Equine Athlete

Body Work

Skeletal imbalances cause discomfort and can affect the feet

By Heather Smith Thomas

Foals often put one leg forward and one back when they graze. Hoof growth can reflect that stance and pressure.

Each individual horse has a unique conformation— the way the skeleton is put together—but many factors impact skeletal structure as a young horse grows. Sometimes things happen that create body imbalances before the horse goes into training and there are issues that put stress on various parts. Occasionally the feet, legs and joints are out of balance, which can affect the way that horse moves and performs, and whether he is comfortable or not in certain positions.

April Battles, Holistic Horseworks (located in Hawaii) is a holistic horse therapist who deals with these kinds of problems and helps horses get back to comfortable balance. “All too often these horses are getting reprimanded or punished for not wanting to stand on three legs when a farrier works on them, for instance,” she says.

She has seen many foals that already have body imbalances by the time they are weaning age. “If we can address these problems sooner, we won’t have hoof imbalance issues while the foal grows up.”

It’s important to monitor foals as they grow, and be proactive to correct a minor problem before it gets to be a major problem. “With a 6-month-old foal these are quick, easy fixes, and then the legs and hooves can grow straight. If the body is not loading the hoof correctly, however, which can cause the frog to eventually become off-center, it’s more difficult,” she explains.

She feels part of the problem today is that many broodmares are producing weaker foals because there’s inadequate nutrition and minerals in the feed. “We see more skeletal issues in foals; many are born with weak pasterns and have trouble getting up,” says Battles.

Horses on a good mineral program don’t seem to have these problems. “The foals pop right up after they are born, and take off cantering around before the mare even gets up. This is how babies in the wild survived; they had to be able to get up and run with mama to get away from predators. Now most foals are living in stalls and breathing in ammonia and dust from the urine in the shavings.” It’s a very unnatural environment.

Sometimes a skeletal imbalance actually starts when the foal is being born—as the body is being forced through the birth canal. More frequently it may occur when the foal is running and playing and slips or falls down.

“When a foal has the first rib out of alignment/tweaked there is not enough gap for the shoulder to move correctly and the point of the shoulder starts to turn out. The elbow (at the armpit) then starts to turn in,” says Battles. When you start handling the foal’s feet to teach it to pick up its feet, or when the farrier does the first trimming and picks up the foal’s front leg, it might be noticed that the inside heel is becoming shorter.

“It will be

1 ⁄16th to ¼-inch shorter than the outside heel. This is not in height, but pushed forward,” she says. This is due to how the leg is loading, with a twist on it rather than being straight.

“Most farriers think they can change/correct that imbalance with trimming and shoeing, but the problem is farther up in the body, in how the muscle and bones dictate the way the horse lands on that hoof. Since it’s uncomfortable for the young horse to stand squarely, and that’s usually the hoof/leg that is back (rather than forward) when the young horse is grazing,” she says. Since the foal’s neck at this young age is shorter than his legs, he usually has one leg forward and one back, in order to reach short grass. If it’s always the same leg that is forward or back, the hoof growth starts to reflect that stance and pressure.

“When your horse’s head is up and he is standing still, he should always want to stand square,” says Battles. “If he doesn’t, this starts the problem of high/low heels (high on the foot that is back and the side with the first rib misaligned, and low on the foot that is more forward or bearing most of the weight, and this hoof will usually be bigger as well). The tweak that misaligns the first rib can happen when the young horse is running across wet ground or pasture when the hoof goes down into deep mud and the leg is pulled down when running at speed. This can tweak cervical 6 and 7, the vertebrae that tie into the first rib,” she explains.

“Could this kind of tweak also be the start of wobblers syndrome and kissing spines? All the horses that I’ve seen diagnosed with kissing spines have the first rib misaligned under both shoulders. This tweaks C-6 and C-7 in a way that the cord coming through them can get compressed--not allowing enough blood and oxygen to the hind end. This might compress the thoracic outlet, and impact the nerves, which affect the horse’s breathing. The first rib misaligned on both sides can also create a pigeon-toed stance,” says Battles.

“A barefoot trimmer came to my Arizona clinic, and brought her horse. She’d been trimming her horse’s hooves since it was a 3-week-old foal and hadn’t been able to correct some issues. After we released both of the first ribs (one each side) everything balanced out in the legs and seemed normal in the hooves within a few weeks. You have to change how the body wants to load the hoof,” she explains.

If hoof professionals can identify these issues early, it can help many horses. “When the first rib is misaligned, they won’t be able to ‘correct’ that horse’s imbalance until the rib is back in place.” Imbalances in the body can cause discomfort.

“When a well-trained horse doesn’t want to pick up a front hoof, it’s often because he doesn’t want to stand on the other leg/hoof. The same thing is true in the hind end. We can pick up a front leg and lift the shoulder and this releases the withers so that the horse can stand on one front leg comfortably,” Battles says.

