06/24/2024
This article is so on point . It is a bit of a longer read but very worth it There are things that we need to truly, truly instil in ourselves and our students. For the love of the horse and the love of the sport
Poor Habits Spotlight: Heels as a "Power Lever" Upon Vulnerable Anatomy
With the Paris Olympics around the corner, many of us are preparing to enjoy sitting down to watch their favourite Equine and Human Equestrian Athletes compete at the top of their game.
In the deepest part of my heart, I really wish that I was one of them.
I wish I was looking forward to the Olympics. I am expecting to watch some of it, and see a lot that I really like and enjoy. I expect to see a lot of very fit horses that have had tens of thousands of hours of dedication poured into their development. I am expecting to see horses that represent billions in financial infrastructure around them, both living and logistical. I am expecting to see, once again, the miracle of the horse; the horse who does what is asked of them.
But there are other things I wish I was not expecting to see.
Horse Sport Social License to operate is a term that has been floating around since Tokyo 2021. Equestrian sports are gathering public attention from people who know horses, and people who don’t. Outside looking in, many folks have begun to look at horse sport with a critical eye and ask very simple questions.
1. Are the horses happy?
2. Is that “normal” to have the horses look that way?
3. Doesn’t that equipment hurt them?
4. Why are we doing this to them?
These are very simple questions. Not complicated. But they are the hardest questions to answer and ones I think about everyday.
There is going to be more and more pressure on the FEI and other smaller governing bodies in regards to the well-being of the animals presented in sport, as time goes on. For very good reason. To the chagrin of some in Horse Sport, they have begun to get a reputation that puts a spotlight on them for poor training, riding and horsekeeping practices, despite their animals abilities in the show ring.
Well-being, it is called. And finally, well-being is starting to take on a deeper meaning. Well-being no longer means how much money a horses owners have, how clean the horse is, how shiny their tails are, how expensive their stable is, or that they are fed and watered and housed daily. Well-being is taking on a four dimensional quality where we look at the mental and emotional impact that intensive training has on horses.
As a proud horse-dad to a couple of horses for whom I am confident to say the following: “A Paddock Life of Being Left Alone Is Not Enough For Their Happiness” and also confident to say after much introspection, study and deliberation “Horses Belong With Humans and We Belong With Them”, I am also very concerned about the effects that heavy training and competing can have on horses. I would love to NOT have that concern, I would be delighted to be free of that concern. I do not want to have this concern. But based on what I am seeing, regularly, I must be concerned against my will.
Having said that, I am also confident to say: “We All Love Our Horses” And “There Are Good, And Bad People Everywhere” Meaning there are probably bad people in the equine advocacy sector too, and good people in the competing sector. But I digress.
Today I share a photo. It is a stock photo I pay to have the rights to use. I do not know the horse, or the rider. And yes, I am seeing a moment in time, out of context. On purposes for education, analysis and information. I share this photo because it is an example of a few of the lesser known, or discussed things, that I look for, a sign that the horse and rider are in my view… off track from a welfare focus.
These are my opinions.
They might not be opinions you share.
But I share because anyone who follows me, who would like to listen to my opinions, can expect that I am going to gradually share this summer some tips of what to look for, when you are watching someone else ride, or to watch for in yourself, of habits that can creep up on us, that can slowly degrade a horses welfare.
Spotlight Number 1:
HEELS AS A LEVERAGE DEVICE.
The human foot has 26 bones. The largest and strongest is the calcaneus. The heel. It is shaped and positioned like a hammer at the back of your foot. A Hammer. Attached to the heel is the achilles tendon. A very large, very powerful tendon. Without this tendon and bone set up, we could not walk, run, or stand up. This is why the Ancient Greek myth of Achilles, the strongest warrior and hero was killed by the smallest weakness, is this tendons name-sake. Without this tendon, our bodies are more or less dead in the water, with it, we are warriors.
As a former dancer, I have felt and witnessed the power of this tendon and the heel. And felt and witness the debilitating effect it has on the body when inflamed or out of action.
Why is this important for riders? Because when we activate our heel, with the achilles tendon, lifting the heel up, we exert maximum power of the lower leg, with the smallest amount of effort from us.
We won’t feel how powerful the heel is.
We won’t be aware of how much PSI, pure force, our heel is capable of when activated like this.
We won’t sense a fatigue in this tendon or heel, because tendons, unlike muscles, can hold on for a long time without tiring or telling our brains they are sore.
Our leg is equipped with a hammer. A powerful leverage device. Use it with discretion, if we need to use it at all. Because it is positioned, when riding, against very vulnerable tissues of the horses torso.
