Muscle pain is one of the most common pains for horses. Sore muscles have multiple causes, from poor warming-up techniques to dietary concerns. Untreated, it causes a poor quality of life for your horse and limits their potential as a riding partner. The good news is that with the proper treatments, your horse can get relief from their pain and help prevent new muscle soreness.
Understanding Muscle Soreness in Horses
Causes of Muscle Soreness in Horses
While muscle soreness in horses can occur for any number of reasons, there are several reasons your horse may not feel their best, such as exercise, trauma, diet and nutritional issues, poor saddle fit, and poor riding techniques.
Exercise: Just like humans, exercise is one of, if not the main causes of muscle soreness. Horses exercising harder than normal, whether due to a strenuous ride or multiple days of riding, can suffer muscle pain.
Traumatic situations: If your horse falls, has a spat with a pasture mate that results in trauma, or suffers any other injury, it can lead to muscle soreness.
Diet and nutritional issues: Diet is often the gateway to good health. Horses with calcium, sodium, or vitamin E deficiencies can cause muscle cramping and stiffness after exercise. High cereal grain diets and sweet feeds are often culprits in muscle soreness.
Other nutritional disorders, such as those related to selenium and fat metabolism, can also lead to muscle soreness. One such disorder is polysaccharide storage myopathy, caused by abnormal muscle sugar levels.
Poor saddle fit and riding techniques: If your horse’s saddle is too small or too big, the rubbing and impact of your body on your horse’s back can cause the saddle to create muscle soreness in their back. Muscle soreness can also be caused by improper training tools and riding techniques that can cause your horse to tense up, creating muscle soreness.
What are the symptoms of muscle soreness in horses?
Muscle soreness is fairly apparent in your horse. Keep an eye out for the following symptoms:
- Stiffness and reduced mobility
- Reluctance to move or perform
- Flinching, tail wringing, and pinning their ears
- Tender skin and swelling
When in doubt, it’s always best to be cautious and avoid riding or tacking up until you can pinpoint the area of muscle soreness and alleviate the pain.
Benefits of Addressing Muscle Soreness
When your horse feels their best, they can be their best. When muscle soreness is tended to promptly, the benefits are limitless. Some of the best parts of addressing muscle soreness include:
- Improved Performance
- Enhanced mobility and flexibility
- Increased willingness to work and perform
- Overall Health and Well-being
- Reduced risk of further injury
- Pain relief
- Improved muscle hydration
- Better quality of life for the horse
Types of Horse Therapy Products for Pain Relief
Red Light Therapy
Red light therapy for horses works by using specific wavelengths of visible red light to stimulate cells. This helps reduce inflammation and cell turnover, speed up the healing time for soft tissue injuries, and relieve muscle pain and soreness before or after a ride.
Ceramic Therapy
Ceramic therapy utilizes ceramic fibers woven into the fabrics used for leg wraps, boots, quick wraps, no-bow wraps, hock and knee wraps, sheets, and saddle pads. The ceramic fibers use your horse’s body heat to increase circulation and promote soothing warmth and healing for stiffness, soreness, injuries, or arthritis. Using ceramic therapy saddle pads or sheets is especially great for horses that can be cold-backed before riding or suffer from back soreness.
Cold and Ice Therapy
Cold therapy uses ice, ice packs, or cooling products to lower the temperature of soft tissues on legs and joints, reducing inflammation, swelling, soreness, and pain. Cold therapy for horses can be provided in ice boots, cooling wraps, soaking boots, or water therapy boots. You should only ice a horse’s legs or hooves for about 20 to 30 minutes, with breaks in between.
Magnetic Therapy
Magnetic therapy can accelerate muscle recovery time by stimulating circulation and blood flow to the affected areas. It also reduces tension and soreness and offers prevention and relief of joint pain.
PEMF Therapy
Pulsed electromagnetic field therapy (PEMF) is used as a non-invasive treatment for horses with injuries, pain, arthritis, soft tissue injuries, and overall body soreness without the use of medications. PEMF stimulates and regenerates the cell tissues of muscles, ligaments, and soft tissue. PEMF therapy can restore natural cell impulses and regeneration with healthier cell function. This can offer excellent benefits for rehabilitating injuries that can cause stiffness or pain daily. A 30-minute session before or after a ride can improve your horse’s overall condition.
Copper Therapy
Copper therapy works by increasing blood flow to the treated areas, which can help reduce swelling, inflammation, stiffness, and muscle soreness. Copper threads are woven into the fabric of specific copper therapy items, such as slickers, hock wraps, and leg wraps. These are especially great for horses that stock up in the stall or the trailer.
How to Choose the Best Therapy Product for Your Horses
Assessing Your Horse’s Needs
As with any pain management, the best idea is to call your vet and, if necessary, have them examine your horse. Based on the level of pain and the location, your vet can best determine what therapy will work best for your horse.
Product Quality and Durability
While many products are on the market to alleviate your horse’s muscle soreness, the best idea is to ensure that what you choose will be durable for multiple uses. At Schneiders, we take pride in selecting the best therapies for your horse, so you can rest assured that your product will be the highest quality.
Budget Considerations
Therapy can be expensive, and we know your budget is always on your mind. Make sure to have a list of therapy products in mind; don’t buy the cheapest on the market. Buy the therapy that is the best for your budget.
Muscle soreness in horses is common but very treatable with the right tools. Be sure your horse is getting the right diet, their tack fits correctly, and you warm them up and cool down properly every ride. Having a proper therapy routine can also solve and prevent future muscle soreness. With the right tools, your horse will be pain-free, and moving smoothly in no time!
