Recognising the signs, then what to do about it
I recently posted a video of me tacking up Nutmeg, in which I identified all of the signals that she was giving me to let me know she was uncomfortable
You can watch the video here
I posted the video on TikTok and Instagram and several followers assumed immediately that it was due to ulcers (AKA: EGUS - Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome). Although not a bad guess - one would be correct in identifying these signals as possible indicators of ulcers - having the full picture points me in another direction...
The reason behind her behavioural/body language signals shown in the video, I believe was because, since we've moved yards, she's now loving life in a field full of grass and has therefore put on quite a lot of weight! This then meant that her saddle wasn't fitting anymore... which in turn had lead to muscle stiffness in her back (significantly in the Lumbar area which is always a problem spot for her due to her conformation - that's a whole other post!!)
I'd been doing less ridden work in general when I noticed her behavioural responses becoming more "pronounced". Opting to leading out in-hand, lunging and hacking rather than too much intensive schooling. IMO, it's not fair to ask a horse to "work properly" (especially when you KNOW) if they are inhibited in some way. But I still wanted to exercise her to try keep her weight from increasing further!
So what did I do/am going to do to rectify this resulting muscle stiffness?
Firstly, OBVIOUSLY, I got her saddle adjusted ASAP. This saddle in particular is custom made for Nutmeg (again, due to her "bulky" conformation) and we've had it since November '22. She was uncharacteristically "thin" at the back end of last summer so we knew we were going to need to do some alterations when she was back to her "normal" weight. This time round, that turned out be be an entire new gullet size up and some re-balancing of the flocking! Thank God I went for an adjustable one!!!
She is also due to see the chiropractor soon - our usual schedule is every 4 months.
In the meantime I have been using our Equilibrium Products massage pad and HotSpot mitt (you can use discount coder FDEC10 for 10% discount 👍 [AD - gifted through brand association] ) as well as more recently the Vivendi Sana Infrared Torch (which i'll be dedicating a whole blog post all about at a later date!).
Recognising what your horse is telling you - and not just passing behaviours off as "avoidance" or worse, even telling your horse off - is easiest when you know your horse.
It sounds so simple put that way doesn't it? But truthfully, spending time with your horse, knowing what's normal for them and what isn't, knowing what signals to look out for that something is amiss and then putting all the pieces together so you can see the bigger picture is what's going to be the difference between helping your horse out early before things progress and potentially getting to the point where you've ignored the signs for so long that one of you gets badly hurt.
So, is your horse uncomfortable when tacking up?
Or are you not listening to the signals...