The Horse: Understanding Saddle Fit
“Whether from saddle fit issues or underlying back pathology (disease or damage), horses with back pain will often ‘turn off’ their stabilizing muscles, causing them to atrophy. Many horses with back pain will appear to have lost muscle mass over their topline rather quickly,” according to Erin Contino, MS, DVM, Dipl. ACVSMR, associate professor of equine sports medicine and rehabilitation at Colorado State University.