Strengthening a weak hind leg, back, core & a fat tummy!!

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chestnuttyy

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Could really do with some help...

My 8yr old TB was off work for 2 weeks as he had a very sore back behind the saddle area. Had the physio out to work her magic 2 weeks ago and have had the saddle re-fitted with a prolite multi-pad & sheepskin numnah. Since then we have been hacking out in straight lines focussing on long and low. Basically, his right hind is weak and he is compensating with his near fore. As a result his back muscles have developed wonky and he doesn't work well over his back generally.

Physio came back out on Monday and he is no longer sore (yay!). She advised doing lateral work with him - leg yields, increasing and decreasing circles to help strengthen his back leg. In addition to his leg I want to help build up his back muscles generally and encourage him to work properly over his back. His core is clearly weak as he carries his tummy so low (he looks like he's in foal some days!). He struggles with contact and has a tendency to tense up whenever I trot; as a result I ride with a very light contact.

Can anyone give any suggestions?

Thank you :)
 
Lunging in an equi-ami or similar a couple of times per week will help. You will need to work on the largest circles you can to start off with, though. This will help in both strengthening his back muscles (improving topline) and helping him accept contact. Providing there is nothing else lurking, you may find that now his saddle no longer hurts him, he will start to accept the contact.

Also, transitions, transitions, transitions. Up and down within a few paces.

HTH.
 
Hereshoping said:
Lunging in an equi-ami or similar a couple of times per week will help. You will need to work on the largest circles you can to start off with, though. This will help in both strengthening his back muscles (improving topline) and helping him accept contact. Providing there is nothing else lurking, you may find that now his saddle no longer hurts him, he will start to accept the contact.

Also, transitions, transitions, transitions. Up and down within a few paces.

HTH.
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Thanks. I was lunging in an EquiAmi prior to his time off, but I'm not 100% sure I'm fitting it right. It always looks 'front heavy' and as though the part that goes through the roller rings is sat a bit high. I've lost my CD that came with it too :(
 
Lunge WITHOUT any sort of contraption until you are ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN he is not in pain or else you will cause him more as he compensates in ways he wasnt before in order to work in a "shape" dictated to by this kind of lungeing aid.

Lunging IS good but at this stage don't restrict him in any way as you are trying to build up ALL his muscles. Isolating muscles only causes weaker ones somewhere else. So just lunge with one line normally and ask for transitions evenly on both sides.

Lateral work is very very important and is the most beneficial way of getting a horse engage weakened or rested muscles as it exercises the obliques and also encourages them to round and step under and eventually helps with collection. Definitely agree with your physio there.

I would find a good instructor in your area who can work with you on these and to get him moving and engaging. Always useful to have someone on the ground who can help you and your horse especially when you are bringing one back into work. It's worth it as they can pick up on things that you may miss when in the saddle :)
 
Lunging, hill work and poles, try not to let him hollow at all as this only makes the belly worse as he is not using his abdominal muscles while he is hollow, it will take time so just do a bit at a time as he will struggle, use lots of walk to trot transitions really short ones to get his hind end working, and try and get the trot once he is soft in your hand in the walk,my horse had a similar problem and 9 months on he looks so different and can work in a consistant outline in walk and trot the canter is getting there.

Carrot stretches are brilliant side to side and between the front legs, I used to do them at least 4 times a week, get the physio to show you how to do them properly.
 
Thanks, I'm planning on involving my instructor asap - I should have mentioned this!
In terms of lunging - if I lunge without the EquiAmi he sticks his head right in the air as soon as I ask him to trot, and I am worried about him developing muscles in the wrong places (eg under his neck). I don't think he's in pain anymore and my physio is fairly certain the previous back pain was caused by the saddle not being fitted to reflect his wonky back.
I will start doing some hill work. Is it best to walk up and down on a long rein? How often? for how long?

Thanks :)
 
Pinkvboots said:
Lunging, hill work and poles, try not to let him hollow at all as this only makes the belly worse as he is not using his abdominal muscles while he is hollow, it will take time so just do a bit at a time as he will struggle, use lots of walk to trot transitions really short ones to get his hind end working, and try and get the trot once he is soft in your hand in the walk,my horse had a similar problem and 9 months on he looks so different and can work in a consistant outline in walk and trot the canter is getting there.

