Sasha's body issues

appellativo · Sasha's body issues

As I learn more about conformation and the horse in pain, stiffness, biomechanically sound movement, etc. I look at my horse and wonder how to make her the most comfortable. In the last month and a half I've had several people look at her and share their viewpoints. The first was a gal who does Network chiropractic (http://www.drmarytraverse.com/oatmeal.html). Here are my notes from her visit. It was a clinic so not a full comprehensive session:

the first thing she said was, 'She really loves you! She's really happy with her situation.' (Mary was observing how she and I interacted with each other.)

She said she is a sturdy little horse, pretty symmetrical; a lot of horses have one shoulder or hq bigger than the other but Sasha is pretty even.

worked on front legs, ankles, released something there, and said 'that should help with the toeing out a bit.' Legs did look straighter after that!!

worked with shoulder/elbow on both sides, range of motion increased. worked with poll on both sides, neck both sides. taught me to feel for the divot (joint), place hand there and push away, and bend nose toward me, to test if horse can flex at that joint (check the first four or so). Sasha's neck bones popped back into place themselves (we heard them) AFTER she did her thing with the nervous system.

had one rib out, adjusted that. did not work with pelvis much (time constraint) but did get a kink out of the tail.

She had some tenderness in the 'low back' area. Sasha had some deep sighs and seemed to feel better afterwards. She was handwalked for 20 minutes after the bodywork.

Checked western leather saddle, said impedes with shoulder, and if moved back far enough, impedes with the area behind the back of the saddle too much. (I did not have my treeless saddle along with for her to check.)

The next person to work with her was an equine chiropractor. He also noted the lack of flexion in the neck, worked on the spine, ribs although he said that her ribs were not grossly out. Said her pectorals were tight. I didn't take notes after that visit so most of it escapes me unfortunately.

The most recent visit was by a lady who does Equine Positional Release. She did the most in the way of observing the horse, watching the horse coming and going, and from the side. She pointed out the roughness in the hair over certain areas...upper neck behind jaw, congestion behind the shoulder, tautness in front of the shoulder at the lower neck, elbows pulled in, the front legs not being straight (in so many ways!) and a crooked line or rather, dip, in the topline of the croup. She said that her pelvis is angled causing her hindend to be off-center the right.

I could visibly see how much farther the left front leg extended underneath the body than the right, and how the right leg was stiffly picked up from the shoulder and 'slung' out in front of her.

To me this is like having a puzzle pieces all laid out in front of me but I don't know what it means.

She did some bodywork on her; EPR is very subtle, taking the body a little more in the direction it is trying to go, until the horse decides that's a little too much, then the horse releases it back to a more normal position which is a little less pathological than it was before. Bear in mind that is my understanding and my perception could be flawed.

She recommended that I not try to make the body do certain things (like the lateral work and flexions I've been working on) because at this point it might not be possible, and she recommended Linda Tellington Jones' star obstacle (put a haybale and then lay one end of a pole on top and going down to the ground, about five of these in a circle like a wheel) and making my horse's footfalls more purposeful instead of flopping out all over the place like she has been.

If anything sticks out at you that could help me understand how to better help my horse, please comment. Let me know what shots you need and I'll try to get and upload them soon.

Blue Flame

As recently as 2 years ago Blue Flame was always tweaking something or other. Nowadays he has nowhere near the problems he used to. I believe it came down to three main changes.

First was we got the diet balanced as well as possible considering our grazing situation. This involved pasture analysis and a fair bit of research using the NRC guidelines etc. as well as many emails exchanged with someone more local who specialises in horse nutrition.

The other was how he was ridden. We dumped "Fluidity". We dumped LP's ideas on saddle position and reverted to manufacturers recommendation on saddle position (our FnE saddle is not like most orthodox saddles). I've come to realise that many of the things we learned through PNH were harmful, not in and of themselves, but harmful due to the incompleteness of the information. The PNH equipment can be a hindrance to achieving good movement as well.

We started applying Sylvia Loch's ideas on riding - tested and experimented to see what it meant to the horse rather than just taking her word for it. More recently, we've been using alot of Dr. Deb's information regarding untracking and Birdie Theory which are respectively the lesser path and the greater path (or Master's Way) of how to get a horse straight. The other element we introduced in that time was reducing aids/cues to timing with the individual footfalls.

