The Equine Musculoskeletal System

Written By: Leslie Berro.

The Equine Musculoskeletal System


The horse is an athlete; some are more naturally gifted than others. But the common denominator between them all, is that the musculoskeletal system, pound for pound, is their largest bodily component; over 60%! When you buy a horse, you're buying motion. When a million dollar horse no longer moves like one, he isn't one! And this is the system mainly responsible for motion. Yet it is mostly overlooked because it does not reveal itself in radiographic and other testing mediums.

The Equine Musculoskeletal System


The Four Causes of Excessive Strain are:

* Speed of Contraction
* Strength of Contraction
* Isometric Contraction
* Protective Splinting


The challenge of training any athlete, is finding the balance between maximum muscle strengthening (hypertrophy) and bodily abuse. Most injuries due to muscular strain are cumulative. It is not the last thing your horse did that caused the problem, but was most likely building for weeks.

The normal progression of muscle problems is:

Trauma or Strain -----> leads to Tightening -----> creating Spasm or Muscle Tear -----> resulting in Malfunction.



The Muscle


Generally speaking, a muscle features:

* a point of origin (anchor)
* a muscle belly (power), and
* a point of insertion (motion)


It is during the cooling down period after a strenuous workout, when insufficient oxygen (anoxia) is getting to the muscle that it is most susceptible to strain and spasm. Stress is most likely to occur at the muscle's anchor, where it attaches to the bone by tendonous fibers and is the least flexible. Stress point locations are the same for all horses. Features of an equine muscle

However, different disciplines stress different points. Depending on whether you train your horse for track racing, endurance, competitive trails, driving, English hunter-jumpers, cross-training, dressage, Western reining, roping, barrel running, cutting, or whatever else, will determine which points are stressed the most by repetitive movements. When a muscle can no longer accommodate what is being demanded of it, it will pull or tear.


Importance of Maintaining Good Musculoskeletal Health

"Any muscle that is not working for the horse, is working against the horse - actively!" - Jack Meagher

Muscles contract and release. Whereas contraction is a generated process, release is not. When muscles tighten and cannot achieve full release, they remain tight and shortened, or contracted. This puts strain on the surrounding areas. Tight shoulders pass their inability to release to the digital flexors and tendons of the fore leg. This creates a dangerous scenario for the lower limbs. Tight muscles lead to spasm (knots) which leads to tears in the fibers.

Here's where you start to see short choppy strides, refusals, and resistance in the horse, because it hurts! The tendons become irritated. Most often, one pain killer or another is prescribed and administered to alleviate soreness. But this just addresses the symptom (pain), not the real issue (muscle fiber adherence that results in spasm), not to mention the inevitable side effects and loss of efficacy over time. If the underlying issue, the spasm, is not treated and eliminated, the horse will compensate by passing the problem to other muscle groups. By covering up minor problems, we end up creating major ones. It's only a matter of time before you're headed for a full blown muscle tear or a permanent problem!


Signs of Muscular Problems:

* Head tossing
* Coordination difficulties
* Saddle slipping to one side
* Short, choppy strides
* Improper tracking forward, back, or laterally
* Resistance when bending &/or backing
* Hind leg scuffing
* Girthing problems
* Refusing or resisting leads
* Unwilling or unable to walk up or down inclines
* Poor disposition, eating, or sleeping habits
* "Off" for no apparent reason


Prevention Is the Best Medicine

The best protection against injury there is, is prevention. Most injuries due to muscular strain can be prevented. The more that is expected of your horse, the greater the need for preventive maintenance.

Not your horse, you say? Unfortunately, even a buck in just the wrong way, out in the pasture, is enough to strain a muscle. By the time you notice a problem with your horse's movement, it's a sign that a problem has already taken hold. With a sensible training program and regularly scheduled Equine Sports Massage Therapy sessions, you can avoid injury to your horse.


I hope this article would help especially those which don't think about the Horse's weight and the amount of workout.


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Persian Horse:

Please will you lesson to what I say and observe in time and see if there is any possibility that I would be right I am not saying you have to this is my knowledge thats all very simple.
-You ride a Horse or lunge or long line the body get warm and hot.
- You come off or finish the lunging or long lining .
- Walk the Horse for some time and let it off on the grass.
- The grass is wet on itself and inside , the water on and in the grass and the Horse starts eating the grass or shall I say the Horse starts drinking the water, this will stop the flow and the circulation in blood vessel especially in the blood vessel of the Hoof and this will end up as laminitis.
I am not saying to agree with me just think about it.
We don't allow water near our Horses before 2 to 3 hours after riding but during riding we allow the Horse to drink under saddle.


Unfitness.
The over weight of the Horse.
The over weight of the Horse added with the weight of the rider.
The food which has close relation with the over weight.
Above all the amount of time we put them to work and the kind of work.
Sometimes we take the Horse straight out and lunge this is very much towards damage not fitness.

let me bring an example:
An office secretary or any kind of work which has the seat and a table for it and the person behind it , can you ask him/her to run 100 or 400 meters championship ? the answer is no.
For a Horse resting for most of his/her time (24/7 outdoor is not fitness and is resting) lunging is like a poison and it will heart the poor animal.
Especially for our Horses if we put them to lunge they fly like a rocket and there is no way of controlling them some times when I ask how do you control a single line lunging and I get the answer by body language or by voice command for our Horses this wont work they have too much energy maybe for a Horse which you have to push to put a step forward lunging would do but for our Horses its out of control. This is where the damage comes in but most of the time wont show right away.

Wish you all the very best.
Always be careful.

PH