This is a question I saw on a Facebook post. The poster asked what other people were using to raise up an older horse’s back. The answers ranged from you can’t do anything to use this feed or essential oil, do this exercise or just ride him harder. This is a great question for many reasons.

1. This is NEVER ABOUT NUTRITION! Even if you can “see the tops of all his back bones!”
2. Most back changes in horses are due to changes in the muscles that support the back.
3. This is a problem of posture
4. This usually has been going on for some time. The horse has been using some sort of compensatory movement and this is failing him. His back is weakening and now he is dropping.
5. Horses can drop behind the withers, directly ahead of the hips and some unlucky horses will have both problems together.
6. There are diseases that exacerbate a “swayed back” horse

So, let’s start with the first point. This is NEVER about nutrition. Well, unless your horse’s Body Condition Score (BCS) is like a 1 or 2, it isn’t about nutrition. You can’t feed up a top line on a horse. You can make a horse fat…& he might look less dropped or swayed but he still is. In fact, too much weight can make this problem worse. The added weight will strain the ligaments along the vertebra. And it’s really hard for a fat horse to be a fit horse.

When you can see the tops of the vertebrae but not his ribs or his hips it means the horse has some severe muscle atrophy of the two muscles that make up the back. These muscles are the longissimus and the multifidus. This atrophy isn’t from 1) lack of work in the proper frame, 2) lack of groceries or 3) old age. It is a restriction in the nerves that communicate with those muscles. The muscle isn’t receiving the proper nutrition from the surrounding tissues because they aren’t getting the message. The muscle also isn’t getting the information to move correctly. And it isn’t giving the correct information to the brain. You can’t fix this with more work on a lunge line or under saddle. In fact, this is likely making it worse.

This brings us to the second, third and fourth points. This is a problem of posture that may have been going on for some time and your horse has “learned” a way to move that is incorrect, but likely hurts less than the correct way. It isn’t necessary to know exactly what happened. Most of the time we don’t. Common things that can cause restrictions leading to a weak top-line include; a pulling back accident, riding the horse behind the vertical, shoulders that are restricted, slips that strain the sacrum and Sacro-iliac (SI) region, feet that aren’t balanced, thin soles and sore feet, ribs that are restricted, saddles that don’t fit or aren’t positioned correctly. Often horses suffer from more than just one reason on this list. I see that much more commonly. A horse will have hi/low front feet and a neck that doesn’t move and a sacrum that is stuck. This is the horse that is often dropped just behind the withers and might have a “roach” or raised portion in the lumbar area.

The fifth point is important. Where the back is dropped often tells us what is involved. When the drop is behind the withers the problem is often in the poll, neck, shoulders, and withers. When it is farther back it is because the pelvis is rotated and the sacrum is restricted. These horses often don’t have very good range of motion with their hind limbs and are short strided with their rear legs. When a horse is unlucky enough to have both problems…YIKES!

And 6: There are diseases that can make this worse. Arthritis in the tiny facet joints of the back will make this so much worse. This interferes with the nerves right as they join the spinal cord. This can be diagnosed by radiographs. Treatment depends on the severity of clinical signs such as lameness or neurological deficits. Endocrine changes can also make this worse. Metabolic disease or Insulin Resistance and PPID are two diseases that often do this.

So…how do you get a top-line up on a horse??? First, we have to figure out what is causing the back to change. This is done by assessing the horse’s resting posture, how he moves when he walks and assessing the range of motion of his joints. Then we can treat using chiropractic adjustments, acupuncture and design a program of exercises that will strengthen the postural muscles. If there is a medical reason for these changes, treat these with the appropriate medications.

Here are the takeaways:

1. Stop over feeding horses because their top-line is weak.
2. Diagnose the real reason for the changes
3. Address these changes with Chiropractics, Acupuncture, and medication when needed.

Most horses can be greatly improved using these techniques.