Carrot stretches are brilliant side to side and between the front legs, I used to do them at least 4 times a week, get the physio to show you how to do them properly.
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Something else I forgot to mention! we do carrot stretches every day to help with suppleness.
In walk he will work in a really nice outline, tracks up and uses his back end well. In trot, it all goes straight to the front end.
It may be that when I school him again with the saddle fitting properly that he will be a lot better
 
Thats good the stretches will really help.
My horse had a weak back and a hanging belly also caused by a badly fitted saddle it was too tight at the front, my physio told me to lunge with a bungee between the front legs to encourage long and low, and to put a tail bandage behind his bum just above the hock and tie it to the surcingle I found this better than the pessoa as the back bit is not attached to the bit so no jabbing in the mouth, making the circle big so push the trot on then reduce the circle keeping the impulsion in the trot keep doing this pushing him out then bringing him in on a circle it will help him track up and lower his head, also try to get him tracking up on a large circle when he is try making it smaller but keeping him tracking up behind.
 
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:) thanks. The tail bandage idea is an interesting one, I may give that a try and see how he responds. How long did it take you to get your horse from weak backed and hanging belly to where he is now? How much work did you do each week? I almost want to put some sort of programme together
 
My young cob was very very on the forehand and hyper mobile. I had an instructor recommended to me who works with physios doing remedial work. My lad wasn't engaging his tummy muscles at all, he was using his head and neck to go forwards - basically leaning forwards and then just swinging his back legs along rather than lifting them and stepping.

1st step was to get the abdos working and building up the nerve synapses. We had to start on a hard surface (so he could feell the rebound of his feet against the ground) with two poles several paces apart. We had to go up the the first pole and then halt directly in front, using your body to block if necc and get a sharp halt. If he was a bit far off I rolled it towards him so when we walk on again he has to take a step over the pole, then walk on to the next one. Then turn around and come back down them. We had to do it 10 times, then have a breather then 10 times again at least twice a day. It was much harder for him than you would imagine.

Once we could achieve this without sending poles flying we moved on to a halt pole, then two walk poles to encourage forwards movement followed by another halt pole, this is harder because the tendency is to go onto the forehand with the two walk poles. Again 2 sets of 10 at least twice a day. We also had to do shoulder rocks (front feet square and gently rock horse side to side from the wither to encourage stabilizing shoulder muscles to activate) and tail pulls to start activating the muscles in the back end, to start with you couldn't see anything, after about 2 weeks you could see muscles moving with each pull.

We are now moving onto strengthening work, so are doing walk poles without halting to encourage stretch and regular rhythm both hand and ridden and trot poles in hand. Every so often we go back and do some stop start poles just to keep him working correctly.

It has taken a long time but the difference is amazing, his belly has lifted and his back is getting stronger and he doesn't hollow in trot. It has taken a long time but as my boy is only just 5 its worth it. Its also nice to do something with him every day and he seems to enjoy it.
 
chestnuttyy said:
Thanks, I'm planning on involving my instructor asap - I should have mentioned this!
In terms of lunging - if I lunge without the EquiAmi he sticks his head right in the air as soon as I ask him to trot, and I am worried about him developing muscles in the wrong places (eg under his neck). I don't think he's in pain anymore and my physio is fairly certain the previous back pain was caused by the saddle not being fitted to reflect his wonky back.
I will start doing some hill work. Is it best to walk up and down on a long rein? How often? for how long?

Thanks :)
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Sticking his nose in the air when asked to trot is a big indicator that he is unfit and tight somewhere in the back... This is exactly when you should NOT use an equiami... If they are not strong enough to carry themselves yet, using one of these is really counter productive. You need to persevere with transitions on a free lunge. Be patient. Once the muscles have come back, and he can carry himself on a single lunge-line, only then consider the equiami.

It saddens me that so many resort to these lunge-aids before a horse is ready to use one. It's like asking us to do 100 push-ups before we can even do 5. Really mean.

