Equestriafitness

07/18/2024

Yes! So many things can contribute to your crooked position in the saddle. An assessment can help sort it all out and often riders can see improvements relatively quickly. Contact me to schedule an assessment.

There are a lot of ways to ride crooked.

And a lot of ways to correct it.

I typically avoid the classic “do this to fix that” type posts BECAUSE of that.

Your body is unique.

Riders can be crooked for many reasons but I typically see them for 2 main issues:

pelvis asymmetry or a trunk/shoulder asymmetry.

Sometimes it’s a mix of both, or another thing entirely.

When considering those two categories, it depends on which plane of motion the body is asymmetrical in! So the list gets more and more complicated.

Have a shoulder injury or back injury? Then we have to determine if the crookedness is an appropriate adaptation for a pathology!

Is your head spinning yet? 🤣

If you are chronically crooked, I would first consider having a formal assessment to determine where it stems from!

07/16/2024

Let’s work together to give you that competitive edge and improve your riding

Martin adopted a strict physical and mental fitness regimen to ensure he performs at the top of his game in Paris.

07/12/2024

Excited to be a clinician for the CHJA membership clinic in November. Looking forward to working with all these wonderful riders.

05/29/2024

Yes! And imagine that not only does the saddle not fit well but also the rider sitting in this ill-fitting saddle is sitting crooked. OUCH!

If you hurt yourself on any part of your body, you stub your toe or burn your hand, your immediate reaction is to pull away from the pain right?

Now imagine trying to remove yourself from the pain, only to be pushed back into the source of pain over and over again.

That’s how your horse feels when you’re riding in a saddle that doesn’t offer sufficient gullet channel clearance - or is ill-fitting in another way that places pressure on the reflex points on his back. When a gullet channel is too narrow, it places pressure on the sensitive reflex points on horses’ vertebral processes, the dorsal ligament system or in some cases on the nerve endings that originate along the spine. Your horse will drop his back to escape the discomfort, only to be asked by the rider to engage the core and lift through the back into the source of pain and discomfort. Not only is this a physically and emotionally distressing situation for your horse, but it also hinders his performance and progress in training.

The gullet channel of your saddle needs to be wide enough through the entire length of the saddle to accommodate the spinal processes, ligaments and nerve endings from front to back. Unfortunately many, many saddles we see in barns each and every day do not offer sufficient width through the gullet channel and are putting pressure on the above mentioned sensitive areas. Often saddles appear nice and wide at the front, but become more and more narrow towards the rear of the saddle.

But wider =/= better. The width of the gullet channel will affect the width of the horizontal panels, with a wider gullet channel resulting in a narrower panel and less weight-bearing surface. Gullet channel width can therefore not be an arbitrary decision and must be determined from horse to horse, depending on their built. That being said, the optimal width of the gullet channel is between 2 1/2 - 4 inch (6-10cm) and should never be less.

Next time you tack up your horse, flip your saddle over and take a look at the gullet channel width of your saddle.

Does it offer the same width from front to back?

05/26/2024

From Jean Luc Cornille:
Nucleus
Giving clinics worldwide, I see riders using all types of saddles. I observed a clear relation between excessive motion of the rider’s lumbar vertebrae and deeps seat, high cantle, and large thigh blocks saddles. The problem is worse when the saddle squeezes the rider between the high cantle and the thigh blocks. When I suggest that the high cantle saddle alter their ability to nuance the tone of their lumbar and abdominal muscles, I often see an emotional and hostile reaction. Marketing propaganda makes them believe that the deep seat and high cantle ensure their stability. When emotion overwhelms reason, there is no need to argue. I just hope that the rider will mature before pathology develops.
Muscles absorb a large amount of energy. It is one reason why I ride in a low cantle, sober knee pads saddle. When artificial support of the high cantle and large thigh blocks fool the tone of our gluteus maximus, upper thighs, and psoas muscle, we cannot refine the subtle nuances of our body tone.
While riding a horse, our vertebral column is compressed between gravity acting downward and upward forces from the horse’s movements. Recent studies have observed a pattern of intervertebral disc herniation where the nucleus tracks through the annulus. Previously, the herniation pattern was associated with flexion. Further research found that the damage relates to alternative flexions and extensions of the vertebral column under compression.
The rider’s vertebral column is under compression and submitted to successive flexion/extension of the vertebral column. Muscles absorb a considerable amount of energy and are thus critical to preventing overloading and stabilizing joints. The buffering of mechanical forces is so essential that the energy produced by normal walking would tear all the ligaments in the knee if it were not absorbed by muscular activity. (Elizabeth W. Uhl, DVM, Ph.D. Dip, DACVP and Michelle L. Osborn, Ph.D.)
A primordial work of the gluteus maximus, upper thighs, and psoas muscles is absorbing forces, protecting our lumbar vertebrae from excessive movements. Long before the research on tensegrity reached its actual level, I observed by experience that the ability to adjust the tone of my back and abdominal muscles related to the tone of my glutes and upper thighs muscles. I made the same observation while working with numerous students. Fascia can be more or less tight or loose. I saw students more comfortable on slightly deeper saddles than the one I use. Still, in a large percentage of the cases, the saddles squeezing the rider’s seat between high cantle and large thigh blocks cause excessive motion of the rider’s lower back.
Jean Luc Cornille

05/08/2024

Very interesting insight on jumping.

Alternatively, I could say that I was promoting the concept that comfortable horses are ‘happy’ athletes and providing evidence that they are likely to perform better than horses experiencing discomfort. I also had the opportunity to spend several hours watching the warm-up arena for the showjum...