Muscle wastage behind one shoulder

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emfen1305

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My cob still has a fairly prominent pocket behind his left shoulder. I am fairly certain this has been caused mostly by my wonkiness (i have recently discovered my left hip is about 2 inches in front of my right) so basically my left leg constantly sits pretty much just behind his shoulder without me realising as all of my weight is in my right. I haven't ridden since November due to the issue causing my right hip to hurt but have started pilates and kept up with ground work and lateral work, pole works, lunging etc but the pocket is still pretty prominent. Both chiro and physio think there may be changes in his right hind due to his breed and age so I popped him on some boswelia and he seems to move better but he generally he is a sound as a pound and is able to everything I ask but they think that might be contributing to do with it too. I haven't approached the vet yet and may be some thing I consider if I reach a total dead end but just trying to strengthen him and straighten him

Currently doing carrot stretches, walking and trotting over raised poles on a fan and on straight, in hand lateral work and just normal lunging with the Harry's training aid (just loosely to make him concentrate!) but I struggle to get him to lift and use his shoulders and work over his back an I think this is probably why he's not building the muscle but I don't know what else I can do, everything I read says everything I am doing will make him work over his back but doesn't seem to be the case! I am not sure which side to work him more on (i know equal on both sides is ideal but wondering if it is better to work the right side so the left shoulder is on the outside?)

Any tips greatly appreciated!
 
My big horse was like yours - my dad mainly rides him and my dad is wonky, like yourself, which resulted in muscle wastage in Blues right shoulder.

His saddle then didn’t sit right, which made me sit wonky when I took over riding him. I was constantly having to shift my weight to the left as the saddle was forcing me to the right.

Having the saddle stripped back and refitted made a big difference. He’s much straighter and more equal.
 
blood_magik said:
My big horse was like yours - my dad mainly rides him and my dad is wonky, like yourself, which resulted in muscle wastage in Blues right shoulder.

His saddle then didn’t sit right, which made me sit wonky when I took over riding him. I was constantly having to shift my weight to the left as the saddle was forcing me to the right.

Having the saddle stripped back and refitted made a big difference. He’s much straighter and more equal.
Click to expand...

Thanks, yes I’ve been causing issues with my saddle too on left side so it’s being refitted next week but it hasn’t been on his back since November so just puzzled as to why he isn’t building the muscle still, I thought I would have seen some difference in 4 months.
 
When you're working him in hand, how straight is he *really*? It can be quite easy to do a lot of exercises thinking that they will help straighten the horse, but actually we're letting the horse do them slightly wonky.
If you walk him I'm hand on a smallish circle, are his hind feet being placed in the tracks of the front? Or are they intermittently off to one side? Are his front legs doing a lot of work under his body or are they stretching out in front of the movement...etc etc. Really analyse his movement and ask yourself whether he truly is straight and forward using his back legs to push and balance from. If he is then call the vet. If he isn't then work on that for a bit and then reassess?
 
DabDab said:
When you're working him in hand, how straight is he *really*? It can be quite easy to do a lot of exercises thinking that they will help straighten the horse, but actually we're letting the horse do them slightly wonky.
If you walk him I'm hand on a smallish circle, are his hind feet being placed in the tracks of the front? Or are they intermittently off to one side? Are his front legs doing a lot of work under his body or are they stretching out in front of the movement...etc etc. Really analyse his movement and ask yourself whether he truly is straight and forward using his back legs to push and balance from. If he is then call the vet. If he isn't then work on that for a bit and then reassess?
Click to expand...

That is a fair point, he was very wonky when I got him and I think he has made me wonkier and I’ve not been quick enough (or strong enough) to correct it. He does track up straight but the physio said she would like to see him use his shoulders more which will extend his stride slightly as his action doesn’t match the back but he’s built quite downhill and narrow in front.

Do you have any tips for getting him to stretch forward without falling onto his forehand? I’ve tried poles in a line that get further apart and just driving him forward but don’t want to push him into the forehand
 
I quite like to bring the horse onto a circle and then ask for a little inside flexion. When they soften and start to take the contact forwards, let the reins go gradually.

You don’t have to go to the buckle straight away - you can ask them to stretch a couple of inches then take the reins back up and Repeat until they’re lovely and loose and the nose is as low as you want.

Then I like to play with the head position. High and round, low and round, a little in front of the vertical, on the vertical etc...
 
It's more about getting him to rock his weight onto his hinds....it's hard to say without seeing him tbh - his front hooves should be landing sort of in line with where the end of his nose is, and should start lifting as the shoulder catches up with them. So exercises depend on whether he is cramped up through the top line (down placement in line with head but leg is under body for large proportion of the stride), or is on the forehand and/or blocking through the shoulder (down placement not in line with head).
Generally if you sort out the relaxation over the top line and the use/straightness of the back end then the shoulders sort themselves out, but the conformation of some horses make it more difficult than that (like my big horse at times :rolleyes:)
 
Interesting. Mine has some similarities and it’s really important that I try to work him straight. My ins also rides him regularly and that does help. Sounds like you are doing all the right things (plus Dab Dab makes a good point).

Saddle fit is really important too. I’ve got a small shim on the front left to even up the fit, we started out with thicker ones but as he’s built up muscle there I’ve been able to reduce it and hopefully we’ll remove it if he truly evens out. It’s quite a slow process though but partly that may be due to my wonkiness getting in the way!
 
A lot of horses will have uneven shoulders it's not uncommon, it can be caused by saddle fit, the horse not using that front leg as much as the other one, often foot confirmation can also play a role in this, often on the week side the hoof will be more upright, in regards to saddle fit you may need to shim that side because if there is a dip the saddle will naturally sit deep in the dip and then prevent the muscle from developing.

I would buy a flexicurve measure you get them from wh Smith it's like bendy ruler, you place it just behind the shoulder then place it on a piece of paper and draw the line inside and date it, then just do it every few months and you can then see if it's improved or if it's getting worse.
 
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Flexicurve is a good one for really seeing improvement - or not. My mare had an under developed right shoulder from day 1 (pre work under saddle) & it improved loads after her hocks were injected and got worse quickly when she hurt the suspensory in her left hind.
 
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