With the development of osteopathy in the equine world, a concept has become very fashionable: "compensation". It's a term that's become a household word when it comes to explaining, as a rider, what seems logical (or not...) about your horse's locomotion defect. Rightly so, the term is used to explain the dynamic and/or postural consequences of a chain of lesions in the horse. This manifests itself in mobility restrictions at various levels. These consequences can lead to so-called secondary lesions: most often, muscular or articular fixations, more or less distant from the primary lesion.

The primary lesion may be traumatic, osteoarticular, tendinomuscular, fascial, visceral or even systemic (nerve or endocrine for example). The role of the expert is not to neglect any aspect in his diagnosis. Tracing the chain of injury can be a complex exercise that requires the multifactorial integration of anatomical, biodynamic and physiological data. It is a question of considering the horse as a whole and as a set of systems that interact, balance and COMPENSATE each other permanently. The goal is to maintain this unstable and fragile state called homeostasis.

Following the confinement, Puccini's story allows us to follow a classic and frequent lesion chain that illustrates this point without too much complexity.

1. Introduction: the consultation process

The following article was written by Dr. Eva Jonville, a veterinarian. To better understand its meaning, she explains in the paragraph below the course of her consultations: 

"Acupuncture is part of my primary approach and occupies a central place in my consultations, which are built on a foundation of Traditional Chinese Medicine. I use osteopathy or manual medicine, in a synergistic and complementary way, to remove musculoskeletal structural fixations when necessary.

Finally, depending on the disorders encountered, after an induction session with acupuncture needles, I can propose the implementation of a treatment with Chinese pharmacopoeia. This allows the effects of the needles to be prolonged over time, thus avoiding frequent consultations. 

Ma Niu I Fang, year 1399

The diagnosis is made and therefore refined through a 3-faceted prism:

• Veterinary classic,
• traditional Chinese,
• osteopathic (structural, fascial, neuro-vascular, cranio-sacral...)

The joint use of all these techniques potentiate each other for maximum results . The goal is to offer horses an integrative medicine.

This said, there is no typical consultation. Each horse guides me towards its needs, to which I limit myself so as not to break the balance or the dynamics in place. It is a question of being succinct and precise in the choice of the information given to the organism and the techniques implemented.

In this way, the choice of treatment method is based on a precise individualized diagnosis and in-depth knowledge of therapeutic techniques, crowned by continually nourished and enriched experience."

2. Reason for post-confinement consultation: a horse "tied from the front".

Puccini is a 9 year old French Saddlebred chestnut with three beautiful barnacles, two front and one back. He was worked regularly until the beginning of the confinement - he is an eventing horse. Then he went through 6 weeks of pasture and lunging sessions in a sand arena. His owner was not able to visit him from 16 March to¹ May. Since the reinstatement, Puccini is neither lame nor irregular, but it seems that his shoulder movement is less loose, especially on the right. When jumping, he no longer passes his withers as well. Palpation revealed a poorly mobile withers and areas of tension in the triceps brachii on both sides.

Looking at his feet, we can see that there have been chips in the wall just above the shoes, and that the feet are trimmed quite short. There is no abnormal sensitivity or heat in the hooves, no digestive pulses or engorgement. Nevertheless, his white feet are more sensitive to the pinch test than the pigmented foot. The owner confirms that Puccini is more hesitant on stony ground. He is also shod with plates during the show season. Acupuncture palpation revealed roughly symmetrical blockages on the three lateral meridians of the forelimb (Large Intestine, Triple Warmer, especially on the right, and Small Intestine on each side). The osteopathic diagnosis is a fixation of the 4th and 5th thoracic vertebrae (withers) and the right shoulder.

3. Where does this reduced mobility of the withers and shoulders come from?

Feet.

Puccini, like all the horses in the stable, was shod for the start of confinement. Then he was shod again at the end of April in order to resume his activity. During his barefoot weeks, the ground was dry. His fragile and brittle white feet did not leave the farrier much horn for the last shoeing.

Puccini may have suffered from bare feet for several weeks and perhaps from a slightly tight fitting for the first few days. When his owner returned in early May, Puccini's feet were no longer sore. On the other hand, the discomfort in his feet generated enough muscle tension to fix a couple of thoracic vertebrae and a shoulder.

4. What can be done when a chain of injury occurs?

Acupuncture needles and osteopathic manipulation have restored Puccini's normal locomotion. The owner is now careful to stretch his horse's shoulders regularly while waiting for the next shoeing where he will put plates.

To perform this shoulder stretch, you need to face the front leg you're going to mobilize. It's very important to look towards the rear of the horse. Then take hold of the hoof and extend the leg. Be careful to stay parallel to the horse's longitudinal axis, without lifting the hoof too much off the ground. The shoulder should be lowered in a cranial movement. This movement can be performed prior to stretching. It allows the scapula to be released from the saddle quarter and to be fixed "in its place" behind the withers. It can also be used after work, to release tension in the triceps brachii. 

Stretching the shoulder

A horse that experiences permanent or intermittent but regular discomfort in one or two front feet will eventually, through the use of analgesic postures and gaits, develop high muscle tension. These will lead, as in the case of Puccini, to osteopathic fixations requiring an external intervention. 

The Seaver can help the rider objectively measure a reduction in the horse's shoulder mobility over the same type of work in the same ground conditions. A horse that is "knotted in the front" will have more difficulty deploying its forelegs, raising its withers, thus reducing its rebound and the amplitude of its vertical movement.

The tool developed by Seaver allows you to compare the bounce over the course of the sessions, and to study the symmetry of the trot. This can reveal a lack of mobility in the horse, if it is not optimal and evolving. That said, it's important to bear in mind that bounce can vary according to the type of work (in a round, low stance, bounce values will be different from those of collected work) and according to the ground (deep ground leads to a low bounce, while soft or hard ground leads to a higher bounce). This objectification of a locomotion fault, carried out by comparing Seaver data over several sessions under the same conditions, vou犀利士 s will enable you to anticipate the "breaking point". In other words, to avoid the moment when the overstressed tissue decompensates and enters the clinical phase, revealed by lameness.