Cold-back

It is difficult to compare the human counterpart of what Jeffcott describes as another 'well known' problem in horses, namely, "cold-back".

Such maladies as osteoarthritis of various joints (spavin in the hocks, ringbone in the pasterns, osselets in the fetlocks, navicular disease in the heels of the forefeet) are very common, as is chronic lower back soreness (coldback) in the lumbar, sacral, and thoracic regions.

If horses exhibit a cold-back, it may well signify an underlying problem, but some horses that have only a cold-back and no other signs or performance deficit can be managed by lunging before riding or gradually tightening the girth.

One of the most debated subjects in the whole of equestrianism is whether or not horses have bad backs. For some horsemen, a horse with a 'cold-back' is merely demonstrating eccentric behaviour; for others, every unexpected response is indicative of a back problem.

"Guess he's a cold-back," Slim observed when Blackie had calmed down somewhat.

The stud colt had taken to halter and bit easily enough, but he was a coldback. He had shied at the blanket and rejected the weighted feed sacks Adam had hung over his back before introducing the saddle.

A cold-back bronc raises his head up high as a single cowboy walks toward him to mount in the cold morning air.

You go back to the corral and saddle that cold-back sumbitch and put on your chaps and spurs.