How can I fill in my horse's topline?

Question

I have had my horse for about a month and he had been pretty much sitting in a pasture before I got him, eating only pasture and occasional hay. He has a hay belly, but I can really see his ribs and his entire spine sticks out so his' shoulders, back, and butt lack fat or muscle. He is on a good deworming program and has been even before I got him. I slowly worked him up to 1 scoop of Nutrena Compete twice daily, and he gets a scoop of Weight Builder twice daily too. He is green, but is learning to round up and go on the bit...I'm just wondering if his spine is a lack of muscle or just his conformation or what I can do? He is a QH so I don't think this should be a problem as many TB owners have.

Answer 1

It would really help to know your horse's age.

Answer 2

Work him on the longe line for a while to help him build up his muscles and gain better balance before you ride him. Do a lot of working from the ground to engage his hindquarters, etc. to help him muscle up.

Answer 3

I think just more weight and exercise will do him wonders. He looks like he is a really good looking horse from what I can see of him.

Answer 4

i would work on getting him "long and low" so that hes pushing from behind and stretching for the bit, and maybe try him on beet pulp.. its working wonders for my guy helping his top line reform after a few months off for an injury..

also, work on raised ground poles (or regular ground poles set just a HAIR to long) to make him lift his back legs and use his back/butt.

hills are also good, and doing hills at a walk takes MUCH more muscles then doing them at a trot or canter, so go into half seat but make sure he walk (if you have hills, that is)

but, remember, it is going to take time.  My guy came from a similar situation after spending 2 years in a field eating hay and getting fat, he came to me as fat as a mare pregnant with twins, but had SO LITTLE muscle, after the walk to turnout (maybe 100 yards...) he was wiped out.  

It took me about 6 months to get him a nice WORKING top line, but in 3 or 4 you'll probably see the big changes.  

Good luck with him!

EDIT: and i'm sorry,  but i DO NOT agree with side reins for a horse that has no muscles.  its not fair to him, he doesn't know what your asking or why his head is so restricted.   When your riding you horse you can feel if hes tired, and feel if he feels trapped.  (and therefor compensate)  Putting side reins on a horse with no known experience is an accident waiting to happen.

but, don't attack, because i think they can be useful for a horse who UNDERSTANDS contact and long and low, but for a horse in this type of shape its not fair.

i WOULD NOT suggest this.

Answer 5

Without a picture of your horse, or knowing his age and care history, it is difficult to say what would be most effective.  If your horse is simply underweight and out of shape, then feeding him good quality feed and doing a lot of flexion-both lateral and vertical-should help.  Keep in mind that even a horse whose breed is typically well muscled may always be scrawny.  If you know your horse's lineage, you may be able to find pictures of his parents.  If so, this should give you some indication of what your horse's potential is.  I would also advise you to call a vet.  If your horse has some underlying problem that is preventing him from filling out, no amount of feed will help.  Lastly, I would also recommend that next time you buy a horse, you spring for a pre-purchase vet check. It may cost you in the beginning, but it could save you a lot of time, money, and emotion down the road.

Answer 6

Well, this is a muscle problem for sure. What you need to do is get yourself a pair of side reins and a lounging surcincle if you want to use that instead of your saddle (I like it, because with all my horses they get lounged more than I ride because of their need for muscle before they can progress too much further). What you need to do is hook the side reins low on the girth of the saddle (or the surcincle I use I don't connect to the rings I connect lower to it's girth).

What I have to do because my side reins aren't quite long enough is take two pieces of twine and look them through the bit so that i have two ends, then slowly tie down the length in little nots so I have a little hole to hook my side rein to. You need to have the length so that your horse can push his nose outwards and downwards slightly. If you look there is a muscle above the withers on the neck that needs to be lowered to be engaged. This is a dressage thing and I have no idea what you ride, but this'll build up his back legs as well as his back. If he can raise his head up enough to disenage his back and is no longer stepping under and lifting his back, tighten the side reins slightly. Also, when using side reins they should not clamp a horse in but only be low encouraging the horse to drop into the contact.

When riding, always warm up on a horse by teaching them to drop low, you do this by having very elastic elbows, when he began to reach own you give to the contact, encouraging him to drop down and work deep and low that way he stretches out his muscles as well as builds up his back muscles. This is how you start when riding a green horse in dressage, then to get them on the contact you, after approximately 2 weeks of riding this way (or if they catch on quickly like quarter horses tend to do from what I can see) you begin to just sit in the saddle and steady yourself slightly, and very gently ask for the horse to give to a bit more contact, which should have the horse "half halt" and bring himself under more in the hind quarters and lift his forehand. Never be heavy with the contact, if he gets heavy have elastic elbows the entire time so he has nothing to lean on.

