Most of us have experienced nagging physical aches, or even disabling pain following a minor slip or fall. Often the story goes something like this: "I took a bad step off the porch last year and my ankle has been tender ever since." It should be obvious to every horseperson that if you can sustain long-term injuries in a low-impact fall, your horse can too!

Despite their large size and seemingly indestructible bulk, horses frequently hurt themselves in the process of taking an odd step, stumble, or fall. While these events rarely leave a scratch or other outward sign of trauma, they take a toll in sore, strained muscles and pinched nerves. The result: a horse that is not quite lame, but not quite right. Uneven gaits, poor performance, and a sour attitude may be your only clue to the trouble within.

When I take the history of a horse with a puzzling performance or behavior problem, I often find his decline started just after a specific incident. The horse may have rolled into a fence, slipped while running in the pasture, fallen in bad footing, or cast himself in his stall. Other seemingly innocuous events include getting a shoe caught while pawing at a fence and then struggling to escape, or pulling back against a tie rope. More serious incidents that contribute to neuromuscular problems include when a horse falls down onto one or both hips, rears and falls directly over backward, or is involved in a trailering accident.

Since a horse that falls down or rolls into a fence rarely receives a serious wound or immediately becomes toe-dragging lame, owners often underestimate the potential for damage. Trauma to muscles and nerves may take days or weeks to produce obvious signs of problems. A horse that appears to be OK after a fall rarely gets a second look until weeks, months or years down the road, when he can no longer compensate for the injured area.

Hard To Assess

As with human aches and pains, the physical discomfort brought on by these mishaps often eludes traditional veterinary diagnosis. Muscle and nerve problems generally won't show up as a specific problem on an X-ray or flexion testthey just hurt the horse and restrict his movement.

Even more frustrating than the lack of a specific diagnosis is the lack of treatment available. Numerous medications are available for acute, short-term inflammation and pain associated with low-level trauma. But there are fewer long-term treatment options, even when the horse is not truly sound. Many of these horses become labeled as bad movers or just a bit "off," while others are unridable due to various pains or unacceptable behavior.

It can be frustrating when a veterinarian fails to find anything really wrong, declaring that your horse is not really clinically lame. But when I'm asked to help an owner investigate her horse's problems, I'm delighted to hear that serious joint damage or bone changes have been ruled out as the source of pain. Once these concerns have been ruled out, I often find the root cause of many lingering problems to be muscle spasm, pinched nerves, and a state of tension that all trace back to a specific crash. Fortunately, in many cases, massage, acupressure and other alternative therapies can help the horse return to true soundness.

A Case In Point

How often have you seen a horse go into a large pasture or arena and choose to lie down for a good roll right next to the fence? How many shoes has your horse taken off by pawing at the fence during feeding time, catching the heel of the plate and pulling back hard with his shoulder and haunches to escape? Then, of course, there is the horse and fence collision. When the two come into contact, there is bound to be a glitch in the horse and a dent in the fence.

One horse-versus-fence case I remember involved a beautiful black Quarter Horse mare boarded at my stable. One day her owners turned her out into the large sandy riding arena to play. After sniffing every soft spot in the center of the arena, she ambled over to the stoutly built arena fence, dropped down and rolled. Her aim was perfect: all four legs became firmly threaded between the rails. She ended up with her legs, well up past her knees and hocks, sticking through the open areas between the boards.

Panicked by this solid entrapment, the mare thrashed violently and then escaped, leaping to her feet. After she trotted off, she snorted and shook vigorously, then walked around as if nothing happened. Surprisingly, both horse and fence got off with only a scrape or two.

Problems Creep In Slowly

Within a week, however, the mare started moving short-strided under saddle and occasionally took a positively lame step. Her owners couldn't find any heat or swelling in her legs or anywhere else on her body, but suspected she was bruised from her bout with the fence. They gave her a few days of turnout only, no riding. After the days off, the mare was saddled and brought out to ride. Again, the odd steps and shortness of stride showed up. Concerned, her owners called their veterinarian.

The vet completed soundness tests and watched the mare move. He acknowledged she wasn't traveling well, but could not determine which leg was the culprit. Her lameness was never consistent enough to provide a definite diagnosis. He labeled her as generally stiff and prescribed the antiinflammatory, pain-relieving medication butazolidin ("bute") for several days.

Unfortunately, the medication and a month of rest, hand-walking, and turnout did not resolve the problem. Instead of working itself out, the horse became more stiff as time went on. Thinking the lack of exercise might be allowing her muscles to further stiffen up, a mild work program was prescribed. Unfortunately, this aggravated the lameness. The couple was very concerned and extremely frustrated.

Body Evaluation

Up to this point, I had not been involved in the care of the horse other than to supply her basic boarding needs. Since time off had not resolved her problems, the mare's owners asked me to assess her for muscle or general joint stiffness problems.

Upon initial evaluation, it appeared the tightest area of the mare's body was her neck and shoulders. She was outwardly obedient, yet her body was tense. She held her mouth clamped shut, and took only shallow, quick breaths from time to time. She was defensive about being touched but calmed down as I mixed gentle massage methods in with my evaluation probes.

The real surprise came as I ran my hands down the mare's legs. Halfway down the muscles of her forearms, her body temperature dropped from normal to freezing cold. The temperature change happened quickly, within an inch or so. At the top of the forearm, just below the elbow, the skin and muscle was the same temperature as the muscles of her chest and shoulders. Down another few inches to mid-forearm, her outward body temperature changed to ice cold. Oddly enough, both front legs had the same temperature pattern. A quick check of both hind legs revealed a similar problem: halfway down her muscular gaskins the body temperature shifted from normal warmth to freezingall within a one- to two-inch span.

