Injury and Poor Performance

Injury, leading to loss of performance, can occur for a multitude of reasons. A sprain or strain caused by a slip or fall. Becoming cast, saddle fit problems, joint disease or poor foot balance.

Some horses lack natural athletic ability and injury can occur if too much is asked for before strength, fitness and mobility are developed, or before the muscles have been given chance to warm up sufficiently. It is very important that your horse is fit to do the job you ask him to do.

Cause

Muscular injuries involve a rupture of individual muscle fibres. A small number of fibres can be injured due to fatigue, repetitive strain or excessive training. This can be a progressive process and gradually contribute to a significant restriction of movement. A large amount of fibre rupture will usually occur more dramatically as a result of a slip, fall, or if the horse has to correct vigorously to save itself from going down.

Muscular injuries commonly occur in the pelvic area, where the large muscle masses that control explosive movement come under constant work demands. The consequence is altered stride length and compensation through the spine, other limbs and muscles. A spiral of compensation occurs as a result of pain, progressively affecting general movement and performance, causing lameness in due time.

Treatment

It is important to recognise that, while equine muscular injury closely follows the nature of that in human athletes, anatomical features of the equine mean manual massage and stretching exercises are limited in their ability to influence repair. This is when physiotherapy becomes a valuable adjunct to veterinary treatment.

Treatment has the following basic basic aims:

To reduce pain
To heal damaged tissues, involving the breakdown of scar tissue and adhesions.
To restore full functional movement in the damaged muscle or muscles.

To achieve repair in deep tissues, as in the quarters, muscle contraction has to be restored and blood supply stimulated. This can be achieved by using electrotherapy, appreciating the depth of lesions and reaching more than superficial tissues.

The return to full normal movement requires controlled physical exercise, which is effectively done by long reining. Many affected horses should not be ridden until symmetry of movement has been restored. Although some horses are not, for one reason or another (like joint lameness) capable to be lunged. In such cases, an informed decision would have to be made by the person responsible for treatment.

Routine Muscular Care

It is important to understand that routine muscle care is vital for all athletic animals. In the past, this was achieved by daily strapping of all major muscle groups. It helped to disperse waste products of normal muscle contraction, as well as effusions from damaged areas.

One might think that there seemed to be a lower incidence of muscle injuries in the past, however public knowledge and awareness has increased. Recognising problems in the muscular system nowadays shows that the incidence is quite common. This may also be a result of more intensive training regimes and the use of all-weather surfaces.

Grooming your horse thoroughly each day will create some benefits. Massage can help preventing muscle strain. There are some good books on the market explaining the basics of massage to horse owners. Ideally, this will take five to ten minutes per day on each area of the body. The quarters and shoulders are massaged, using your hands or other suitable equipment, like a vibrating massage pad. The movement can be an extension of normal grooming, as when using a brush firmly, bringing pressure down on deeper areas to encourage suppleness. Any effort to soften the muscles of the shoulder and pelvic roof are an advantage to the horse and reduce the incidence of lameness coming from this source.