Don't worry about the development of muscle under the neck... This is because he is still weak... Once he gets fitter and can carry himself better this will become less noticeable as his legs, loins, back and neck muscles strengthen. Make sure you are lunging from the nose to ensure that centrifugal forces are working with you and the horse. That's all the support you need when bringing a horse back into work. Make sure it is a taut line and that you can control transitions well. This is a form of art in itself and you will achieve good results. Give it 6 weeks of consistent work. Only then start considering the equiami if you need it.
 
Magicmillbrook your physio sounds amazing. I've had similar issues, my ex brood mare was very weak behind, dragged herself along and bunny hopped in to trot, and was crooked too with a weak pelvis. You may be lucky, but prepare yourself it has taken several years to make a big difference for us. We have one natural advantage living on a hill in the Chilterns. I can't hack without going up and down a very steep hill at least four times a ride. Other exercise that we have been given by physics are using a line of cones to bend around, in hand in walk, decreasing distance as she became more supple. Circles in hand five sets of ten, starting large. Quarters in. And there was a brilliant one in Kelly Marks' recent members magazine. Set out three blocks (those stumpy ones for jump poles are ideal) in a triangle. Walk towards the block at the apex of the triangle, straight at it, and at the last moment select which way to go. Horse will use hind legs then to step sideways. That one is ridden. Good luck, and don't forget to get your saddle checked regularly as horse will change shape as he strengthens. Also get checks from the physio.
 
Chestnutty its taken me about 9 months he looks totally different now, I had a horse that poked his nose hollowed his back and shuffled along most of this caused by a too tight saddle and sore back, I lunged quite a bit first of all just encouraging his head to drop and getting him to do a bigger stride, I then bought him a new saddle that fits and did the same concept when riding, he can now walk and trot in a lovely outline and he is really engaging his hind legs and stepping through, the canter is getting there but it is going to take time as he finds it hard work, my horse now has no hanging belly and you can see the muscle line along his tummy, because he is now lifting his back and using his back legs, as long as you know his pain free and you work with your physio he will improve with the correct training so hopefully this time next year you will have a different horse.

I did 6 days a week lunge twice a week for about half and hour, then riding for about an hour sometimes a bit longer on the other days,I used to find the schooling easier if I did a short hack first I sometimes used poles on the lunge and riding.
 
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nich said:
Magicmillbrook your physio sounds amazing. I've had similar issues, my ex brood mare was very weak behind, dragged herself along and bunny hopped in to trot, and was crooked too with a weak pelvis. You may be lucky, but prepare yourself it has taken several years to make a big difference for us. We have one natural advantage living on a hill in the Chilterns. I can't hack without going up and down a very steep hill at least four times a ride. Other exercise that we have been given by physics are using a line of cones to bend around, in hand in walk, decreasing distance as she became more supple. Circles in hand five sets of ten, starting large. Quarters in. And there was a brilliant one in Kelly Marks' recent members magazine. Set out three blocks (those stumpy ones for jump poles are ideal) in a triangle. Walk towards the block at the apex of the triangle, straight at it, and at the last moment select which way to go. Horse will use hind legs then to step sideways. That one is ridden. Good luck, and don't forget to get your saddle checked regularly as horse will change shape as he strengthens. Also get checks from the physio.
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That sounds interesting - we are not allowed to do too much bending work yet because of his hyper-mobility, we are working mainly on stability, I am looking forward to doing different exercises. I had to have a saddle made to fit my fellow. We are on 3 monthly checks and he has needed it adjusted every time so far, it didn't help that he was grossly overweight when I got him.
 
Really useful thread thanks. I have the same problem due to weight and now it's shifting and we're getting fitter we do need to tighten/lift the stomach as he pulls from the front too but we have moved recently to a yard on a hill - it's brilliant! We have lots of hack options but all involve different gradients of hill at some point and he's starting to get fitter and some muscle definition and I do want to also do some school in hand work over poles etc and lateral work to get him stepping under with his back end more.

I have a good book called Groundwork Training for your Horse by Lesley Bayley which is all sorts of different practitioners giving egs of groundwork to do for different reasons
 
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