Horses can't speak to us so it can be difficult sometimes to establish if our horses behavior is caused by pain or not. Yvonne Lucas, Equine Herbalist and Natural Therapist discusses common symptoms of girth pain in horses.
As an Equine
Holistic Therapist I deal with all issues to do with the physical and
psychological wellbeing of our equine friends and education of horse and
rider. In my practice I use a combination of herbs, photonic therapy
(needless acupuncture), muscle stimulation (TENS and EMS), energy
healing and natural horsemanship techniques.
It’s not uncommon for
owners to miss mild symptoms of underlying issues when they first appear
but over time those individual symptoms can escalate to a level where
it affects your horse or pony in ways you would never expect. A good
example of this is a condition called “Girth Pain Syndrome”. Extensive
research conducted by Veterinarian Dr Ian Bidstrap, indicates that at
least 80% of horses regardless of the breed or size, ridden or not, from
month old foals through to old stallions, experience girth and/or rib
pain. In most of these cases the cause of the pain stems back to birth
trauma.
A foal’s chest is severely
compressed during the birthing process. The research into birth trauma
in foals revealed a 5% incidence of broken ribs, and a 20% incidence of
rib cage trauma in newborn foals. A small portion of foals actually die
from trauma to their chest.
Girth Pain Syndrome may not
become apparent until many years down the track. If a horse goes over
backwards, falls on its shoulder, or trips badly with a saddle on, or is
girthed up roughly, the problem that began at birth, can be irritated.
It is believed that most horses experience rib discomfort and simply
learn to live it, but they still have residual problems for example
trouble with one canter lead, anxiety/fear when away from home, hoof
unevenness. The horse with more severe discomfort or pain, often has to
find ways to evade it. Uncomfortable girths and saddles will usually
irritate the underlying girth pain problem which in turn makes it even
more difficult for the horse to handle.
Research conducted by Dr
Ian Bidstrap on over 4000 horses has found many symptoms which indicate
the probability of girth pain which are as follows;
On fastening of the girth:
- Slight change in facial expression
- Grunting.
- Lifting the head, swishing the tail.
- Inflating the chest
- Kicking at the girth.
- Attempting to bite the handler
Once girthed up:
- Grunting while being ridden (especially when going downhill).
- Short stepping, refusing to move forward freely for 10-20 minutes after being saddled.
- Being one sided, or having difficulty taking one lead.
- Resisting leg aids.
- Swishing the tail, laying ears back.
- Generally being unhappy and piggy when ridden but is wonderful when not ridden.
- Often described as being ‘cold backed’ pigrooting or bucking at the start of a ride and (especially during the transition from trot to canter)
- Severe cases often display violent bucking and/or pigrooting and /or lying down for a short spell after being girthed up.
- Rushing jumps.
- Resistance to turning sharply.
- Readily developing girth sores.
Signs often seen as a response to touch:
- The skin of the girth area of most horses is ticklish behind the elbow; however, gentle stroking should remove any reaction. If the skin remains jumpy when touched after gentle stroking then there is probably an active problem.
- When tapping or prodding the skin behind the elbow, the muscles all jump, including the muscles of the leg above the elbow.
- Tightness & tenderness of the muscles above the shoulder blade and under the front of the saddle.
- Tightness and tenderness of the muscles under the girth.
The big question is ........ can this problem be treated? The answer is yes.
With treatment form a
therapist experienced in this condition, appropriate exercises and
retraining for the psychological effect of long term pain, most horses
will have a dramatic improvement or recover completely.
The use of herbs can
assist the healing and retraining process in a number of ways. Girth
Pain Syndrome often affects more than just the muscular and nervous
systems of the horse. As with humans, chronic long term pain can cause
multiple system dysfunctions, so in conjunction with treatment for the
girth pain a herbal detox is often advantages to normalize function of
the horses systems.
Muscle tightness and
nervousness are common problems associated with girth/rib pain
sensitivity so the use nervine herbs such as Vervain and Passion flower
(two herbs which have been used for anxiety, nervous tension and pain
for hundreds of years),may assist with relaxing the muscles and nervous
system which in turn allows the retraining process to occur easily.
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