Fallen Crest Advice? Is it hopeless?

My 11 year old stallion's crest falls to one side and as I read on all the websites about it, some say it's not fixable and others say it's the neck strength. How can you tell the difference and what is the best solution? I've had him about a year and a half and he hasn't been overweight with me at all. I was going to try and show him at halter in a month, but I cannot get the mane to flip. The only thing I haven't done yet is sweat it, I'm still waiting on my neck sweat to arrive. I've put him in mane tamers, but it just flips back underneath. I've underclipped all but a small section of it to flip over so the weight is gone, and I am working on his flexion to each side and ground driving for collection. Does anyone have any advice? Can it be fixed in time for an end of April show, or at all?

If the crest has truly fallen then sorry to say I highly doubt that its fixable. Stallions can be more prone to cresty necks and it can also be a sign of IR or be more prone to founder.

Neck sweat may help, but if its bad as you say probably not much and I've had better luck just clipping off the entire mane and left it alone for the winter and really helped a lot, but with him showing you don't want to do that. I also do lots of flexing on the ground and I don't notice any change when it comes to strengthining the neck, but its still great practice.

Hi Melissa,

My 10 y/o stallion also has a fallen crest. He has never been over weight either, just prone to it. I like to blame genetics since his sire also has one, but not sure how viable that theory is. What I did to help it was flip it over to the other side, braid it and put some light fishing wieghts to help it hang on the side for a week or so. I also gave him a good undercut on his mane. It has helped tremendously, but it will never totally go away, just not as noticeable now.

I've seen other posts on here with some pics and great advice. I hope this helps and good luck to you.

My stallions flopped over as well about 2 years ago, I shaved his mane and tried different exercises but it didn't help. He is now getting a teaspoon of oil in his feed twice a day and it seems quite a bit better but by far from perfect. I spoke to my vet who did a study on Andalusian horses with fallen crests and he seems to think that there is nothing to do once it flops as it is due to damaged cells.

My friend breeds andalusians and has seen it to be genetic and not necessarily always due to overweight or off-metabolism.

Once that ligament stretches out, it never really can tighten back up...

I'm not going to say that it's hopeless, just maybe not feasible to have him ready for an April show, depending on how bad his neck is. I've had two with broken crests that have managed to get turned back around and look like normal necks again.

This is certianly the worst I've ever dealt with- my stallion is IR, and I don't think I've ever seen such a cresty neck on any horse, ever. This is what he looked like in the hands of his previous owner, who had no idea he was IR....



What he looked like when I got him, hard to tell what was going on with him, but you can see the fallen crest, which we assumed was from him being at a good weight at one point before being starved...





About a year later, back up the weight and good health, but man, that neck!





Winter time last year, still not down as we'd like, but certianly better than it was...



I need to get current pics of him today, his neck is considerably slimmer with no drop to it at all. Call Foxden Equine and ask for a free sample of Quiessense- they will send you enough so that you can see if it makes a difference in you horses neck. While you'rs may not be IR, I used it with my other mare, who was simply fat as butter and it helped with her neck in brining the crest back up. I was also told with Tali that I'd never get it back in line because of how badly stretched it was, but it took time and regulating the diet and excersise- it can be done!

Forever Farm, wow! What an ordeal that poor guy has gone through!! He looks so much happier, good job on him! Thanks for the encouragement. I took some pictures of him this afternoon. You can see where I underclipped him hoping to get it to flip to the right side. Maybe someone can tell me if it's permanent? I know it's no easy answer and I'm still going to try, just hoping it's not genetic because I have 3 mares foaling his babies soon under the marestare link. I did look back at his picture on his registration papers and he was quite a bit overweight. He came from VA to FL in the fall so with that coat, I never noticed anything until the following spring when we clipped him and he had lost quite a bit of weight.

I would just about bet that's easily fixable! Just IMO, and strictly my opinion, he looks like he's got the underdeveloped neck muscles from not using his neck liek he should, or being held in a false frame while training. I see this in young stallions alot, though, they run around with their head in the air and their nose stuck up, not good for nice necks, LOL! BUilding muscle means adding more proetien to his diet, then working him to develop those muscles up. If you have a surcingle, a lot of long and low excersises while lunging and a neck sweat to help tighten back up. I'd certianly give Foxden a call and get him on Quiessense and see how that works for you. It's very cheap if you decide to use it on him full time and works wonders.

Forever Farm said:

I would just about bet that's easily fixable! Just IMO, and strictly my opinion, he looks like he's got the underdeveloped neck muscles from not using his neck liek he should, or being held in a false frame while training. I see this in young stallions alot, though, they run around with their head in the air and their nose stuck up, not good for nice necks, LOL! BUilding muscle means adding more proetien to his diet, then working him to develop those muscles up. If you have a surcingle, a lot of long and low excersises while lunging and a neck sweat to help tighten back up. I'd certianly give Foxden a call and get him on Quiessense and see how that works for you. It's very cheap if you decide to use it on him full time and works wonders.

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Thanks that's encouraging . That it exactly my plan, if it works I will update this post (however long that is lol)

We have a 4YO mare that had a fallen (crooked) crest, her dam also has a fallen crest. We have been working on the 4yo for about 2-3 months. We exercise her almost daily and give her a muscle builder plus rice bran oil, we also have increased her feed. Not too sure what strengthened her crest but I'm going to start putting a neck sweat on for a few hours to see if it keeps straight.

Good luck with your stallion.

Val Carroll

Meadow said:

We have a 4YO mare that had a fallen (crooked) crest, her dam also has a fallen crest. We have been working on the 4yo for about 2-3 months. We exercise her almost daily and give her a muscle builder plus rice bran oil, we also have increased her feed. Not too sure what strengthened her crest but I'm going to start putting a neck sweat on for a few hours to see if it keeps straight.

Good luck with your stallion.

Val Carroll

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Can I ask what the purpose of the oil is? Are you trying to put weight on her?

Personally, I think it is hereditary. I have a friend that has three full sisters and everyone has that fallen crest. Unfortunately, I don't think there is much hope but I have heard that it could be a protein issue so you could always try upping his protein. I wish there was something because it seems to be very common in minis.