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- Muscle tightness transmits to surrounding muscle groups, so for example, shoulder tension could be transmitted to the forearm, resulting in extra stress and decreased flexibility in the tendons (which only have 10% stretch anyway)
- Muscles react to stress and trauma (which can be cause by overuse, insufficient warm up or warm down etc.) by contracting and tightening causing stress on joints and surrounding muscle groups
- Minor muscle injuries become apparent long after their conception (often by change in attitude, decreased performance and lameness) by which time they might have already caused more serious damage. Prompt attention to muscle soreness not only enhances a horse’s performance but may also decrease the chance of future muscle injuries.
- Muscle injuries do often not show up in an X-Ray
- Muscle injuries are often cumulative and when a muscle is tense the horse will compensate by overusing other muscles in an attempt to avoid pain, causing these muscles to become sore as well.
- A horse, just like a human will try to avoid pain by changing the way he or she moves, shorter and less flowing movements which in turn results in decrease of rhythm of movement, or worse, lameness