Your horse is an incredible athlete. He has sparked the imagination of humankind from the days we crawled out of the caves and saw the beauty and magisty of this wonderful animal. What a gift it is has been for the horse to blend to wonderfully into out lives and offer itself up for our use and companionship. This didn't happen with any other creature on this earth, even though we have had certain kinds of relationships with many other wonderful animals. Nothing comes close to the relationship man has had with the horse since time immemorial. But horses were not necessarily designed by Mother Nature to carry a burdon such as a rider. That doesn't mean that we should not ride them. But it means that they need to develop special muscles to carry a rider without injuring themselves. It isn't true that you can just "bring-em in from the wild and ride-em," as some would have you think. Well, you can, but you will pay dearly for it later; and so will your horse. This is a truth that was eventually learned by the best horsemen in the world, and from this, many disciplines developed.

Think for a moment, especially if you have ever played "horsie" with your kids. If you crawl around on the rug, with your kids on your back, and you hollow your back, you will scream with the pain. If, however, you engage your Abdominal Muscles and your Iliopsoas, and arch up, you will be able to carry more than one child on your back without much effort. This is the same for the horse, even though he is powerful and much larger than you are. There is nothing more damaging to a horse than to hollow his back, drag himself on the forehand, and not use his hind quarters. This will set up a situation which will create a predicatable cascade of very bad things which will happen to his spine from neck to tail. This is what I am here to explain to you, because it is essential that you understand these concepts to have a comfortable and willing partner in your horse, not to mention avoiding many years of lamenesses and veterinary bills. This has led me to coin the term "Sacro-Sciatic Syndrome."

THE “SACRO-SCIATIC SYNDROME ” -  The Upside-Down Horse

By Dr. Lauren DeRock

The “Sacro-Sciatic Syndrome,” is a term I coined several years ago, is one of the most pervasive problems in the horse, and is at the root of most of the symptoms eventually treated by the conventional veterinarian. I know these are bold words, and they will be deemed as nonsense, with concurrent rolling of the eyes, by many of the other conventional and “scientific” veterinarians in the field. However, these words come from 20 my years of treating the EXACT SAME PATTERN OF DYSFUNCTION IN HORSES, no matter what their discipline, with great success.

This syndrome will be evidenced by pain in the back, at the girth, at the base of the neck, discomfort when being ridden, especially at the canter. If you see a “ewe-neck” neck, a sway back, a dip in front of the withers, and in front of the top of the croup, this will be part, or all, of your horse’s problem. If your horse is traveling crooked, lopsided, dragging one or more feet and generally unhappy, this is part, or all, of your horse’s problem.

In my practice of more than 20 years in Equine Acupuncture and Non-Force Chiropractic I have evaluated and treated thousands of horses in all disciplines, from the back-yard pet to the Grand Prix Dressage horse. One of the first things I noticed, as I was learning to deal with performance and riding issues, was that many of these horses manifested the EXACT SAME PATTERNS OF IMBALANCE AND PAIN. While I learned how to effectively treat these problems, it became my mission in life to really understand how this came about – because at first none of this made sense to me. Nor did it make sense to the owners, as often the same treatment was repeated to many horses at the same barn. Nevertheless, the success ratio was, and still is, extraordinary; and clients and horses are happy and the results, from the beginning, have been very long lasting.

I remember treating a horse, early on, that had had a trailer accident and had some severe damage to the neck and front legs. This had been correctly treated by the attending veterinarians, and yet, months later, the horse was in pain, underweight, and basically un-rideable. There was no obvious reason for this, and regular work-ups provided no clue. In fact, the veterinarian in charge told the owner “I give up. It’s now time for the “quacks” to take over.” Again, I found the same pattern as in so many horses, corrected the problem, and the horse resolved its issues after one treatment, gained 100 lbs. that first month, and that was that. She went on to her normal activities with no more problems.

Over the years, what started as a mystery, unraveled for me in a very logical and timely way. This is a concept you need to understand to help these horses. I don’t care what kind of practitioner you are. This is HOW HORSES WORK!

Please refer to my article, “Crookedness in the Horse – The Enormous Impact of Leaning.” THIS IS WHERE THE IMBALANCE STARTS. This is where the DIRECTION of imbalance is set up. I cannot stress enough how important “straight” is to the horse, and many things that happen to the horse from this point on can be related to this intrinsic crookedness. Injuries tend to cause imbalance in the same direction of the lean, and this again will help you unravel it. Even dental patterns may follow the lean.

