08/17/2025
I wanted to share this case, as it is a great example of how imbalanced a horse can be, and still be functionally sound.
This mare is in consistent use, enjoys her job and works pretty well at it. She might be a bit body sore some mornings, may take a little bit of warmup, and might not cleanly complete her strides 100% of the time, but to the average eye, she’s a solid horse. This probably describes most horses in moderate non-performance based work. It is when we take a step back and assess the body as a whole, as well as each section, that we start to notice compensation and body imbalance.
One of the easiest imbalances we can see in this mare is her left shoulder. The scapula looks like it is being pulled down and away from the wither, creating the bulge that we can see. When we look closer, however, we notice that the right shoulder is doing the opposite. The right scapula is actually being held up near the wither, and pushing into it. (I highlighted the rough location of the dorsal border of the scapula/scapular cartilage in purple). We can also see a curve in the wither (highlighted in red), with the curve following what we see with the shoulders.
Once we examine her further, what can only be found by physical assessment tells us more about her. We can see patterns of compensation continuing to travel through her body. Her C1 was rotated to the right, which would have made her want to tip her nose to the left; her cervical vertebrae were starting to misalign, especially in her C4-7 range; her T14-15 and L3-4 were also misaligned, in opposite directions (shown on the picture); finally, and more easily seen from a side view, her pelvis was stuck in bilateral ventral outflare, which means that the pelvis was much lower in the front than it should sit, contributing to a sagging stomach, flared ribcage, and a very flat croup.
What can cause this? Honestly, there are many things that can happen to cause these imbalances, anything from a slip in the pasture to an imbalanced rider, or an injury causing compensation. In this mare’s case, there could be multiple things working together, but my working theory after finding some scar tissue in her left triceps is an injury at some point in her life, leading to a change in gait, imbalance in how she holds her shoulder (the triceps connects the scapula to the humerus and ulna or elbow bone), which led to the scapula twisting away from the wither as she moved instead of staying aligned. This over time, along with other compensation, could lead to the imbalance we see in her right shoulder and wither as well. This would eventually affect her entire body as time went on.
