# Hunters Bump?



## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

Looks like a steep croup


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## gottatrot (Jan 9, 2011)

Sacroiliac strain does not necessarily mean there has been an accident or subluxation of the joint. Many horses compensate by overusing the muscles in that area if there is a physical weakness or if they are reacting to pain in another area or poor saddle fit. The medial gluteal muscle crosses over the sacroileac joint but also attaches down at the hip. Any weakness in the hind end or overuse of that particular area can cause tightness/knots/tension in that muscle. If you feel the muscle on top of the sacroiliac, some horses with issues will feel like there are tight little balls of muscle there. The muscles should feel soft and pliable. 








My gelding with stifle issues had what felt like two rocks in that sacroiliac area when I got him. As his stifle issues have improved, the muscles have softened and relaxed. If the horse has tightness there, the muscles will tend to appear raised above the back. Sometimes this is due to subluxation of the joint or a previous injury, but often it is just muscle tension.


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## Natalie Ryan (Dec 30, 2020)

I'm


gottatrot said:


> Sacroiliac strain does not necessarily mean there has been an accident or subluxation of the joint. Many horses compensate by overusing the muscles in that area if there is a physical weakness or if they are reacting to pain in another area or poor saddle fit. The medial gluteal muscle crosses over the sacroileac joint but also attaches down at the hip. Any weakness in the hind end or overuse of that particular area can cause tightness/knots/tension in that muscle. If you feel the muscle on top of the sacroiliac, some horses with issues will feel like there are tight little balls of muscle there. The muscles should feel soft and pliable.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


If he's tensing is there anything I can do? Massage maybe? I had a professional saddle fitter tell me my saddle fit was fine for him, but the saddle the people I bought him from wasnt the best.


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## SteadyOn (Mar 5, 2017)

To my eye this looks to be within the range of normal. I certainly wouldn't have looked at these pics with no context and thought something looked off. Some more weight and muscles would probably fill out his back and quarters a bit more but there's nothing visually "wrong" here. I definitely don't see a hunter's bump. 

When my horse starts to look like she's lacking some muscle in the hind end, we start doing lots and lots and lots of transitions, and she fills out again there.


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## phantomhorse13 (Feb 18, 2011)

I, too, would not have looked twice at that hind end on an arab. You may be able to get that to fill in a bit with muscle, but don't be surprised if that doesn't happen (getting fat may add some bulk, but that would probably not be to the horse's benefit as it doesn't seem thin from what you can see of the whole horse).

This picture was taken during the Tevis 100 mile ride. You can see my horse's hind end is similarly shaped:









Flatter-type muscled arabs are never going to have hind ends like stock horses. If your horse is sound and happy in his work, I would not worry about it.


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## Natalie Ryan (Dec 30, 2020)

Ahhh! Okay. Well, I'll definitely try transitions and lots of hill work! Thank you guys! I was just curious because it seemed off to me and more prominent lately.


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## Jerri1987 (Feb 25, 2021)

Natalie Ryan said:


> Since I've had my boy, he's always had this interesting rump. For the longest time I've believed it's a hunter's bump (not really knowing it was subluxation). But now that I know what a hunter's bump is, I'm almost for certain this isn't what it is.
> 
> My boy is a twelve year old purebred Egyptian Arabian. He's had this bump since I've first bought him. It's equal on either side and doesn't appear to erupt pain when touched or during our exercises. I was not told of any accidents that might have occurred at the time of his purchase.
> 
> ...



I believe my boy royal has the same thing and he is Australian stock horse × Arab. 

My other boy Duke doesn't seem to have it and he is a pure-bred shagya Arab.


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## Jerri1987 (Feb 25, 2021)

Royal 24 years old


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## Jerri1987 (Feb 25, 2021)

Duke 10 years old


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## Jerri1987 (Feb 25, 2021)




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## Woodhaven (Jan 21, 2014)

We called that a "goose rump" don't know where the phrase comes from or why


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

It does look like a 'hunters bump', slightly accentuated by a topline that could be improved with work.

Quite often the changes in the sacroiliac occur as a result of something happening in turnout when they're quite young so the horse grows up with it and as the adjustments in the muscles that adapt to the new alignment happen before the horse is worked, the conformation is accepted as 'normal' by people who own or manage the horse throughout its working life because they aren't aware of the horse ever looking any different..

As long as no tilting occurred when the incident happened or soon after, the horse won't appear lame and should never be affected by it if enough time was allowed for full recovery.


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## Natalie Ryan (Dec 30, 2020)

jaydee said:


> It does look like a 'hunters bump', slightly accentuated by a topline that could be improved with work.
> 
> Quite often the changes in the sacroiliac occur as a result of something happening in turnout when they're quite young so the horse grows up with it and as the adjustments in the muscles that adapt to the new alignment happen before the horse is worked, the conformation is accepted as 'normal' by people who own or manage the horse throughout its working life because they aren't aware of the horse ever looking any different..
> 
> As long as no tilting occurred when the incident happened or soon after, the horse won't appear lame and should never be affected by it if enough time was allowed for full recovery.


How else could I work on his topline? It's actually better than it was... 😅


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

I find that any good regular work helps a horse develop a better topline but uphill work, built up gradually, seems to make the biggest difference because of the way the muscles have to work to drive forwards and upwards.
Working in a good outline also makes a difference- a horse that’s constantly ‘star gazing’ with a hollow neck is always going to struggle.


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## gottatrot (Jan 9, 2011)

If the horse is working naturally and the saddle fits well, the muscle tension will eventually get better.


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