There are two things that are especially damaging to the ridden horse: Jamming the lower neck vertebrae and upper thoracic. This can occur when a horse is ridden consistently “upside-down” or “inverted.” This is one of the greatest sins in all disciplines, because it is just like tipping over the first domino, and what happens next is utterly predictable.

The second unforgivable sin is to ride the horse always on the forehand. It goes hand in hoof with Upside-down. This horse will not use his rear end and develop it to his advantage, and will forever remain imbalanced. Strain and subsequent damage to the hocks is one of the consequences of this kind or riding. If the horse is strung out on the forehand constantly, his hocks are not in the correct position to support his weight and he will over time develop hock joint deterioration. Hock problems are not a primary cause of other problems. It is a symptom of an “upside-down” horse.

I have taken the liberty of coining the term “Sacro-Sciatic Syndrome,” and this paper will describe exactly how I believe this occurs, and how your understanding of this can help your horse to overcome all sorts of difficulties.

When your horse is ridden Upside-down and these lower neck vertebrae and upper thoracic vertebrae are stressed, locked-up, or out of alignment, this causes pain around the upper chest and girth area and base of the neck. In humans, this is often referred to as the “Thoracic Outlet Syndrome.” In the horse, it causes “cold backs,” pain and distress at the girth and upper thoracic areas. The withers may hurt, and often people do not realize that pain in these dorsal processes of the thoracic vertebrae is really signaling that there is a problem with that vertebra and surrounding area as well. In the human, dysfunction of this area of the body can be so severe you may think you are having a heart attack. I experienced this myself after a fall from a horse. Had I not understood the meaning of severe chest pains, difficult breathing, and shooting pains down my left arm, I would have gone to the emergency ward. However, 15 minutes with my Non-force chiropractor relieved all the symptoms immediately. I had a misaligned rib. Same as the horse often has.

One of the most important components of the “Sacro-Sciatic Syndrome” is the locking-up, sticking, or misalignment of the first cervical vertebra and it may also involve the upper thoracic area. This can come from excessive “leaning” by itself, but is often exacerbated by riding techniques or injuries, bad saddle fit, and less than desirable shoeing. If the horse is in pasture and never ridden, this will not make a whole lot of difference; but when the horse is ridden, it makes all the difference in the world. Mother Nature did not necessarily intend for the horse to be ridden. But she gave us the ability to understand methods of developing special strength in special muscles so that we can do all the things we do with these wonderful horses without hurting them. These methods are what classical dressage was all about in the first place.

What happens next, I believe, is that the carrying muscles, especially the Iliopoas Muscle, are affected and may start to spasm. In the horse, you can actually put your finger on the tendon of the Iliopsoas. This is not to be recommended, because when it is in spasm, it causes the horse great pain, and you could be kicked as a reflex action. I used to adjust this muscle in the horse by first putting my finger on that tendon. If it is in spasm, it feels like a tight cable. When the adjustment takes place, it relaxes under my finger into butter. I am then able to adjust any other problems with the pelvis and sacrum with little effort. I have since developed safer methods which I will teach you.

The Iliopsoas Muscle controls the Pelvis and to some extent the Sacrum of the horse. The large Sacro-Sciatic Ligaments under the big muscles of the croup are a key factor. When the pelvis becomes “locked up,” misaligned because of the spasms of the Iliopsoas and other muscles, the Sacro-Sciatic Ligaments become misaligned, painful and the horse will protect himself from further injury by locking up the entire rear quarters. The Sciatic Nerve goes right through these big ligaments and a horse with this syndrome acts like a horse with Sciatic Pain.

The ridden horse MUST develop the muscles underneath the backbone to carry himself correctly before he can even BEGIN to carry a rider. In order for that to happen, the vertebrae from C7 to T4 and T5 must have normal, functional movement and must be able to hold, when necessary. The Iliopsoas must be strong and balanced. If you see a “ewe-neck”, sway-back horse, a dip in front of the withers, over-developed Rhomboids, a dip in front of the croup, a hunter bump, an under-developed hind quarter; you are looking at an “Upside-Down” horse with a “Sacro-Sciatic” problem.

What you see next will potentially get worse and worse as attempts are made to “fix” the problem without understanding what is causing it. That is a disaster. problem, they can make things very much worse.

