WHY CAN'T MY HORSE BUILD A TOPLINE?
Why Can't My Horse
Build a Topline?
A Quick Note Before We Start
This ebook is educational. It is not a diagnosis, a veterinary examination, or a substitute for veterinary care.
If your horse has unexplained or rapid muscle loss, obvious pain, lameness, weakness, trembling, neurological changes, weight loss, exercise intolerance, digestive problems, or a significant previous injury, involve your veterinarian before beginning a new conditioning or rehabilitation program.
I am a huge believer in working as a team. Sometimes the smartest thing I can tell an owner is:
“Before we go any farther, I want your veterinarian to look at this.”
If the body is telling us something does not make sense, we do not train harder.
We stop and ask why.
Why I Wrote This Ebook
I have been in the alternative health industry for many years, working with both people and horses, and somewhere along the way I became completely fascinated with biomechanics.
Some people call me a bit of an anatomy geek. I am perfectly okay with that - I have been called worse around a barn.
Give me a horse, a skeleton and a cup of coffee and I can happily disappear down that rabbit hole for hours.
I love studying how the body works, why it moves the way it does and, probably more than anything, figuring out why something is not working the way it should.
And I love helping people understand it.
I wrote this ebook because I see so many horse owners struggling with topline development, and honestly, I do not think it should always be as complicated as we have made it.
I see people become frustrated because their horse will not build muscle over the back or hindquarters, so naturally they start looking for something that will fix it.
Off they go to the feed store for the newest and “greatest” topline or muscle-building supplement.
Before long the feed room has enough tubs, scoops and shiny labels to open its own little aisle.
I understand why - we all want to help our horses.
But sometimes we are shopping for an answer that is not sitting in a bucket.
Protein matters. Amino acids matter. Minerals matter. Fats matter. Digestion matters.
But sometimes that is not the real problem.
So What Is Actually Going On?
If the horse is not using the body correctly, you can keep adding ingredients to the feed bucket and still wonder why nothing is changing.
That is where we have to stop and ask:
Why is this horse not developing the muscle?
Why is one area overdeveloped while another area is disappearing?
Why is the horse pulling itself around with the front end?
Why are the abdominal muscles not engaging?
Why is the hind end not doing enough of the work?
Why is the back hollow?
Why is the horse compensating?
And probably the biggest question of all:
What Are We Actually Calling a Topline?
Before we try to build one, we should probably agree on what we are actually talking about.
The topline is not one muscle.
It is the visible result of how the neck, shoulder, back, pelvis and hindquarters are being used together.
The muscles running along and around the spine matter, of course, but so do the abdominal muscles underneath, the muscles controlling the scapula and shoulder, and the muscles of the hindquarters producing and controlling movement.
That is why a horse can look impressive in one area and still have poor functional development overall.
A big neck does not automatically mean a strong back.
A large hindquarter does not automatically mean the horse is carrying well.
A rounded outline created by the rider's hands is not the same thing as a body that is truly working underneath.
It is the icing, not the cake.
For me, a useful topline is the result of function.
I want a horse that can relax the head and neck, lift through the abdomen, allow the spine to move, use the hindquarters, stay reasonably straight and carry the rider without constantly bracing or falling onto the front end.
It is something the horse develops when the whole body is capable of working correctly.
Muscle or Fat?
Do Not Confuse Body Condition With Topline
This is another place horse owners can get fooled by what they see.
A horse can gain body fat and look smoother over the back without actually adding much functional muscle.
The opposite can happen too: an older horse can carry fat over the neck or tail head while losing muscle along the back and hindquarters.
Body condition and muscle mass are not the same thing.
Researchers developed a separate Muscle Atrophy Scoring System because muscle loss needs to be assessed as its own problem.
That matters when you are taking progress pictures.
I do want you taking pictures, but try to use the same side, similar stance, similar distance and similar lighting.
But Here's Where It Gets Interesting...
What if your horse isn't failing to build muscle because you are feeding the wrong supplement?
What if the problem started somewhere completely different?
The feet.
The neck.
The shoulder.
An old injury.
The saddle.
The rider.
Or even the horse's nervous system.
In the full ebook, I walk through how I look at these pieces together - and why simply working the horse harder can sometimes make the exact compensation you're trying to fix even stronger.
Ready to Find Out Why?
Stop chasing the muscle. Start asking why.
Read the full ebook and learn how to look at the whole horse, from nutrition and muscle development to movement, feet, saddle fit, the nervous system and rehabilitation.
FULL EBOOK HERE