“Hoof professionals can learn how to do a couple of moves and make the horse more comfortable. I teach a simple shoulder lift for the front end; the farrier just needs to determine which side to lift. For the back end, when the horse is uncomfortable standing on a hind leg, it’s because of how the pelvis is out of alignment and also usually a sore sacroiliac joint. If the first rib is misaligned, the pelvis is also misaligned; there will be one hip back and one ilium/ischium bone rotated. This bone is near the anus and tips down, which brings that hip back. When you stand

April Battles adjusts a horse. Adjustments can help a horse be more comfortable and stand better for the farrier.

behind the horse, you can see which side of the rump is higher,” she says.

“Farriers and trimmers can cut and trim and create a nice-looking hoof, but until we do the body work, within six weeks the foot will change back to where it was. We have to chase the problem up through the body to where it begins, and see how tight the pectoral muscles are, and how tight the groin is for mediallateral balance. Flares, underslung heels, etc. are often the result of muscles being too tight higher up the in the body, and not working correctly. The high-low heel problem comes from the first rib(s) being misaligned and the shoulder unable to move correctly,” says Battles.

The foal has long legs and a relatively short neck, compared with an adult horse, but this short neck can be accentuated when the first rib is tweaked and misaligned. “This tends to shorten the neck even more because the shoulder isn’t coming through correctly and the foal starts using neck muscles to bring the shoulder forward—and that tightens the neck muscles, which then shortens them, creating a short-necked long-backed horse ‘posture,’ which is not the same as ‘conformation.’ You’ll see some weanlings and yearlings that are already presenting with soreness in the lumbar-sacral area, or a really short neck. Some tend to have ewe-neck due to calcifications in C-5, 6 and 7. The muscles in the neck tightened, shortened and pulled the vertebrae too close together. This can result in a long-backed, short-necked horse even though that wasn’t the conformation he was born with,” says Battles.

This illustrates the difference between posture and conformation. “When we see horses with all four feet out of balance, this is not their true conformation,” she says. Things that happen to the skeleton after the horse is born can affect how it develops.

William Ellis plays at Cerro Pampa Polo Club in California. Club members helped him raise money for LLS.

NEWS • NOTES • TRENDS • QUOTESNEWS • NOTES • TRENDS • QUOTES

HEADPOLO PHILANTHROPY SubheadCancer survivor named LLS Man of the Year

POLO PLAYER WILLIAM ELLIS was recently named Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Greater Bay Area Chapter 2020 Man of the Year. Ellis, of San Francisco, California, raised over $103,000 this year to support LLS’s mission to find cures for blood cancers and ensure patients have access to lifesaving treatments.

During a spirited 10-week fundraising period, candidates competed in honor of a local boy or girl who is in treatment, to raise the most funds. Candidates and their teams were judged solely on virtual fundraising success this campaign season, each dollar counting as one vote.

Ellis began fundraising and volunteering with LLS four years ago and ran for Man of the Year to culminate his philanthropic efforts. He battled acute lymphoblastic leukemia in high school and has now been a survivor for over two decades. He has raised over $500,000 during his philanthropic journey through generous support from his friends, family and professional networks at Salesforce where he has worked and Google where he now works. A member of the Cerro Pampa Polo Club in Sonoma County, California, where he has played for the last three seasons, Ellis says club members and teammates were pivotal in his campaign efforts, collectively helping him reach his goal. “Congratulations to our winner, Will, and to our eight candidates and their team members who participated in this year’s Man & Woman of the Year campaign,” said Renée Croteau, LLS Greater Bay Area Chapter executive director. “It was not a traditional campaign pivoting to a virtual environment, but this is what makes their impact even greater. Cancer will not wait for COVID-19 to go away. And blood cancer patients can’t wait either. These exceptional volunteers are all relentless and determined leaders in our community. I am proud to announce that we are now over $400,000 closer to LLS’s goal of a world without blood cancer!” Through programs like Man & Woman of the Year, LLS has invested nearly $1.3 billion in research to advance breakthrough therapies. The funds raised through LLS’s Man & Woman of the Year are used for research to advance targeted therapies and immunotherapies that save thousands of lives; blood cancer information, education and support for patients; and policies that ensure patients have access to blood cancer treatments. This was LLS’ 30th year hosting Man & Woman of the Year, which started in San Francisco. Earlier this year, polo player Grant Ganzi was named LLS Man of the Year Palm Beach.

NO FUN Pandemic cancels national tournaments

AFTER CAREFUL CONSIDERATION, the National Youth Tournament Series Championship, scheduled for Sept. 8-13 at Oak Brook Polo Club in Oak Brook, Illinois, has been postponed until further notice. Complications due to the global pandemic forced the USPA to make the difficult decision to reschedule the event.

“After careful consideration, there are simply too many factors impeding the USPA’s ability to host a safe and memorable National Youth Tournament Series Championship event for youth players at this time,” a press release stated. “The Association understands that many USPA Member Clubs have faced challenged with hosting qualifiers this season, so the qualifier deadline has been extended beyond August 1, 2020. The NYTS subcommittee is working diligently to facilitate a 2020 Championship to be played at a later date. More information will be announced to the membership as soon as it becomes available.”