Cold Can Signal Trouble

Cold anywhere in the body is due to a lack of circulation. This abrupt shift in temperature corresponded directly to the part of her legs the mare had banged as she struggled to escape the fence. The mare's owners weren't sure when the coldness started as they had been looking for heat, the sign of acute inflammation.

I often find that long-term muscle spasm and bruising restricts circulation, making the body cold and even fairly numb. I was sure this shutdown nature of the mare's legs was causing her odd stiffness and intermittent lameness. We can be pretty uncoordinated when our feet or hands are freezing or numb with cold.

Before I took extensive training in massage and body work, I considered hot spots on the legs to be a sign of trouble, while I thought cold legs were great. I now believe a horse's legs (just like our legs and hands) should remain pretty close in temperature to the upper body. Heat or cold are indicators of trouble when looking for odd muscular or energetic problems in the body.

What Is Normal?

Most horses that spend a large amount of time confined to a stall or small paddock will have a mild to serious temperature drop in their lower legs. It is also not unusual to find horses' legs really cold from the knees down on cool mornings or wintery days. However, the cold areas generally warm up during exercise as blood flow increases. Movement of blood and other fluids up and down the leg is activated when the horse moves.

Chronically cold legs and feet are a sign of poor circulation and can signal health problems. I often find long-term coldness of the legs and feet in horses that suffer from founder, as well as those with navicular and other bone changes in the lower legs and feet.

Before I started to evaluate her, the black mare had been turned out all morning to play and had been hand-walked for about 20 minutes. Lack of movement was not a factor in her "frozen legs" and she had no history of founder or bone changes that might contribute to her problems.

At that time (1985) I had probably touched several hundred horses in the context of working with their muscles and general wellness care. Never before had I felt such an extreme shift in temperature pattern on all four legs. As a result, I contacted my veterinarian.

My vet had never heard of such a condition and so he called his sources at the equine department of the veterinary college. The consensus was that horses with really cold areas like this were seen from time to time, though no one seemed to know what caused it to happen or to go away. And the last, most important piece of information: horses don't die from this!

Massage Restores Circulation

With that information, I felt comfortable about gently massaging the mare's neck, shoulders, hips, legs and feet. Her owners helped me as we spent well over an hour stimulating acupressure points for circulation on the feet and softly moving muscles, slowly coaxing them to relax and expand with warmth and blood flow.

The results were dramatic. The mare's tight neck and shoulders relaxed, her breathing went from short and shallow to slow, deep, and rhythmic. Her head drooped and her eyes became big, soft, and sleepy. And her legs warmed up! They went from freezing to mildly cold as the pulse of energy flowing into the feet acupressure points went from nonexistent to normal as the acupuncture meridians and blood vessels opened up and down her legs. At the end of the session, the mare walked to her stall with big, fluid relaxed strides.

During the following week, the mare's owners applied the movement and acupressure methods and massage strokes I'd taught them. The mare continued to enjoy the work and her body quickly returned to normal. Her feet and legs were appropriately chilly in the morning after a full night's stall rest and then warmed during her turnout and hand-walking. Encouraged by this success and her smoother, fluid movement, the mare's owners started riding her at a slow walk, where she showed no signs of lameness or stiffness. Encouraged, they took a month to gradually work her back up to full walk, trot, and canter workouts.

Early Intervention Crucial

This case turned out to be relatively simple. By stimulating the circulation and softening tight muscles, the mare's own healing abilities were unleashed to clean up residual trauma from the fence incident. Other cases can require a great deal more rehabilitation to bring a horse back to full soundness. They may also require the skills of a good chiropractor or acupuncturist, as well as the massage and movement exercises.

One key to success is early intervention. The sooner you unlock tight muscles and entrapped nerves the better! Long-term cases, where the horse suffered a serious wrenching fall and then was "ridden through it" for months or years may be much harder to solve. Horses that hobble about for an extended period can build overdeveloped, taut muscle groups from working way too hard "towing" the weakened areas around. In these circumstances, not only does the original trauma have to be dealt with, the compensating muscles need to be released.

When a horse has moved oddly for a long time, he may not necessarily regain normal movement patterns even with good massage or other alternative therapies. Ground poles, various obstacles and gentle training methods must be used to reawaken good habits; a method I call "movement retraining." Unless the horse regains a healthy movement pattern, he is liable to re-injure muscles by moving incorrectly.

Pay Attention To Falls

Most horses that flip over backward or fall on their fannies will have muscle and nerve trauma. If your horse has such an incident, consult with your veterinarian and professionals trained in muscle therapy and movement retraining to make sure all resulting glitches are cleared up as soon as possible. Get this type of help soon after the incident to prevent a much larger problem.

If you watch your horse fall and still have trouble believing he could have hurt himself because he didn't suffer a scratch, just remember the last time you tripped on a bump in the sidewalk and twisted a knee or "put your back out." The incident probably didn't produce any blood, and the damage couldn't be seen on an x-ray. On the other hand, it wasn't pain-free and most likely compromised your mood and athletic ability. The same goes for your horse ‚ just multiply the impact by four legs and at least 1,000 pounds!

Diana Thompson is the founder and editor-at-large of "The Whole Horse Journal." She teaches massage, acupressure, saddle fit and nonviolent training methods in order to improve horse health and performance. She will be teaching clinics throughout the region from July through September. See our Calendar of Events for dates and locations. This article was initially published in the June, 1999 issue of "The Whole Horse Journal."