Can you Tell if your Horse is in Pain?

All horses will experience some degree of pain in their lifetime.  While some horses tend to be stoic and work through the pain without giving many indications, other horses are more expressive when any kind of discomfort is present.  Are you able to tell if your horse is in pain?...and if so, what do you do about it?

Pain in a horse can be caused by many different issues.  The most common causes are ill fitting saddles, soreness from use/exercise, unbalanced rider, injury or hoof ailment.

Common signs that pain is present include:

• favoring a leg
• trouble bending to one side
• difficulty picking up one lead at the canter
• lack of forward movement
• pinning ears back when saddled or mounted
• bucking, rearing or kicking when asked to move forward under saddle
• acting lethargic
• being uncharacteristically grumpy

Now that you have learned how to recognize signs of pain in your horse, you are probably wondering what you can do help decrease pain in your horse.  You should always contact your veterinarian when pain is present to rule out any serious conditions.  If the pain is found to be musculoskeletal in nature, there are many soft tissue techniques available to help alleviate your horse’s pain.  

Kinesiology tape is an athletic tape that was originally developed for humans but has recently become very popular with horses.  This revolutionary tape can naturally decrease a horse’s pain sensation by blocking the pain receptors.  The great thing about this tape is that, unlike other athletic tapes, it does not restrict the horse’s normal range of motion and it also promotes healing!

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Equine massage is another great way to reduce any soft tissue pain.  There are numerous massage techniques available for use on horses to treat specific issues.  Horses tend to respond extremely well to massage and other forms of bodywork.

As a horse owner, you can learn how to use these techniques to alleviate your horse’s pain by taking a comprehensive online course.  Angel’s Animals Holistic Courses offer online Equine Kinesiology Taping and Equine Massage Courses.  These courses are easy to follow and take you step by step to teach you how to properly apply the techniques.  They also offer certification courses for professionals or those who would like to pursue a career in the equine therapy industry.

LEARN MORE ABOUT KINESIOLOGY TAPE

LEARN MORE ABOUT MASSAGE

LEARN MORE ABOUT MASSAGE CERTIFICATION