Pain in the back of horses
The back problems in horses - one of the most common veterinary problems in equestrian sports abroad. We decided to make a research for determining the relevance of this problem in Russia. The study was performed on the base of five horse-riding clubs of St. Petersburg and Leningradskaia oblast region. A population of 110 horses of different age, breed and type of use was examined. Horses were examined for signs of back pain and besides was defined muscle development, the position at rest and collected history of each horse. Then was a data processing to identify dependencies of back pain and muscle development of age, gender, exercises and other factors. The analysis of collected data showed that on the average, in St. Petersburg and Lenin-gradskaia oblast region, every fourth horse have back pain, most often the problem is common among horses working in the amateur show jumping and dressage. If we look at the horses working age (over 3 years), back pain have every third horse.