You have all seen a “broken neck”. This does not mean that there is a broken bone, but rather damage to the ligaments between the vertebrae. This means that you have actually created a false joint between the neck vertebrae, with an ugly bulge, followed by a flat area. Many people do not realize how pathological this is, and I have even seen this displayed proudly on a tee-shirt denoting the “collected” horse. Now you might have thought the horse was collected in this case, but he isn’t. He has jammed the base of the neck, hollowed his back and broken at the wrong place in the upper neck. Many people really don’t understand true collection, but it means that the base of the neck is lifted – not jammed – and the horse is then able to bring his hocks under his center and balance himself properly. His head can be up or down; it is the base of the neck that is the key to this movement. From the two-year old, ridden before his bones are even ready, to the “finished” dressage horse, the response to pain is to hollow the back. That just makes everything worse.

HERE ARE SOME SYMPTOMS OF THE “SACRO-SCIATIC SYNDROME” – SEE WHERE YOUR HORSE MIGHT FIT SOME OR ALL OF THESE:

1) Pain at the base of the neck

a. Put your fingers on either side of the last neck vertebra close to the shoulder and apply deep pressure.

2) “Girthiness,” “Cold Back.” Pain and discomfort anywhere around the girth area, chest area, and withers.

3) Pain at the Poll Joint and down the rest of the neck

4) Pain down the back, especially at the 16^th rib (they have 18), about 3 to 5 inches lateral of the midline of the back, in the lumbar area, at the croup, and sometimes all the way down the back of both hind legs to the stifle. Eventually, I believe these horses will develop Sciatic Nerve pain.

5) Performance problems will often be noticed first at the canter, because the Sacro-Iliac joint is locked up as well, and the horse cannot flex his pelvis correctly. The horse may even start to buck or bolt. Your regular vet will think of hock problems. DJD in the hock joint is one of the symptoms that will eventually come out of this.

6) Sometimes the horse will actually seem to have a flat tire, and fall out under you now and then. It will leave you wondering, “What was that”?

7) When you ride, you will often feel that the stirrups are always uneven (a sure sign of crooked motion)

8) The horse fails to “track up” and often his hind legs stride very close together and may even interfere.

9) The horse gets very uncomfortable, anxious, won’t collect (temptation to use gadgets) or your horse constantly leans on the reins (temptation to use a more severe bit –PLEASE DON’T)

10) The horse may drag his hind feet, and/or drag his front feet and stumble. Because he is jammed in C7 to T4 he can’t get out of his own way. Couple this with some less then desirable shoeing, and you have an even greater problem. I have many times treated horses that have been EPM suspects. However, if the horse responds and is better with one treatment, as is often the case, it wasn’t EPM.

The list can go on, symptom after symptom. You would be amazed at how many mysterious lameness problems that will not respond to conventional therapy can respond very quickly to addressing the “Sacro-Sciatic Syndrome”.

When you look at how horses are commonly ridden you think: Where have we gone, and what did we lose from the masters? We can do better with understanding. And, guess what, the horse loves it!

READ ON! THIS IS AN ILLUSTRATED EXAMPLE OF HOW EASILY A HORSE CAN TURN UP-SIDE-DOWN

This is a picture of my 4-year-old Andalusian/Thoroughbred.  Notice how  lovely his back is, though he is basically undeveloped.

We moved our location the next year and I was incapacitated for about 6 months. During this time I send Touche' to a trainer who rode him in the mountains for 6 months. This was very good for his mind, but not the development of his back. When he came home, he was basically UP-SIDE-DOWN.  Riding him was what it must feel like to ride a camel. One part didn't know what the other parts were doing and he was extremely core-weak. Looking at these pictures, does it even look like the same horse?

Note the top-line, and what has happened to it. Note the beginning of ligament damage both in croup and in front of the withers. How many of your horses look exactly like  this???? And worse! This is the beginning of, not only the Sacro-Sciatic Syndrome along with all the pain that goes along with it, but this sets the horse up for imbalance, for mis-use and dis-use of the engine (the hind quarters), puts him on the forehand and will eventually cause him to become lame.

Fortunately, because this is a young horse, he is easily repaired. But it really has taken about 1 year to really put him back together and to start to build the strength he needs for the work he will be doing.

After I did my standard Non-Force Chiropractic work and Equine Acupuncture, I started in a program of long-reining. At first, this was a calisthenic excercise to strengthen his Abdominal Muscles and his Iliopsoas muscle. I describe the start of a Calisthenic system of long reining in my e-book, "Long-reining Made Simple." In doing this, I am only paying attention to stretching the top line, keeping his  head on the circle and concentrating on encouraging the inside hind leg to step under.




I have been able to start riding this horse correctly and he is truly the most thrilling horse I have ever had the privilege to ride. Now we can start the fun work, and I am getting help from my friend and trainer, Bill Biggs, who is unquestionably one of the best in the world in understanding how the horse works.