Edit: On sidereins -- 1. if your side reins are so tight that your horse feels confined and flips over, you should NOT EVER USE SIDE REINS. 2. The point of side reins is not to get the horse on the bit and use them as a gadgit, it is to teach the horse how to work down through the topline. We also, I hope, don't just ride horses in circles over and over and over again. This isn't something that confuses the, I've talked to numerous high level grand prix trainers who have the happiest horses and have worked my own. The point is to teach the horse how to work his own back and the only way to do this is to have reins that are loose enough the horse can work. If you have the reins up where your hands are, your horse never feels the contact and will never drop down into the contact. If the reins are up at the same level as us as side reins they are mostly not adjusting. Unless you plan on double lounging/ long reining them, which is MUCH harder to control and more dangerous if you are not good at lounging.

Don't talk about side reins if you have no experience with them, they do not force a head down, and if you have them so tight the horse will flip, then you are rediculously lounging the horse. If you drive the horse forward immediately and make it rear, of course it'll go down, I've watched horses go down on PEOPLE because they did the same thing. I've never had a horse flip with side reins - they SHOULD NOT be too tight they flip.

Get facts right first.

Good luck, dear, anymore questions [e-mail] = my email :)

Answer 7

Well first of all the training suggestions about getting your horse to utalize himself are great.  The only problem is you cant build muscle when your horse is using the muscle for the calories he needs.  

When your horses top line starts to go it is because he is not getting all his nutritional needs met.  When you deprive him of something they will use what they have stored in their bodies.  The tell tale sign that a horse is not getting what they need is when the top line starts to go.  Now working your horse is wonderful but it will make his top line dissapear even more if you dont feed him correctly.  

You mentioned a scoop.  Whats a scoop?  Is it 1 pound 3 pounds 5 pounds of feed?  The most common problem with horse owners is they underfeed and over supplement.  If you feed him properly I'm betting you wont need to waste the money on weight builder.  Another problem is people never take the time to look at what they are really feeding and how, in many cases, little they are feeding.  I would be happy to reccomend a diet for your horse if you send me some vital information.  Correcting his diet should help with that top line along with regular work.  But his diet needs to change first.

I will need to know what age your horse is, what you are doing with him or plan to do with him, what you want the feed to do, and most importantly any health concerns.

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Answer 8

You should walk or trot him up and down hills, maybe lunge him on a hill if you can, or circle him over some cavalettis. They'll cause him to have to pick up himself to go over and the muscles will form on his back. Be absolutely sure your saddle is almost too wide too, because he can't build muscle if the saddle fits properly, since it'll hurt him to use his back really well (since he's used to NOT using it). A tad on the wide side is better, and you could try a Wintec saddle with the adjustable gullets if he really starts getting wider. It's not his conformation, you can definitely change it! It's also important to be sure that he's not scared, which will make him raise his head, which will cause him to build muscle UNDER his neck, which is not where you want it. Don't use a tie-down though if he is, it's better to get to the source of the problem (bad fitting saddle, uncomfortable bit, uncomfortable rider, going to fast for him, like maybe he needs more time to process things, etc.) and fix it there, then you will be able to ride really well with a horse that's comfortable and using his whole body properly. Good luck!

EDIT: I saw someone put side reins, the one thing with side reins is that when YOU ride your hands are not going to be at the girth, and it gives the horse a totally different feel on the bit when your hands are 18"+ up from there. And, if you're not experienced, I've heard of horses flipping over because of feeling trapped in them, which to me, makes me want to find something that my horse WANTS to use his body properly rather than forces him to use is body. Just my humble opinion though.

Answer 9

Based on the picture and information you have provided I would recommend some additional weight.  If he doesn't have any tooth or health problems try 3 lbs of beet pulp daily soaked over night in water.  If there are any hard lumps in the beet pulp by morning you'll want to add more water before feeding it to him.  Add 6-8 pounds of orchard grass pellets along with his current feed.  He doesn't need a lot of weight and he seems to have a beautiful shiney coat, so a couple of months of the added feed should round him out.  Once you have addressed the weight issue, roll backs against a rail are a good way to build top line muscle.