08/15/2024
Elizabeth Uhl, DVM, PhD, Dip, ACVP, wrote, “Muscles do much more than create the forces needed to extend and flex joints, which is what has been traditionally taught in anatomy courses. Muscles are also critical for the buffering of the mechanical forces on the joints. They do this by absorbing very large amounts of energy and are thus critical to preventing overloading and to the stabilization of joints. This function is so important that the energy produced by normal walking would tear all the ligaments in the knee if it were not absorbed by muscular activity! Think about the implications of this. This means that joint stress and injuries can be predicted based on muscle function assessment. This allows prevention strategies to be developed before there is serious damage to the joint aka prehabilitation, which is widely used in training human athletes. It also means that a muscle may be overdeveloped and/or hypercontracted because of a weakness or loss of function in another muscle, in which case, simply trying to release a contracted muscle without considering whether it is compensating for dysfunction in another muscle group could further imbalance and stress the affected joints." (For discussion, see Brandt KD et al. Ann Rheum Dis. 2006 Oct;65(10):1261-4).
Before the Ego Take Over
Pauline Porsons’s beautiful sculpture illustrates why we are attracted to horses: a personal and friendly relationship. We have an apple and would like to share it with the horse. Then, the ego takes over, and we reward the horse with an apple if the horse performs as we want. Instead of partnership, we deviate to submission. We read about “unconditional obedience to the rider’s aids,” and our ego finds “classical support.” Science, instead, wonders about the sophistication and complexity of the horse’s physique. Our ancestors expected obedience because two-thirds of the highly complex body coordination the horse needs to achieve to perform efficiently and soundly was unknown to them. Consciously or unconsciously, the horse was expected to fill the blanks of superficial education.
Elizabeth Uhl, DVM, PhD, Dip, ACVP, wrote, “ Muscles do much more than create the forces needed to extend and flex joints, which is what has been traditionally taught in anatomy courses. Muscles are also critical for the buffering of the mechanical forces on the joints. They do this by absorbing very large amounts of energy and are thus critical to preventing overloading and to the stabilization of joints. This function is so important that the energy produced by normal walking would tear all the ligaments in the knee if it were not absorbed by muscular activity! Think about the implications of this. This means that joint stress and injuries can be predicted based on muscle function assessment. This allows prevention strategies to be developed before there is serious damage to the joint aka prehabilitation, which is widely used in training human athletes. It also means that a muscle may be overdeveloped and/or hypercontracted because of a weakness or loss of function in another muscle, in which case, simply trying to release a contracted muscle without considering whether it is compensating for dysfunction in another muscle group could further imbalance and stress the affected joints. (For discussion, see Brandt KD et al. Ann Rheum Dis. 2006 Oct;65(10):1261-4).
We can have a friendly conversation with the horse all the way to the education of superior movements. The technicality became complex as the difficulty level of the movement increased, but we know the performance’s athletic demand and how to coordinate the horse’s physique for the effort. Instead of activating the horse’s hind legs with a whip for the Piaffe, which is technical nonsense, as the whip activating the hind legs creates a muscular reaction opposed to the coordination that the horse needs to achieve to perform the Piaffe, we can from day one riding the horse educate the back muscles to convert the hind legs thrust into upward forces. It does not mean that a young horse is ready for Piaffe; the refinement of the back muscle coordination takes years to reach the necessary sophistication, but once the horse’s physique and mental processing have reached the necessary level, the horse masters the athletic demand of the performance and perform at ease, at the best of his talent and soundly.
The education is the pleasure. If the horse has the talent, the horse performs the Piaffe or any superior movement. If the education focuses on the body coordination instead of movement, the horse performs at ease and soundly. When I was in France, Dr. Lesaffre watched me train my three-day even horses. Lesaffre told me, you change the limb kinematics of your horses.” I said yes. Dr. Lesafre asked, “Why?” I told him that it was for greater efficiency and, therefore, soundness. Lesafre asked me, “Do you realize the considerable therapeutic possibilities?” Lesaffe added, even if I am half retired, I am your vet. You constantly have five or more horses that you train for the advanced three-day event level, and you have a low level of limbs or back issues. I often wondered how that was possible, so I come regularly to watch what you do.” Then Lesafre asked me, ”How do you change your horses’ limbs kinematics?” I told him I corrected or refined the function of their thoracolumbar spine. Lesafre laughed loudly, “Do you realize that you just blow away what the actual paradigm tells us to believe? We are told that the legs create back issues, and you tell me and show me that the proper function of the back corrects limb kinematic abnormalities.I believe it as I see it; I love it, but that will be hard to sell. “
Indeed, even if what we knew four decades ago was elementary compared to actual knowledge, theological thinkers attack the practical application of new knowledge through nasty and uneducated statements. Even if the practical application of new knowledge could efficiently prepare horses for the athletic demands of modern performances, the cult mentality prevents riders from exploring an efficient and friendly partnership with their horse. Upgrading the wisdom of our ancestors to actual knowledge, we could share an apple with the horse because we both like it and share the learning of an advanced movement because we enjoy the partnership. Based on our understanding of the performance’s athletic demand, we create a situation likely to guide the horse’s willingness and mental processing toward efficient body coordination and assist the horse’s processing with insights, keeping the horse’s mind in the right direction.
Riding like that is an immense and daily pleasure for the horse and the rider.
Jean Luc Cornille
