This is an interesting video

Clarissa · This is an interesting video

Here’s a good short video showing how the body should move while riding.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP98o4fD8QE&feature=related

I don't think I have this much mobility left in my back though!

whudson

That is very interesting Clarissa...I am reading a book right now that refers to the horse as being a natural chiropractor. Riding realigns the spine.

I injured myself on the job when I was pregnant with my first son ( 25 yrs ago) and ended up in a body cast for a month when my son was 2 weeks old. I was diagnosed with degenerative disc disease. What is interesting is the fact that I haven't had any issues with my back since I started riding.

Early on I did a centered riding clinic and I am actually wondering if this may have helped as well.

Deb has a bad back, I wonder if she has had any issues since she did the clinic or if she has found any improvement. I'm not even sure if that might be related or not just putting it out there.

With reference to the video, I can see how riding can provide a chiropractic experience.

Clarissa

Whudson I injured my back in ’91 & it’s been downhill ever since. The doctors told me I would be in a wheel chair within a few years of that injury but so far I have resisted that move although I live daily with a lot of pain & general discomfort & disability. I push myself past the limit most days & the disability regularly fries my brain with the exasperation of not being able to live the ‘normal life’ I want.

Riding is becoming almost impossible now & doing more only makes things worse in the long run. So effectively the more I ride the less I’ll be able to ride in future. A double edged sword really. I can have the 10 discs replaced at significant cost & had planned to do that until the GFC.

Riding is certainly not chiropractic or therapeutic for me! Lol Although I can understand how it could be for many people. It did help get me back on my feet after I learned to walk again following recovery from my back injury. Of course whatever is wrong in my back also gets transferred to Sonny’s back & it is apparent now that he has the same weak side as I do. I’m sure I will soon see the same scoliosis in him too. lol When I try to sit right it causes more injury to me because it puts more trauma on the damaged or non-existent discs.

I use my massage chair & other therapeutic equipment to straighten myself up as much as possible before I go out to work with Sonny but if I don’t ride straight away the effects have probably worn off by the time I do get into the saddle.

whudson

Sorry to hear that Clarissa. Sounds like you had a bad injury

PasoBaby_CarolU

Oh Clarissa, that does sound painful. I can't imagine what your pain is like. I wish I knew a magic answer for you. You might want to try a gaited horse and see if that is better.

Looking at that video, I see why riding helps MS patients. We have a "Horses that Heal" group here where we help, primarily physically handicapped people. It is organized by a doctor's wife who has MS.

Clarissa

Yes Carol I have considered a gaited horse. I actually have one right here...well very basic gaited...Jude. Her mother (arabxQH)was gaited, had very old QH bloodlines & had strange gaits that were smooth & nice to ride. Jude 'runs' along smooth as.

To that end I thought I should stop wasting time on Sonny & get back on her & get her fit again. So the other day I did get back on her for actual work. For the last many years she has been just a 'run-around' horse I use to ride bare out to grass along the road & back for feed time. During those rides she is free to go how she likes & I don't have to put tack on her.

But when I got her doing some gentle trot circles in a halter I realised she is still lame from the debarkle of my L2 assessment with Kaffa at the showgrounds near here in 2003. Jude ended up lame for 6mths after being forced to gallop across the showring where the center was very hard with several cricket pitches. I had done my flying lead changes around on the soft ground around the sides of the ring. Kaffa said it had to be done at gallop straight across point to point, over & over. Poor Jude's legs blew up like elephant's legs for months.

Anyway I would love a gaited horse but they are very expensive here due to not many being bred yet & all being show quality so far, therefore worth heaps....far too much for me to afford. I would like to have bred Jude to a tall paint gaited horse I saw at Equitana a few yrs back but the service is only frozen semen & the vet's costs here are aprox $1000 on top of the $2000 service fee!!!

Carol you need to invest in gaited horses here!! lol