Hunter's Bump

[alove4horses]

What the heck is hunter's bump?? A horse where I board has this and I am just curious. What causes this?

[peppysan]

Hunters bump looks like an odd looking bump on the top of the croup, where the croup is at it's highest point before it slopes down to the doc of the tail.

A hunter's bump happens when the muscle fibres that attach the pelvis and the spine tear and loosen. Once this happens, the horse's pelvis shifts into a different position and this causes the "bump" that you see. It's technically known as "sacrcoiliac subluxation" and the bump is the boney part of the pelvis which becomes more prominent and visible after this subluxation happens. It happens most commonly in hunters and jumpers, hence the name. It also usually happens after repeated trauma then after just one incident.

[alove4horses]

Thank you for the explanation. So now is this considered an unsoundness or just a blemish??

[horse99]

I would say it's just a blemish if it does not affect the horse any more. I have seen a number of horses with hunter's bump that are just fine in their careers, it just looks a bit ugly more then anything.