Further, the National Host Tournament Committee has made the difficult decision to cancel both the 2020 National Intercollegiate and National Interscholastic Championships. Organizers had hoped the National Interscholastic Championships, originally scheduled for March, and the National Intercollegiate Championships, originally scheduled for April, could be rescheduled for the fall, but unfortunately, that was not to be.

“It is the best decision for the safety of players, coaches, families and event staff,” a press release read. “The USPA Intercollegiate/Interscholastic Program is diligently working on a plan for the 2020-2021 season and remain optimistic and hopeful for a successful and safe 2021 tournament season.”

Eastern’s Reed Miller, Parker Pearce, Aiden Meeker and Winston Painter won the 2019 NYTS Cecil Smith Cup.

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The Batavia Bulldog Plumbing team won. MVP Tracey Riff is center.

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SUPPORTING THE ARTS Illinois club holds polo fundraiser

THE BLACKBERRY POLO CLUB in Batavia, Illinois, held a fundraiser on Aug. 8, supporting the Batavia Arts Council and Shakespeare on Clark at the Centre.

The event, held since 2012, is generally held in July, however, due to the global pandemic, the event was postponed a month until Phase 4 guidelines were announced. Batavia Arts Council Julane Sullivan said $1,500 was raised this year, about half the amount usually raised, with just 70 attendees rather than the usual 150-200.

This year, cars were spaced farther apart to allow for social distancing. A tailgate competition was held with participants decorating based on the annual theme: Sweets to the Sweets. Tailgate winners were Joyce and Craig Sprau, showcasing candy decorations and treats. The Spraus have been attending the benefit for 20 years and have won the tailgate competition numerous times. The Batavia Arts Council website encouraged guests to be creative with their tailgate decorating. “Candy is sweet, and so is Shakespeare’s language. You can go full on Candyland or Willy Wonka, Candy Crush or Shakespeare in Love,” it stated. Attendees were very creative, and one guest even dressed as a Candy Man, handing out lollipops to the kids. Admission was $10 per person or $40 per car, with funds going to the charities. Additional funds were raised through raffling gift baskets and passing around a donation basket. Sponsors Jamie and Doug Samms cheered on their Batavia Bulldog Plumbing team (Clifton Yandell, Bill O’Leary, Douglas Giegel, Tracy Riff) to a 7-4 victory over A Mirror’s Image (Len Monson, Adam Kaminsi, Shannon Eldredge, Jeff Boeh). Each person on the field scored one goal each with MVP Tracy Riff knocking in four tallies for the win.

The club is owned by George and Barbara Alexander, who brought out their team of Clydesdales for rides during the halftime break. A traditional halftime divot stomp was also held.

The trophy table included polo-themed homemade masks.

Tailgaters dressed and decorated for the ‘Sweets to the Sweets’ theme.

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“In the front end, for the horse to be happy, all we have to do is lift one shoulder to release the withers, and for the hind end there is a spot we can push on to help bring the hip (that’s back) more forward. You don’t have to pick up the leg or yank on it. I share those two moves with hoof professionals to make their job easier,” she says.

The horse’s posture can tell you a lot about whether there are any pain issues. “When you pick up a front leg, the hind legs should open (spread a bit) and square, so the horse is standing on a tripod, for good balance. If the horse isn’t standing square behind— and has one hind foot ahead of the other—the pelvis is not in alignment. It’s like the horse is only standing on two and a half legs instead of three, and he can’t balance very well. He tries to lean on the farrier or tries to pull the leg away,” she says.

“I show hoof professionals how to see if the sacroiliac joint (deep in the hind end) is sore. If that joint is sore, they should not pick up the leg and pull it out to the side. They should pick up that rear hoof only a couple inches off the ground and keep it directly under the hip and cross the leg behind the other one to put it on the stand. If they do that, the horse won’t resist and try to pull the leg away,” she says. People need to realize these resistant horses are in pain and not just trying to naughty. If you can find a way to make them more comfortable, they are happy to let you work on their feet.

Battles has created self-help videos on her you-tube channel Holistic Horseworks, for horsemen who are interested in learning these things. “One shows how to identify where the pain is coming from. Several videos look at the hoof balance from the rear, showing how to tell if the groin is tight, or if the pectoral muscles are too tight. Another addresses how to test for a sore sacroiliac joint,” she says.

“There are some easy, short moves that can be easily learned, to help these horses. You can also find someone who knows how to do the body work and realign the first rib. Most equine chiropractors and massage people working on horses are not releasing that first rib. When massaging a horse, they are not asking why a certain muscle is in spasm every time. They are just addressing the symptom, not the cause. I unwind horses from the inside, to get to the cause of the muscle spasm. That spasm controls how the hoof lands on the ground,” says Battles. •