Q&A Management know-how
Our experts
Jo Pasetti Dip A Phys is an equine physiotherapist and showjumper.
Marc Jerram AWCF BSc (Hons) Grad Dip ELR is a Master Farrier, specialising in corrective farriery.
Caroline Heard won The Haddon Training British Grooms Award in 2014.
The wrong track
Someone told me that my horse’s pelvis is ‘out’ and needs realigning. Is this possible?
Abigail Marks
Photos: Bob Atkins, Jon Stroud, Shiralee Swan/Shutterstock.com
DID YOU KNOW?
Your horse’s pelvis will affect how he moves his hindlegs and he’ll be more likely to step short on the side that is misaligned.
A Jo Pasetti answers: First things first, a horse’s pelvis can’t be physically ‘out’ as we’d understand in human terms. It’s held together by a huge muscle mass and layers of strong fibrous ligaments, so there’s no way it’ll go anywhere. However, there are many reasons a horse’s pelvis may appear uneven and the most likely is muscle atrophy, meaning less muscle on one side of the body. This kind of muscle asymmetry can occur as a consequence of an underlying lameness, previous muscle damage or inappropriate training.