My favorite thing to solve for people and produce research triggers in is behavior and unknown lameness in horses:
One of a few messages from this morning already and topics to think about:
💥Take it back to groundwork fundamentals find the holes missing. Build from there.
💥Check core strength and look at conditioning status.
💥How does the horse stand natural? One foot always more forward? Unable to square up?
💥Check saddle fit. Does the saddle rock under the horse? Are the bars making even contact. Does the pommel touch the withers? Put your hand under the front conchos, can you? Is it squeezing.
💥Pain triggers. Spasms and reactions in the body. Uneven butt muscles, shoulder larger than the other. Asymmetry seen in the horse?
💥Hoof balance. Enough heel? Is there a descend between the hoof wall falling between the open bars of the shoe, if they wear shoes? Are the heels even looking above to below? Need more explanation just ask! This is a full topic.
💥Ulcers and digestive issues depending on feed you give can cause abnormal behavior, pain, dull coat, lack in performance. Have you considered a healing period of nutrition. What does that look like? Do you know what an anti inflammatory diet is and what ingredients hinder progress?
💥Teeth!! Always have teeth checked annually. Some require more maintenance than others. This can affect the horse through the whole body believe it or not. When sharp points are present, eating in unnatural positions can cause uneven wear. This effects the tmj, creates tension in the muscles and skeletal structure. Tension in the head and neck transfers through the body over time and presents as a compensatory pattern. Sometimes adjustments won't hold and tension won't reside without looking at this.
💥Worms! Parasites! Shockingly enough if you don't do a fecal count you may not realize how aggressive you may need to be to decrease the worm count in your horse! If left high because one shot of panucur didn't even touch a high count then the body isn't able to uptake nutrients as well! Sucks the body unhealthy! My horse had a shocking high count of 1500! We did several days worth of safeguard then did 2 weeks of an herbal dewormer. Count went from 1500 to 350 which still needs to be below 200. So another round of herbal dewormer, but I wouldn't have known to attack this aggressive if not!
There are still many areas and topics to look at case by case! These are some of the important ones to pay attention too!! 🙂