Dr. Deb in particular talks about "riding your horse to soundness" although you'll have to sift through much information taking many tangents to get a handle on it - but I think her info on untracking and lateral work is some of the best out there along with Mike Schaffer's stuff.

The last element was to make stretches an integral part of our routine. Along with this we add Dr. Khonke's work over poles for pre-tensioning the sacro-iliac (common problem for thorobreds) and a little work trotting over ground poles from time to time also.

That being said, if I were to recommend one source only that could help, it would be Peggy Cummings - Connected Groundwork and Connected Riding. If you can get along to one of her clinics, even if only to audit, it will be time and money well spent - Peggy is all about biomechanics and just as importantly is a gifted teacher.

Clarissa

That's all very interesting BF. I'm glad you've got a handle on what makes your horse work better.

The Marijke deJong Straightness Training is much like Dr Deb's untracking also. I was beginning to see improvements in Sonny when I stopped working with him due to his sore feet.

I am looking forward to getting back to it when he is capable & not sore anymore because he has a much better stride now.

Yes it is a big thing with PNH how they tried to simplify things to the lowest common denominator mostly. However that left holes you could jump a horse through when it came to biomechanics in particular.

I think it is up to all well thinking horse people to discover for themselves how to fill those holes with suitable knowledge. Afterall we set out on this new track way back when we discovered PNH because we were thinking horse people, now we just have to keep moving forward learning new stuff & putting it to work.

Blue Flame

Clarissa,

Yes, I've had a quick look at the Marijke deJong thread and downloaded and read the e-book. Interesting stuff, and seems to agree with all the 'worthy' information I've been finding. Still, only so many hours in the day and I have plenty to work on already.

One thing I've learned from both Mike Schaffer and also from Peggy Cummings is that if you want a horse to come through from behind, sometimes you need to start at the front of the horse.

Not exact quotes below - I'm paraphrasing a bit here. . . .

You have to soften them from front to back before you can ride them from back to front - Mike Schaffer.

Teach the horse to let go of his head - Peggy Cummings.

If you push on a train that isn't on tracks (horse's vertebral column) it will kink all over the place, but if you pull the train from the front (using the horse's birdie) it will natural straighten out. - Dr. Deb Bennett.

. . . and probably one of the more profound things to come from Dr. Deb is that although traditional training scales put 'forward' before 'straight', in reality, forwardness or impulsion is a consequence of straightness - if you get your horse straight first, impulsion will arise as a result.

Erin, I'm not in any way trying to imply that your riding is the cause of your horse's problems - rather, I'm trying to get across the idea that the act of being ridden can be physically therapeutic for a horse - as Dr. Deb says - you can ride your horse to soundness.

appellativo

don't worry I didn't take it in any negative way. I think that how seldom I ride would probably not totally destroy my horse's natural way of going (twice a week about twenty to thirty minutes at walk and trot with a few strides of canter thrown in), although I don't say that it would not affect her at all. I definitely am working on proper bending and flexion, trying to release brace in the front and working on lateral moves and trotting over poles. I'm sure there's stuff I can improve on and hope I can piece together some things that will help her out. I need to go out and see if there's a difference/improvement since the last session...

ErinR76

After the handful of bodywork and other sessions, I decided to have the experienced horsewoman that runs the boarding stable help me with Sasha on taking the right lead. Sasha definitely prefers the left lead and it took really practicing at slow speeds how to get her to untrack her hq and get really accurate control of her hind end and responding to the leg, to get her into position enough to take the right lead. I have gotten her into it quite a few times now and I don't think its as much a matter of something being 'wrong' with her body, as much as just a lack of habit and muscle development, and probably the way I've been riding and cueing! I don't have as much time to practice on it as I'd like (the story of my horsemanship life) but the more I learn, the smarter my horse gets (I stole that from Christy Rains)!

I've also been noticing she will collect up more going down hills on the trail, which is nice. I'm also playing with teaching her to collect on the flat. I really need to take some consistent lessons and practice more. One day.......

Blue Flame

Erin,

If you post the trot on your horse, does your horse have a preferred diagonal, where if you post on the other diagonal the horse will take a mistep or two to get you posting back on the preferred one?

ErinR76

she's good with either one.

Blue Flame

That's good - just ruling something out.