Those of you who took the time to read my latest blog (can be found here) will know I had a lady out to Ceaser on Tuesday after noticing he wasn't quite trotting right and slightly short behind with one hind leg when extending and showing medium trot strides.Additionally I had noticed for the past couple of weeks he has been struggling with walk to canter transitions on the right rein and only going onto the correct canter lead if slightly rushing! Usually he pops into canter from halt or walk, onto the correct leg, with ease but lately he has been throwing an odd buck in or simply rushing into just a fast trot.
Because I know him so well I knew his behaviour was off and not quite right. He is usually a pleasure to own and had only just started looking slightly short on the one hind for a couple weeks.
After putting everything together and working myself into a complete panic, I decided to get an equine sports massage therapy lady out to give him a once over and hopefully advise me on if I needed a second opinion from a vet or not.
As you will read in my blog from Tuesday her initial reaction was positive and she said he wasn't showing signs of ageing or even arthritis for that matter and this was simply from the initial trot up.
Once she delved deeper she realised he was very tight through his left shoulder and on the right he was tight through the poll, shoulder and noticeably weaker. She got me to stand behind him and look at the difference in his muscle along his back. The difference in muscle tone was quite evident and as I mentioned before, I cannot believe I haven't noticed it.As she began to treat him I asked her whether or not it would work and she told me good dressage riders always notice a difference. However, to be quite honest I have never had such an invasive massage on him and have always stuck to Bowen therapy - which I also finds gives fantastic results. So, we left the conclusion as I would wait and see if I could feel and notice a difference before I gave her my feedback.
He had the rest of the Tuesday off but under orders I was to hop on him Wednesday to give him a test drive and see what I thought.
I always noticed he was trotting oddly when I first got on as he always breaks into a trot when warming up in walk. It has been evident then that he had a slight hop with one hind leg and although slight, I could feel it.
Despite this, Wednesday when I got on I immediately noticed a difference. Gone was my stuffy free walk on a long rein I usually only get a 7 for in a dressage test and here we had a forward, free moving walk. As I shortened my reins walking past the arena mirrors he broke into a trot and instead of a choppy and slight hop with one hind, he was moving freely and quite happily!
WOW!
As not to rush things I just did a few walk and trot transitions on each rein and asked the vet that is on work experience with us to take a look. She said she could not believe the difference, even just in his walk from the day before!
Today when I got on I decided to push the boundaries a little and do my walk to canter transitions we have been struggling with since I noticed something was wrong. And, as you can probably guess...out popped four lovely walk to canter transitions on the correct lead.I am well and truly gobsmacked - I simply cannot believe something so small as being tight through a couple of his hind muscles could cause such a problem but were also so easily fixable.
However, it really does just go to show that things so minor as this can go unnoticed and untreated. In fact when I mentioned to a couple of people on the yard he wasn't trotting up right they didn't notice - I think because I know him so well I could feel it.
After exercise I am now having to do post exercise stretches of his forelimb and hindleg stretches and he then has his massage pad on medium for half an hour. Additional to this it has been recommended I do more pessoa work than I already do.
Next time you're giving your horse a groom, just stand behind and check for things such as lack of muscle and compare one side to the other - you never know, it could be the answer to your problems!
I am rather excited about getting him out competing again now and putting our last couple of bucks in our dressage tests down to a not quite right Pony! Onwards and upwards they say.....
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