My apologies for the delay in getting a New Muscle Monday post up again! We’ll be concentrating on the hind end for the next few posts. Enjoy!
NAME: Semimembranous
ORIGIN: Ishium
INSERTION: Medial border of the femur
ACTION: This muscle is a retractor of the hind limb. It extends the hip and adducts the limb.
OTHER INFO: The semimembranous is a powerful muscle of the hind end and is the inner, more sensitive muscle that could be confused with the Semitendonous (another retractor muscle that runs from the hock to the sacrum).
Careful when palpating this muscle as not all horses appreciate hands in this area 🙂
Some horses surprisingly enjoy massage to this muscle – this often helps horses who seem to be moving narrow behind (not necessarily those horses who are base narrow in conformation). Once this major muscle can relax, the horse can resume a normal gait.