STRAINED PECS

[TULIP]

Horses - not mine! Anyone any experience of this? Have been working my boy long and low to help relax and build up his topline (worked a treat may I say) but, alas, seems to have strained his pectorals and to a lesser degree his serratus muscles into the bargain as has become very sensitive in these areas. Had McTimoney out a fortnight ago and mentioned it then to her but despite finding a bit of tightness down right side of neck said everything else was lovely and soft. Any advice would be most appreciated. Thank you.

 

[spaniel]

At the risk of sounding negative its probably the long and low is too long and too low. the horse needs to be able to use both these sets of muscles to lift the front end up and it sounds like he has been using them to pull himself along.

Without actually seeing the horse its hard to know what to suggest to you but i would be inclined to have someone like your trainer take a look at his way of going and then suggest some remedial schooling outlines for you to aim for in the future.

Im not suggesting for one minute that you have intentionally done this and Im not suggesting that this applies to you but if you think of the uproar that something like rollkur has caused and the way that can caused muscle damage when taken to extremes its a similar situation.

Hopefully you havent done any lasting damage but you will just have to be patient and develop a new schooling strategy for the future. Im sure you will both be fine.

 

[TULIP]

Thank you S. Will do this.