what is good to use for muscle soreness?

[HunterGirl24]

My horse is getting over string halt and has been rideable for a little over 2 months. He is almost riding without any hitch in his one back leg.I know he is out of shape because he had off from July to the last week in october. He was on straight rest in a very small field. I am now up to riding him for about an hour of a good workout. However I am nervous he may begin to get muscle soreness now that I am riding him harder and more consistantly. I use absorbeen linament and I usually spray it on except if he is having a rough day then I will rub down his bad leg. However I am going threw alot of absorbine and I was wondeirng if anyone knew of any other linaments or braces that were good for my guy. Someone at my barn told me about rubbing alchol. I never used it so I wasnt sure if it worked. I love my horse and although he is getting better quickly I want to do everything possible to keep him happy and feeling good. Specially since I have plans to start lessoning him in Feb. (only half hour flat lessons.) and if all goes well start showing in april.

[MunchkinsMom]

I have found that Sore-No-More really works! I know this because I use it on myself. I highly recommend it.

[Simkie]

Are you legging him up slowly? It's really hard to tell from your post--sounds like you've taken him from no work to a hard 60 mins? If that's the case, you need to slow down.

I am a HUGE fan of hand walking to fit up a horse. Walk him over all terrain for oh...half an hour. Brisk, working walk. Encourage him to stretch down and out but not dawdle.

If he's that sore, he's probably telling you that you're doing too much, too soon.

If you have taken it slowly (again, hard to tell from your post) a brisk 15 minute hand walk before a ride is *excellent* for warming up. And add a brisk 15 minute hand walk at the end of your ride to cool him off. I've really had fabulous results when I add some serious handwalking in while fitting up a horse, and have eliminated the need for any muscle/pain type product.

[HunterGirl24]

Sorry, I should of explained more in my post. He was in light walking work before he was really rideable. My vet had me start hand walking him and bareback walking him very CAREFULLY and slowly. String halt is not an injury its a nero muscular illness. So he had very little to no control of his one back leg for months. He was so bad he ended up on 3 legs. I took him to New Bolton in PA and had numerous vets loook at him and I now am working with a horses in motion vet. He had me put my horse on rest for a while with meds. Once my horse could hold my wieght and walk on his own just with a hitch he had me start walking him and slowly barebacking him at a walk because he wanted to start stimulating his mind, and it worked in due time my horse got better and better. Of course there was some meds involved but I personally think alot of it was his own will. Many racehorses that get string halt are worked through the illness and have cured themselves just in time. So by the time he was hitching so light it was hard to notice he was on 15 minutes of walking. I have taken it slowly and he is not sore but I dont want him to become sore so I am trying to find a perventative.

When I ride although it is a good work out I am sure to give him alot of breaks and I am constantly checking him over to be sure he is ok. ( I think I may be a bit of an over nervous mom as well when it comes to him sometimes =) )

Sorry for the confusion

[Simkie]

Gabapentin might be useful: http://avmajournals.avma.org/doi/abs/10.2460/javma.231.5.755?cookieSet=1&journalCode=javma

I have found it very helpful for neuro issues. It might be quite helpful for you.

I am certainly not opposed to treating a recovering horse with bute or aspirin or banamine or firocoxib after an especially hard work. But then it's an easy two or three days to let them recover. Listen to him and let him tell you when he's had enough--pushing him through it on one day is fine, but pushing him through it EVERY day is not going to be good. Let him tell you what he can do.

[HunterGirl24]

Thank you I will look into Gabapentin. He was on a bute theropy for a while. Again he isnt sore now but I am just being careful and trying to find ways to prevent him from ever being sore. I really appreciate your advice and defently will listen to him. Thanks again.

[ChocoMare]

Sore No More Gelotion. I use it on my sore muscles, knees and bruises, so I know it works.

[BoysNightOut]

I've always used Vetrolin Linament, and have had good results.

[equineartworks]

Vetrolin or Sore No More. Both work great on my Paco with EPSM and his old hock injury.

[Ozone]

Sore No More and Surpass is the only stuff I use.

[JB]

Anything topical is just that - topical, and a teeny layer of top muscle. If a horse is getting sore from work, it's likely to be much deeper, not at all affected by the topicals. I'm a huge fan of Sore No More, and arnica in general, but you have to WORK the stuff into the muscles, and even then, most of the real benefit for work-sore muscles is the massage itself - you don't have to have used any liniment. It's one thing to use a liniment on a human where muscles are really not very deep at all. But the big horse muscles are THICK suckers and it takes knowledgeable deep tissue work to get anywhere that deep.

If he gets work sore, back off, but don't lay off. A sore horse benefits HUGELY from a good walk. As Simkie said, walking is awesome work and SO underrated and under used.

[NancyM]

Add DMG (dimethyl glycine) to the feed, works well for muscle soreness.