I speak NOT to the situation when the heel is then decorated with a knife, or a metal prong, or some variation of a slicing, stabbing, poking, prodding metal implement. I know I am now judgemental, but go ahead and tell me ALL the stories about spurs being aids of lightness you like, I believe you, and I will still wonder why you needed them to be light. There weren't other options available to you? That is a hill I am happy to die on. I am happy to lose friends and clients over that view. In my view, the heel and achilles alone is strong enough to be heard by a horse. Loud and leveraged clear. I do not speak to the need to decorate it with further devices.
But when I see a rider who is riding, the majority of the time, meaning more often than not, with the heel and achilles activated to the point where the heels are not perpendicular to the flat ground, or a gentle released, dropped down, but lifted into the horses flanks I go through a check list on that riders behalf.
1. Are they aware of their heels being up, and tense?
2. Are they doing it intentionally?
3. Were they taught to do it that way, if so, why?
4. If they were taught to do it that way, do they value it, or are they on habitually auto-pilot?
5. If they are on auto-pilot, can they be aware that they are doing it, and the effect it has on the horse?
6. Are they open to changing it, or do they believe it is necessary and ok?
7. If they think it is ok, why?
8. Are they open to discussion with me on changing it? If not, I shut my mouth, and leave them be. I cannot teach here.
The Effect and Affect a Leveraged Heel Has on a Horse.
When we position the hammer of our leg against the horses flank like this repeatedly, we place one of the strongest levers available to the human body that is capable of exerting brute strength, elastic power, and rebound energy against a sensitive part of the horses ribs. Depending on conformation, our hammer is now leveraging at the edges of the horses rib cage. Anatomically speaking it is not if, but when this becomes painful, inflamed. In minutes, this area reaches neural fatigue, getting dull. (Enter spurs to make them light again). Equine Disectionists world wide are discovering scar tissue and thickening of fascia in this region- the horses body trying to protect itself from a slow motion beating of their flanks, exerted through repeatable, unaware, leveraged power-prods over years of training.
Emotionally, I hope my followers here do not need me to say the obvious. The internal effect on the horse is that they are given pretty grim choices; give in to the hammer, or be hammered upon. Tell me how this is not unfair? Want to extricate ourselves from ruining our horses as easily as possible? Train with aids that the horse physically and mentally CAN refuse. It is the only way to know if they consent... if they have the Affective and Effective ability to refuse. A leveraged heel can steamroll this ability in the horse, very quickly and covertly.
To understand what this might feel like to a horse please do the following
1. Take your knuckles of your index and middle finger.
2. Position these knuckles at the end of your ribs, where your ribs turn into your stomach, middle portion of your torso
3. Drive your knuckles into those ribs repeatedly.
4. If you cannot feel bone there (no judgement it was a long winter…), reposition to a part of your body where the ribs are close to the surface of the skin thinly protected only.
5. Dig, press and lever your knuckles there, stronger than you think, on repeat.
6. Continue for 10 minutes.
7. Let me know if that was comfortable for you.
8. Judge me for being harsh on this issue, only after doing this for one hour, 5 days. a week, for the years required to train a horse.
We have limited nerve endings in the achilles tendon comparative to other muscles in our leg. Our soleus, gastrocnemius, have a lot more “juice” in them and can tell our brain MORE information about what it is touching, with LESS pressure, compared to the heel and achilles.
Not to mention… what was the first correction we all got as riders? HEELS DOWN! And though I am certainly not promoting an over-correction were we push or force our heels down in a bad way, I must wonder why I see so many professional riders having totally abandoned first lessons. We need to find ways to educate our horses to the leg, which avoids harming, hammering, dulling or leveraging the horse though power of the leg.
Some riders ride without the lower-leg on at all… and achieve lightness and collection. Some like to ride with a draped leg that is "On". I can hold space for both styles. But I do not hold space for the aware, or unaware, application of our most powerful bio-lever onto a weakened, sensitive, vulnerable region of the horses body.
When we start watching the Olympics, or your show next weekend, spot the heels. Sometimes the lever is there intentionally; to exert maximum power to the horse on a vulnerable part of their body. Sometimes it is not.
Oh, it is also not great for your seat. Consistent grip in this region causes a chain reaction throughout the riders body. It raises our centre of gravity but also tips it forward, de-stabilises it. It stops our lower leg muscles from working correctly. It causes a tension compensation in the thighs. It blocks our hips. Sure, it may keep a rider more stable on a very active moving horse, but that "stabilitiy" is an illusion. It is stiffness, rigidity masking as harmony with the horses movement. A trained eye can easily spot the difference between a rider moving with the horse through co-ordination and relaxation, and a rider bracing their body levers against the horse and the saddle to stay as "still" as possible during the horses active movement.
It is a bad habit in my view. And when this habit is paired with a human brain that is unwilling to change it, it is also a red-flag, for me personally, that I am standing in front of someone who is committed to dominance at some level, but is maybe just sophisticated at hiding it.
Just my opinions. They may not be yours.
