Can you guess the most common cause of hind end problems?
Most people will get it’s the hocks.
Nope.
The hocks are the most common compensation for hind end problems.
But they’re not the most common cause. That award goes to the pelvic symphysis.
It is responsible for lots of issues. A short list is:
-
Bunny hopping
Tripping behind
Cross canter
Counter canter
Not holding leads
Swapping leads
Difficulty with flying changes
And more
Links:
https://www.tuckerbiokinetic.com/
Summary:
Summary by AI:
Dr. Renee Tucker discusses the common cause of hind end trouble in horses, highlighting the pelvic synthesis as often overlooked. She compares it to the foundation of a house, emphasizing its impact on the entire hind end’s alignment. Tucker identifies symptoms like bunny hopping, tripping, and difficulty with cantering as indicators of pelvic synthesis issues. She stresses the importance of addressing this issue in therapy and explains her approach, the Tucker biokinetic technique, for correcting pelvic synthesis alignment. Finally, she encourages listeners to consult therapists who understand and address pelvic synthesis alignment in their treatments.
Transcript:
Speaker 1 (00:01)
Hello, my friends. This is Dr. Renee Tucker. Again today, I’d like to chat with you about the most common cause of Hind and trouble. And it’s not the hocks, all right?
Speaker 1 (00:11)
The hocks get blamed for a lot of stuff because they do get overused and if and sore. But I promise you, the most common cause of Hind and trouble is actually the pelvic synthesis. You may not be familiar with that. It’s also called the pubic synthesis in people, if you want to Google any anatomy. But the pelvic synthesis is basically the bottom of the pelvis.
Speaker 1 (00:37)
If you picture looking at the back of your horse from behind and it’s the bottom of the pelvis and the center of the legs. So it’s back there in the middle on the bottom. It’s a little hard to describe if you want to take a look at some anatomy, it can help you, but it’s really just the bottom of the pelvis. So I said, well, why do we care about that? That’s on the bottom.
Speaker 1 (01:02)
It’s way down there. So what? Well, my friend, here’s the thing. If you picture it as the foundation of a house, okay, we don’t really see the foundation a whole lot of a house. But if our House’s Foundation is crooked, then no matter how much you straighten your windows and fix the roof and angle your gutters, it’s not going to matter because the foundation of the house is crooked and it affects everything on top of it.
Speaker 1 (01:35)
So in the same manner, if the pelvic synthesis, which is like the foundation of the pelvis of the horse, if that is crooked, my friends, we can be fixing things like the sacrum, sacroiliac , the hips, the lumbar, a whole lot of stuff. We can fix that all day. We can fix that every day, and it’s going to go back out of alignment again. Why? Because the foundation of the house is crooked.
Speaker 1 (02:04)
So it is super important to get this pelvic synthesis straight. I do this all day long and it’s fun. Horses love it. They just totally relax. So let me give you some ideas of the problems I’m talking about.
Speaker 1 (02:17)
So all these I’m going to mention at least 95% of the time the pelvic synthesis is involved. So our first one is Bunny hopping. This is not all that common. But you’ll see some horses when they’re trying to cancer or really any gate where they keep their Hind legs rather close together and they move them together. Rather than two separate Hind legs, they kind of stick them together like a Bunny.
Speaker 1 (02:48)
And then that’s called Bunny hopping, at least in the US now, some horses can grow out of this. But if you have an older horse that’s Bunny hopping a lot, almost certainly the pelvic synthesis is involved. Next we have tripping in the Hind end. It’s very common. If the pelvis is misaligned, try to picture it.
Speaker 1 (03:09)
If the pelvis is crooked, then one leg actually has more weight on it and the other one has less and so that will cause increased tripping with the Hind legs. Also cross cancer or counter cantering you know how the horse has to have that little bend in its lumbar just a little bit even if they’re cantering straight you still have to have a little bend in a lumbar in order to accomplish that bend you have to just tweak your pelvis a little bit. All right. Bend it so that it goes along with a lumbar well, again if that pelvic synthesis the foundation of the pelvis is crooked it is much harder to do that. It’s just that simple.
Speaker 1 (03:54)
It goes along also with not being able to hold the cancer for very long or very comfortably and also if any trouble with flying changes all these types of things where you really need the Hind end to be working good if it’s not definitely have a pelvic synthesis problem particularly in the cases if you have sacred iliac issues sacred iliac all by itself can be a big problem but yes, I’m saying most of the time that sacred iliac problem is because the pelvic synthesis isn’t aligned. It’s a huge deal. I love fixing it.
Speaker 1 (04:35)
That’s why I really feel it’s important to make sure whoever your therapist is or whatever type of therapy they want to know what the pelvic synthesis is and you can talk to them and see how does their technique address it? Because it is tough to get to because it’s in there but you don’t want to be forceful to get in there. That’s not really a good plan necessarily. Of course I do an energetic technique, the Tucker biokinetic technique and we can do that to the public synthesis no problem at all so I think that’s all for today. If you’re having any of those issues or any other high end troubles think the foundation pelvis try to make sure that pelvic synthesis is correct.
Speaker 1 (05:21)
Okay. Let me know if any questions and I will talk to you guys next time. Bye.
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4 Comments on “Podcast Episode 12: Most common cause of hind end trouble – and it’s not the hocks”
I purchased a Gypsy Cob mare. As is because she is lame. Seems to be fine, but if she runs, spins, kicks out…she will start to limp and drags the toe …right hind. Swelling below hock. It calms down in a few days, then happens once she gets excited again. Previous owner says she has been doing this for months and she couldn’t get a diagnosis, and not wanting to keep spending $. I don’t feel heat, and I can find nothing to really suspect tendon or ligament problem. I purchased AFTER she weaned her foal at 5/6 months. I think it may be LS…or other joint. I will be following up with performing the videos I just watched
Hello Kathy,
Congrats on your Gypsy Cob mare. They are lovely. It sounds like you are on the right track thinking LS (lumbo-sacral). Also, sacroiliac could be a problem as well. Glad the podcast was helpful.
Best,
Renee Tucker, DVM
Hi there, I’m wondering what you can do in order to correct pelvic synthesis ? My mare is great walk trot. But cantering she kicks out in the hind end. She will only kick out cantering to the right. But not cantering to the left.
She has had chiro, massage, shockwave & has new full bar shoes with leather wedge angles for correcting her angles.
I stretch her before our rides and try to do longer warm ups and stretches under saddle at walk trot. She is on pain medication but still having problems with kicking out. .
Is there a way to realign the pelvic are that may be bothering her?
Thank you!!
Morgan A
Hi Morgan,
I’m sorry to hear about your horse’s issues. The only way I know of to correct the pelvic symphysis is with Tucker BioKinetic Technique (TBT). You can see if there’s a practitioner near you at http://www.WhereDoesMyHorseHurt.com/practitioners. Keep in mind that some TBT practitioners will do distance work via a picture.
Good luck,
Renee