Your horses Triceps

Triceps - The triceps are a superficial muscle, they attach the shoulder blade to the elbow, the elbow to the humerus. They allow the shoulder to flex and the elbow to extend outwards for our horses.

Like all muscles, the triceps develop stress points, trigger points and general tightness within the muscle and surrounding fascia. This can be found and treated by your equine physio.

Issues within the triceps can be detected by owners through several 'tells'.

Holding a front leg bent while at rest.

Uneven wear on the hoof

Uneven stride

Reduction in range of motion of front legs

Lameness

Triceps are a the most common problem muscle I treat for my clients horses and get a lot of use and aggravation. Here are some top tips on how to maintain your horses triceps:

Rotation of Near side fore due to tension withing the near side triceps. Rectified by equine remedial massage by little glengyre services

DO NOT stretch your horses legs after doing your girth up! This pulls cold muscle and creates micro tears.

DO NOT start strenuous ridden work without efficient warm up. You should allow 10 to 15 minutes of each ride to warm your horses muscles up effectively.

DO allow 10 minutes of each work out to allow your horse to cool down and stretch, do not stand your horse for long periods after a ride because this can prevent drainage of toxins withing the muscle which can lead to trigger points and general tightness.

DO manually warm up the triceps before a farrier visit. Similar to us stretching and pulling cold muscles while tacking up, the farrier has to perform the same action in order to trim the hoof. If you manually warm the muscles, simply by giving a 15 minute groom with a rubber curry comb over the triceps before a visit you can prevent tears to the muscle.