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Eventing as a sport will expose the horse to a range
of different stresses related to the varied elements
that
make up the discipline.
Dressage, roads and tracks, steeplechase, showjumping
and cross county, are expected to be covered,
depending on whether
the
horse is competing
in one day, two day or three day events.
In the
dressage section, many horses will develop tight muscles in the
upper neck and poll, caused
by the head
position being
held for
long periods of schooling. This in turn will transfer
along the underside neck muscles to the shoulders
where the horse
will begin
to display
stiffness and inability to show full extension
of the forelegs on movement. These problems are
compounded
by the fact that
many dressage
horses are not encouraged to perform enough work "long
and low" to
stretch through the topline muscles before bringing
them into their collected outline.
The corners
around the dressage arena can be very tight for
the larger horses, particularly coming
down the
centre line,
so will
encourage
stiffness to develop in the neck and shoulders
and, also behind the saddle from having to balance
their
own weight
with the
rider around
corners. These musculoskeletal stresses can be
helped by McTimoney chiropractic being used on
a regular
basis, which
will allow
the horse to work to his peak performance.
The
roads and tracks section involves trotting hard along roadways,
to cover a given area in
an allocated
time.
It is therefore
necessary to train on roads to build up the
strength and stamina of the
horse, but this will have obvious stresses on
the tendons and ligaments
of the horses limbs.
The steeplechase, only
included in three day events, involves jumping hurdles which are
flexible on
impact from the
horse's limbs if not
fully cleared.
The showjumping and cross-country
sections concentrate on showing the horse's jumping
ability under
the ultimate physical
stresses.
By having to keep to a set time in which
to complete the course of jumps, the rider is
under pressure
to push the
horse to
achieve this,
with sometimes severe consequences to the
horse.
At such speeds, in both showjumping
and cross-country, the horse is more likely
to slip on mud while
approaching the
jump and,
tight cornering
around the course can cause twisting of
the pelvic bone with subsequent lumbar
tension and possible
sacroiliac strain resulting.
Horses falling
over solid cross-country fences, will be open to the most severe
consequences,
especially if they
fall onto
their
head
and neck, which will lead to twisting
of the poll and cervical vertebrae of
the neck.
The
horse
may land heavily
enough
to actually cause
a fracture to the neck vertebrae. Similarly,
in a
roll fall or falling over backwards,
the pelvis and back
region can
be misaligned
due
to
the impact, or even fractured. By becoming
straddled across a solid fence the horse
can incur stifle
injuries, or
suffer knocks
to the
tuber coxae, which are the bony prominences,
that make up the hip bones on either
side of the pelvis. Chiropractic treatment can be helpful
in the treatment ofsome of these
injuries.
A chiropractic check would
be recommended at
the beginning
and
the end of the
Eventing season, with additional maintenance treatments throughout the season. Treatment should also follow
the event of falls or other
accidents while competing.
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