Out of interest - how often do you have your horses back looked at?

clairec1154

clairec1154

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Just had my McTimoney Animal Therapist out today to give all 3 boys a check over it's been a couple of years and it was the yearlings first experience (he loved the massage at the end!). She recommended that my main horse is seen every 3 months the old boy every 6 months and my yearling when he starts to be backed (the summers shoulder injury hasn't done much damage)

How often do you have your horses backs checked?
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We will get our horses acks looked at by a McTimoney guy asap after buying them and then at least once a yr after that. Also obv if they are having issues, have had a fall, after a break and after a seasons hunting. To us it is just standard like seeing the dentist. I am always shocked when i see friends horses with problems like bucking or somthing and they havent even thought of having the horse's back looked at!
 
It would get checked by a vet if I thought there was a physical problem.

General treatment by sports massage therapist as and when needed, as his hock problems cause a slight amount of muscle soreness elsewhere.
 
I wouldnt get a sound old horse done as i think that they could cause more problems when they start to "dig". 3 months sounds like quite a lot, but depends on how much work your horse does?
I wouldnt get a yearling's back done, imo anyways
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merlin gets his back done 2/3 times a year i think, usually at the start of the season he gets a major one done but not with a mc.tim person but a physio called ted
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Then he may get one during the season dependant on if he needs it, and usually at the end of the season when he goes out if he has been competing hard.

I think some back people are better than others, and this would affect the amount you need to get the horses back done
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My last event mare every 2 months Mc timoney as she was always putting her pelvis out, but my new boy has just been checked and was told he is so soft and flexible that he shouldn't need doing very often.
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Never unless there is a problem - diagnosed by the vet.
I bought Sienna a sports massage as a Xmas present a couple of years ago but that was for fun not a treatment.
Wouldn't entertain having a youngster done unless it had an accident. Would instantly sack any chiro who booked themselves in for multiple visits on a couple of horses.
 
Thanks for all the quick amswers, just so that you don't think I am going completely mad

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I wouldnt get a yearling's back done, imo anyways
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[/ QUOTE ]

The little man had a horrible shoulder injury in August, which caused a lot of muscle damage. I was advised by the vet to have him checked now that everything is healed. Pleased I did as he was twisted in the back and pelvis on the opposite site, which has now been addressed in a yearling friendly visit
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when we bought our most recent horse we had a saddle check and mctimony treatment.not because there was a problem but to start on the right footing.she recomended every 6 months.
 
not if there's not a problem - i'll check the back weekly, or after particularly hard/different work and look for soreness, if I've got any concern i'll call vet and get referral, also if there's odd behaviour that's lasting and not just a "one off". I've normally found back problems not through the back but as they've changed their way of working, after they've been consistently different for a few proper schooling sessions then I'll investigate. Also have had one with a tell tale sign of started to shake head terribly - normally no more than 1 a year and could always normally associate it with a cause.
 
when i feel they need it! jazz was being done every 5 weeks as she had muscle damage from a few years ago. joe it under going a course of therapy for his muscles due to his past lameness, which is done every 6 weeks by my farrier and then my back man comes and and do it a bit deeper every 3 months.

never any later than 6 months though
 
Completely depends on the horse, level and type of work and how it is going.

My eventer has just been done because he was ultra-sore after saddle fitting issues - she's seeing him again next week then he should be goog to go. Usually I get him looked at once at the start of the eventing season, once in the middle and once at the end, then not at all through the winter. But I didn't start that until he hit novice level. I will also get him looked at if he does something XC. If it wasn't fixed after 3 treatments or it came back then I'd call the vet. But for the purposes of ensuring I had max time/money on insurance I would get a check by a good back person first (and the two people I use would both tell me if they thought it needed the vet)
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ETA: If I had a happy hacker, then probably never.
 
in my opinion it really depends on what your individual horse needs. IMO often well schooled well muscled horses tend to come across less problems compared to a horse which just hacks as people seem to forget that the horse still needs to be able to effectively carry the rider which is done best through having a loose supple and strong back something which is developed through correct schooling. I find that if you have a horse competing in a demanding discipline then the use of massage therapy every couple of weeks will help keep the muscles in top form and will prevent the onset of any problems. In the average horse I never give a precise time point as it so depends upon how much work the horse is doing. What i tend to say is to have them looked at each time the schooling/training changed i.e. teaching changes, piaffe, passage etc. The horse has to use different muscles to perform new work so this is the point at which you tend to get issues. I really wish people would start looking a bit more preventatively towards back treatment and get someone to regularly maintain the horse through its career. Being proactive will help avoid any problems occuring in the first place. It is easier to prevent the horse needing to express its pain bucking thasn to reschool a bucking horse!!
 
This is absolutely fine in principle but how many of us that have our horses for hobbies know the ins and outs of all the muscle groups that our horses use when say doing dressage, when hunting, when jumping, I certainly don’t. Yes this is something my Instructor could tell me but I still think that regular checks are absolutely necessary for your everyday rider. At the end of the day these back people (which ever you use) are the experts (and qualified) in their field. Does that make sense?

So I for one will keep getting my horses regularly checked whatever.
 
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