour but that depends on if he finds anything that needs sorting. he will generally see them walk and trot first. I definitely disagree that horse being turned away will 'fix' themselves as I have first hand experience of this NOT working! Sure, if can work if the horse just has a mild issue - ie a little bit of soreness but, if anything more then it can just get worse.

Case in point - my old pony. He is very very good for his age, no arthritis and pretty supple. However, last summer something must have happened and he had real problems walking normally - you could see he was in pain but he wasn't lame as such and some days he would actually seem ok (ish). We did try leaving him in the hope it would resolve itself and some days, as said, we thought he was right again but then the next day he would be crippled. He also started to look old - he never had looked his age and, in general just had a pained expression.

To cut a long story short we finally got our well-respected McTimoney guy out and he said he was really sore in his lower back. He worked on him for about an hour and afterwards showed how much looser he was through his back. Within 2 days pony was moving normally again and was just so much better - he put weight back on (he's lost this and NEVER drop weight) and basically was back to his normal self.

Over the last few weeks he's acting in a similar way again. We had the vet out yesterday as I was worried maybe spavin or something is causing the issue (pony is 27). Vet says no arthritis (oh and of course pony gets suspicious of vet so doesn't show ANY stiffness!) and the vet has said to get this same back guy to treat him again.

The vet is a very experience horse vet and has his own horses too. He had this back peroson to see his own horse following an incident with the farrier caused the horse to fall. The vet can't sing his praises enough so definitely sees the benefits of using him.
 
I am training to be a vet physio and we are taught for an assessment for a horse that we haven't seen before, to perform a static and dynamic assessment (ridden/lunged if necessary depending on the problem presented)
Then to do a whole body assessment including palpation of all muscles, assessing reflexes and doing joint range of motion of each joint on each limb.
Then of course there is treatment and teaching homework exercises as needed.
So all of that including history taking does take about 45mins - an hour.

However I might expect a follow up session to be slightly shorter as you know what the problem areas are

Unfortunately there are in my opinion some lazy therapists that are all talk and no action and charge the earth for the privilege. I did recently here of a therapist that claimed he had manipulated the internal organs of a horse back to their normal position...
Also we are told that we should never claim that we put a spine or a pelvis 'back in' as it is not physically possible to do so.
 
About 45 mins, she doesn't watch them move as she has treated them every 6-8 weeks for about 7 years. She works on them then uses a TENS machine on them.
 
It will depend on which horse they are working on and if they have seen then regularly.

For the first appointment my Chiropractor will see them move both in hand and on the lunge. He will also check how the saddle fits. This along with treatment will take an hour or more.
For follow up this will take about 45 minutes.

My Chiropractor is a vet so I have no problem in getting permission. Also IF he needs to sedate he can.
 
I have an acpat Physio - she watches horse walk up and down then trot then turn on a small circle and cross hind legs, does an assessment on hips and poll/atlas then treats starting at poll and working back.
Takes about an hr to hr and fifteen and horse gets done once a month at present as recovery from back operation
 
5 - 10 minutes now he treats them regularly. He has sorted problems i hadn't mentioned, the horses go better after without fail, vet recommended and treated enough Olympic horses for me not to question the session length!
 
We use a ACPAT Physio & have had one come to us every 6 months & earlier is we've felt we needed her services due to some occurrence.

She takes around 30-40 minutes to treat each horse but this depends on what she needs to do. Sometimes there is very little to do so it doesn't take so long.

She keeps records of every visit, what she finds in examination & the treatment given. She has worked closely with our vets for years & our vets have no desire to be informed of any of her visits or treatments as she is accepted by them.

She will have an overall look at horse & then have him walked in a straight line & back several times, then the same at trot. He will be turned on tight circle on both reinns to see his movement & crossing over of back legs etc. He'll do carrot stretches & she'll lift & extend all his legs. She will then do a hands on massage & feel all over his body from Poll down to rear end. She will assess any points of tension & will then use cold laser to treat the area to release the tension points. As she is treating him she will tell us what & why she is doing something. She will also tell us that he possibly hasn't been going as well on a certain rein due to what she has found & she is always right. Sometimes she finds very little to do, sometimes more & she adjusts her fees accordingly.

We consider it all part of owning athletic show jumpers who can easily strain or pull something whilst competing or just being horses in the paddock. Physiotherapy is a valued part of horse management.

There are charlotens out there who come, stand on a crate & massage a horses back with as bit of baby oil & charge you a fortune & do nothing of any value for your horse. If you use an ACPAT physio you will have a qualified & knowledgeable person treating yoiur horse.

I have had back problems for years & I've found that having physio occasionally helps me manage my condition & I believe it is the same with horses.

QUOTE:
"However, a summer turned away cures most IMO"........ it may do but I certainly don't want my horse out of work for months when with a bit of treatment he'll ber back in work in a week or so.
 
Thanks for all the Intresting replys.:)

There seems to be a great variation both in treatment and cost, which confuses me.

Someone offered me their Backman who charges £100 plus and takes an hour, while someone else on our yard uses a different guy, who takes 15 mins at best and charges £50!? Both parties swear by their Backman. :confused::confused::confused:
 
I am a Bowen Therapist and all up I try and keep everything to around an hour. This includes the assessment of the horse as well as the treatment. If I haven't seen the horse before it will be slightly longer.

It also depends on the horse. Some can handle longer treatments, some can't. For example; My TB will happily let me treat him all day if I had the stamina and time, my Andy X TB X Riding Pony will kick and bite like a trooper as soon as he has had enough.
 
Sorry I really hate the term 'backman', as there is so much more to consider than just the back, and even if there was just a back problem the rest of the body would be affected/compensate. Sorry moan over!

Our ACPAT physio is absolutely fab, she spent about 1hr30 on my friends horse who had a fair bit to work on. She seems them stood, takes history, watched them walk/trot/back up.
Spent 30mins max on my horse, as she only had one little thing to do.
 
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