Consider Concussion - helping your horses to cope with the hard ground

We have been fortunate in the UK to have had some beautiful weather during the last couple of months ☀️

Unfortunately for our horses this means that their sodden paddocks from our very wet winter quickly turned rock hard, lumpy and also slippery 🙁

🔺One of the problems I have been seeing over the past couple of weeks since being back out treating horses after lockdown restrictions were lifted has been horses feeling very tight in the soft tissue due to concussion.

🔺With the ground being so unforgiving, our horse’s musculoskeletal systems are having to try and absorb the concussion as they move around in their paddocks and also while we ride them (other than in a surfaced arena).

🔺Muscles are shown to change their function on hard ground to help stabilise the lower limbs and reduce concussion, and horses often change the way they move, shortening their stride and travelling with less ‘swing’ and they try to minimise jarring as their feet hit the ground.

🔺Some of the most common sites of tension I am finding in horses are tension in the:

▪️Pectoral muscles (chest and between the front legs – right back to where your girth sits)

▪️Entensor muscles of the foreleg (the front of the foreleg)

▪️Brachiocephalic muscle (in the neck)

▪️Gluteal muscles (the big bum muscles)

▪️Lumbar area (lower back – behind the saddle)

🔺Horses that are already compromised by issues such as arthritis will be finding this ground particularly taxing on their musculoskeletal systems as the soft tissue around their already painful joints is required to absorb the concussion from the ground.

🔺Often these horses will already hold some tension in the areas mentioned above, and due to this they will then be recruiting further muscle groups to support them, this can lead to tension in many more muscles in the body, creating compensation patterns which can cause them to appear lame and in extreme discomfort.

🔺Signs that your horse is struggling with the ground conditions include:

▪️Reluctance to move or moving more slowly than usual

▪️Refusing fences

▪️Reluctant to canter

▪️Tiring more quickly during exercise

▪️Difficulty going up or down hills

▪️Reluctant to pick up their feet

▪️Reluctance to be tacked up

▪️Girthy

▪️Appearing ‘pottery’

▪️Clamping of the tail

🔺What can we do to help prevent our horses suffering from concussion?

▪️Try exercising on a surface where possible during these dry ground conditions

▪️Stick to walk where possible when riding on the hard ground

▪️Consider bringing your horse in off the hard ground and giving them some time each day in a stable with a thick bed or with rubber matting

▪️Where possible give your horse turnout time in a surfaced area

▪️Consider turning out in hoof boots for added cushioning, these can be used on barefoot horses or over shoes

▪️Contact your Equine Massage Therapist, or bodyworker.

Regular treatments to help keep the soft tissue free from restrictions, joints mobilised and internal systems as healthy as possible will give your horse’s musculoskeletal system the best chance against the hard ground conditions 📲