Tight bum muscles!

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Lauren_abigail

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My gelding tends to get quite tight in his bum after hard work in the school.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do to alleviate this?

I take time in warming up and cooling him down. I was considering getting a tens machine for him, hopefully it may work some of the kinks out?

I have his back done every 3-4 months and the only thing my back lady comments on really is that he can get quite tight!
 
My mare is a bit weak and can be tight on her hindquarters at times and I try to massage her muscles in her hindquarters fairly regularly to loosen them up a bit. I did a day massage course which was good and taught the basics. I also have a equilibrium massage mitt which is handy for loosening tight muscles too!
 
Do you find the equilibrium massage mitts make much of a difference? I was debating on whether to get one but have heard mixed reviews.

I think a massage course would be great to do!
 
Vitamin E supplement. I also use a TENS machine and find Back on Track products really helpful. My horse has had real muscle tension/spasm and all of this seems to be working!
 
Just an idea, but consider the type of exercises you are doing with him in the school that might be making him sore and what you could do to avoid it in the first place i.e. rather than trying to ease the pain after the session. Think of it as going to the gym - if you got sore whenever you worked hard, even if you had a nice massage afterwards, it might make you cranky and not want to go anymore.
 
Firstly, I would want the 'back lady' to be giving me advice on why the horse is constantly becoming tight in a particular area and then how to maintain the horse inbetween visits and not just comment on the symptoms. If she isn't doing that or able to do that then ditch her and get a qualified chartered physio.

Look at his conformation.....sometimes horses aren't blessed with the best....nothing we can do about it, but at least you know the cause and can adapt work accordingly.

Look at the nature and duration of the work you do.....including the duration of each particular exercise.

Check his medio-lateral foot balance..........yes, i know you said the problem was his bum, but issues and adaptive going problems travel up the leg.

Up your warm up and cool down. Most people don't do nearly enough....especially if the horse is then expected to work hard.

Re TENS machine....they have their place but would need to see horse first; this comes back to getting a good professional to put their hands on and give appropriate advice.

Finally, any history of low grade tying-up? Any recent blood tests?
 
gunnergundog said:
Firstly, I would want the 'back lady' to be giving me advice on why the horse is constantly becoming tight in a particular area and then how to maintain the horse inbetween visits and not just comment on the symptoms. If she isn't doing that or able to do that then ditch her and get a qualified chartered physio.

Look at his conformation.....sometimes horses aren't blessed with the best....nothing we can do about it, but at least you know the cause and can adapt work accordingly.

Look at the nature and duration of the work you do.....including the duration of each particular exercise.

Check his medio-lateral foot balance..........yes, i know you said the problem was his bum, but issues and adaptive going problems travel up the leg.

Up your warm up and cool down. Most people don't do nearly enough....especially if the horse is then expected to work hard.

Re TENS machine....they have their place but would need to see horse first; this comes back to getting a good professional to put their hands on and give appropriate advice.

Finally, any history of low grade tying-up? Any recent blood tests?
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Yes I have to say I was thinking that re: back lady; I would expect her to give me further advice / exercises to do. I have been given the name of another physio who comes highly recommended so I think I'll give him a call.

No history of anything since he has been with me, all sound and no issues so far *touches wood*
 
I would make sure I was warming up and cooling down long and low.

We have a hand held massager that we regularly use, our physio tells us which areas to work on in particular, really makes a difference.

Also we have started taping the horses twice a week to help them use the muscles that are tight in the correct way, obviously through the guidance of our physio, might be worth looking into :)
 
LJR said:
I would make sure I was warming up and cooling down long and low.

We have a hand held massager that we regularly use, our physio tells us which areas to work on in particular, really makes a difference.

Also we have started taping the horses twice a week to help them use the muscles that are tight in the correct way, obviously through the guidance of our physio, might be worth looking into :)
Click to expand...

I do warm up and cool down with a lot of long and low work, however he has only just let me start to warm up with long and low (within the last couple of weeks) He just didn't get it at all before so hopefully now that I can do this I will start to see an improvement as well :)
 
Lauren_abigail said:
I do warm up and cool down with a lot of long and low work, however he has only just let me start to warm up with long and low (within the last couple of weeks) He just didn't get it at all before so hopefully now that I can do this I will start to see an improvement as well :)
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That might be the issue then? If he isn't able to go long and low before work, and between each batch of hard work, then he is probably getting too much lactic acid build up when he is working hard, thereby damaging the muscle cells, causing pain and tightness and so on in a cycle. You will probably find he is a lot better now you can do this, so maybe lots of this type of work and just reintroduce the harder work gradually (you can always check the muscles between activities too and see if they have done too much for the session). The massage afterwards (recommended above) will definitely help blood supply to the area and promote healing.
Good luck.
 
Lauren_abigail said:
I do warm up and cool down with a lot of long and low work, however he has only just let me start to warm up with long and low (within the last couple of weeks) He just didn't get it at all before so hopefully now that I can do this I will start to see an improvement as well :)
Click to expand...
That might be the issue then? If he isn't able to go long and low before work, and between each batch of hard work, then he is probably getting too much lactic acid build up when he is working hard, thereby damaging the muscle cells, causing pain and tightness and so on in a cycle. You will probably find he is a lot better now you can do this, so maybe lots of this type of work and just reintroduce the harder work gradually (you can always check the muscles between activities too and see if they have done too much for the session). The massage afterwards (recommended above) will definitely help blood supply to the area and promote healing.
Good luck.:)
 
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