neck and back problems in jumping horse

Jumping stops and refusals

neck injury

A jumping mare in trouble 

  • 'cold binqi' coming out from the deeply within the neck
  • full neck stretch
  • lying down mid-session

This 10 yr old mare usually loves jumping but in Feb had begun to start a specific pattern of jumping the jump and then 6 strides later stopping, tensing, putting her head up and the body quivering. This resulted in her then being reluctant to jump. Merely cantering under saddle soon provoked the same response. There was no lameness shown. A full body bone scan revealed bony changes at C5/C6 but was not conclusive evidence. The mare was treated with steroid injections into the neck, given time off work with phenylbutazone. There was no change. Further injections into the SI joint, neck and back resulted again in no change.

The Buqi sessions: (2 sessions)

First session: Initially very unsettled. Felt binqi in both sides of the neck, in lumber area right side and the chest area. Brought down front legs. Binqi in the right side of the neck was more apparent in front of the scapula. At first attempt I felt a little binqi in her neck. After moving away and back to her neck, I felt more binqi. I definitely found binqi at the chest and pectorals and possibly some in the right lumber area. The horse became very relaxed and licking and chewing and stopped her nipping behaviour. No conclusive feedback or resolve.

Second session: This was an amazing session. I stayed mostly with working on the neck. The mare’s behaviour was very different – she was not biting or defensive at all. Felt a strong reaction in right side of neck – base of bracheocephalic muscle – an extreme amount of cold left the area. The mare then did a full neck stretch, up back and in and then dropped her head completely to the floor. She was unable to keep her eyes open. I then took binqi out from chest again. After the session she laid down to rest lying on her left side. Seemed like some very interesting and strong reactions.

Sadly, there was no apparent change to the pony’s behaviour after this session. Clearly there was a very deep issue here for this pony and further sessions may have been interesting but not necessarily conclusive. Time and resources limited further sessions.