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In animals such as horses and other working animals, saddle sores often form on either side of the withers, which is the area where the front of a saddle rests, and also in the girth area behind the animal's elbow, where they are known as a girth gall. Saddle sores can occur over the loin, and occasionally in other locations.
Poll evil is a traditional term for a painful condition in a horse or other equid, that starts as an inflamed bursa at the cranial end of the neck between vertebrae and the nuchal ligament, and swells until it presents as an acute swelling at the poll, on the top of the back of the animal's head.
Horses' back shape can vary greatly from horse to horse. The upper curvature of a horse's withers, back, and loin is called the "topline." The line of the belly from elbow to flank is the "under line" or "bottom line." In terms of the back, both are important; a long underline with a relatively short topline is ideal.
Shivers, or equine shivering, is a rare, progressive neuromuscular disorder of horses. It is characterized by muscle tremors, difficulty holding up the hind limbs, and an unusual gait when the horse is asked to move backwards. Shivers is poorly understood and no effective treatment is available at this time.
Most horses have 18 thoracic vertebrae. The processes at the withers can be more than 30 centimetres (12 in) long. Since they do not move relative to the ground as the horse's head does, the withers are used as the measuring point for the height of a horse. Horses are sometimes measured in hands – one hand is 4 inches (10.2 cm). Horse heights ...
On the other end of the spectrum, horse flies and deer flies use "blade-like" mouthparts to slash the skin before eating the spilling blood, which causes large, painful bites, Frye says.
Beka Setzer, an Ohio mother of two young daughters, took to Facebook last summer to share shocking photos of her daughter Emmalee's legs after a day spent playing outside went awry. "PSA," she wrote.
A poorly-fitting Saddle (with an insufficiently high pommel arch or a narrow tree) may initiate or exacerbate this condition, as the horse will avoid movements which cause discomfort, thus leading to muscle loss behind the withers. Horses that trot fast with high, erect neck (like Standardbred race horses) do not develop strong, active back ...