Dr. Gerd Heuschmann, veterinarian and revalidation specialist of horses that have gotten sick due to the mistakes riders make, gave an interesting and clear explanation about the anatomical preconditions of the horse's bodies and the way the classical development of the horse or the education of the horse keeps this in consideration.
He gave a lot of attention to the function of the back muscles and showed by examples how correct and false walking horses along with certain non-classical ways of riding, can negatively influence the walks and well being of the horse. He gave a lot of attention to the consequences of a back that's been pushed away, of a neck that's been rolled up on the functions of the backmuscles and the tension, pain and, in the long run, damages that can come forward out of this and damage the horses. It was nice that he showed through examples from his own practice how badly damaged horses could recover by being trained the classical way. In one session he showed, by painting the inside vertebrae of the neck on of the horses fur, the influence of the classical stretch pose on the movement mechanism. In this way the horse curves his back forward and downward, which enables the long back muscle to do his work in a relaxed state. Hinderance in the neck lead to the cramping of the back muscle and results in the horse's walks being less pure. The horse obviously suffers from tensions and blockades in movement. He also emphasized the fact, that if young horses are given the chance, over a longer period of time, they develop themselves through the forward stretch pose (with the nose before the lead line) to be able to use the back muscles in a relaxed way underneath the rider. Slowly, the stronger growing backmuscles and further developing neck muscles can take over the ligaments' task and enable a tension-free use of the back muscle even in an upright position. __________________________ Judy http://iceryder.net http://clickryder.com