The surgery for stringhalt is the only method of full recovery that I have ever heard of. Easy surgery, and not expensive, and really the only option for very bad cases of true stringhalt IMO. The tendon that runs through the hock is removed, one cut below the hock joint, and one cut above, including the end of the muscle at the lower end of the gaskin. It worked like magic for our bad case. Full recovery. The lack of this tendon doesn't seem to negatively effect the horse at all in later life and full training.

[JB]

Not all stringhalt is genetic, where yes, surgery is the only real cure. Other types of stringhalt (symptoms) can be from EPSM, injury, and ingesting enough false dandelion.

[HunterGirl24]

My horse's stringhaly is almost cured and he had no surgery. We took him to new Bolton equine clinic and they tested the leg and explained how surgury was an option but said for my horses case surgury would probably not work. So we went the topical route. We do not know what cured him nor how he got stringhalt all we know is that he is getting better and better everyday. He is at the point now that u can barely tell he has the stringhalt. The battle I am dealing with now is just re conditioning him. I can tell you though he is a strong boy and the vets at the clinic said his stringhalt was not a textbook case but was very bad and when he was diagnosed the future was very dim but now he is doing well. So I thank my prayers everyday for that.

So as my horse gets better I am just trying to figure out every brace or way to prevent any muscle soreness. Thank you everyone who suggested things I will decently look into all of them. I honestly appreciate it. = )

[dwblover]

There was a study done by a vet on 8 standardbred racehorses that showed MSM actually helped the muscles recover after exercise.

[HunterGirl24]

O really thats very interesting I will defently look into that

[sweetpea]

Muscle food is what is I call it!!!
I can't go on enough of how DMG helped my horse.
He would into the ride -- before DMG get tighter -- like 15 min in. Not severe like a ty up feeling , but he would not loosen like others do.

So I put him on DMG which is a amino acid that helps reduce lactic acid and provides more oxygen to the muscles.
I also LOVE msm.
And if when I treat for inflammation and pain I Hardly ever use bute or banamine,
I LOVE

http://www.swansonvitamins.com/HUS006/ItemDetail?n=0

But the other is so almost the same and cheaper.
My horse eats them out of my hand.

I do jumpers and I keep him on these steady when showing.

http://www.swansonvitamins.com/HUS006/ItemDetail?n=0
http://www.equi-therapy.net/equi-therapy/homeopathy/arnica-for-horses.shtml

[Equibrit]

Infra-red lamps could help.
http://www.equinesolariums.com/benefits.html

[NancyM]

Not all stringhalt is genetic, where yes, surgery is the only real cure. Other types of stringhalt (symptoms) can be from EPSM, injury, and ingesting enough false dandelion.

I was under the impression that it is not genetic at all, the vets who worked on ours said that practically always in true stringhalt cases (not diet or infection related) that there has been an injury, at some time, a "jerking" injury on the leg which in some way damages the innervation point located at the transition of the muscle into tendon just above the hock. This is what is removed with the surgery. Both stringhalt cases (true cases) that I have dealt with personally have had hind leg injuries as the presumed cause. Broodmares with stringhalt do not pass it on to their foals.

[Bearskin]

Not to hijack your thread, but in the cited article: "The mare was treated with gabapentin (2.5 mg/kg [1.1 mg/lb], PO, q 12 h" what does this translate into dose-wise for a 1000-lb horse?

[MunchkinsMom]

One other thing to keep in mind is that any horse (or human for that matter), that is compensating for an injury, will get sore in other areas, as the compensation makes them use their other muscles differently than nature intended. Regular massage therapy is also helpful, and you can learn to do some of it yourself. Find the book "Beating Muscle Injuries In Horses" by Jack Meager. Your horse will thank you for it.

[In_]

Not to hijack your thread, but in the cited article: "The mare was treated with gabapentin (2.5 mg/kg [1.1 mg/lb], PO, q 12 h" what does this translate into dose-wise for a 1000-lb horse?

So - 1.1 mg/lb is equal to: 1.1 X 1000lbs = 1100mg. 1 gram = 1000mg. So 1100mg = 1.1 grams.

[HunterGirl24]

Stringhalt is a very strange illness where it is not genetic. People really do not know much about it at all because many cases of it do not add up or relate. My horse had no injury at all that we could find. He just started with this hitch that got worse and worse. However he us doing so much better on his own and again that us what I am most thankful for.


Thank you everyone for your suggestions and knowledge I have alot to look into and to work with for my guy. I also was interested to hear your dealings with stringhalt if anyone knows anything else about it I would be so happy to hear and learn what you delt with in the hopes to learn more about stringhalt.

[MunchkinsMom]

You might want to add the stringhalt to the title of this thread, as it may get more people that have experience with it to read and respond.