Scoliosis in Adult Equines

I purchased my Thoroughbred gelding when he was 5 years old. Within the next two years we were doing really
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Q: I purchased my Thoroughbred gelding when he was 5 years old. Within the next two years we were doing really well at entry level dressage. He looked and behaved fantastically.

Then the problems started. As I ride on my own and hadn’t had this problem before, it took me a while to figure out that his refusing to go (forward), bucking, and general naughtiness was not disobedience at all, but serious pain from a saddle that was a bad fit. It seemed to be blocking his shoulder movement and extending the pain right through to his hindquarters.

We trekked five hours down to Johannesburg for a new, properly fitted saddle, X rays of his spine, and physiotherapy.

I changed his routine completely from mainly arena work to mainly trail riding, and I just didn’t feel he was getting much better. It was on my fifth saddle fitting with the same qualified saddle-fitter that she noticed his spine is skewed to the left

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Written by:

Rob van Wessum, DVM, MS, Cert. Pract. KNMvD (Equine Practice), is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Large Animal Sciences and Sport Horse Lameness Clinician at Michigan State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

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