25/04/2024
Seeing things that others don’t- or can’t- makes you an easy target for those that think you’re a crazy woowoo horse person that’s “too soft” on their partners.
But shouldn’t we be soft? Shouldn’t we be kind? Shouldn’t we LOOK? And look to understand, not look to dismiss.
~
I’m stuck in that awkward in between where I know enough to know that things are *majorly* wrong with most of the horses I see, but not knowledgeable enough to fix it, and sometimes not knowledgeable enough to put words to what I see.
Professionals who DO know are so important to have in your corner, and in the equestrian world.
When I was 17, I skipped my high school prom to go to Landrover Kentucky for the first time and it was the most inspiring weekend of my life.Yesterday, I had a hard time sitting through the horse inspection without squirming in my seat.
This photo is me at 17. Pre gender transition, pre professional horse career, just before I left my hometown to start a biochem undergrad program. I had been cross-country schooling a couple of times, I’d had the chance to sit on some nice dressage horses and try my hand at pirouettes, passage, and piaffe. Horses were my destiny and I knew it, even if I didn’t *Know* it. The reality was that my parents had ideas about what I should do with my life and what kind of activities were worth their financial contributions. Horses were never “no”, but my requests were followed by gentle redirection. Heading to, at the time, Rolex 4* was the highlight of my life.
I didn’t miss a jog up, I didn’t miss a dressage test, I hiked all day out on cross-country in the rain in a less-than totally waterproof raincoat because I simply cared more about the horses. I basked in the gleaming ponies, the turned out riders, the decorated fences and the vendors. My dreams of olympic riding felt close enough to grasp.
Yesterday, watching the jog over Facebook Livestream, I read a lot of comments that sounded like 17 year old me. Comments defending flighty horses with the explanation that “they’re just really fit!”, comments about how beautiful, how strong, how athletic those horses are. How these horses are the horses to be inspired by. How lucky those riders are to have such brave and noble steeds. I didn’t see gleaming ponies. I didn’t see excitement, I didn’t see a future that I want for myself.
Instead of basking in the glory, imagining a day that I get to storm around a stadium course, parade through the barns with grooms and coaches to support me, I went back to my lab science routes and I took notes. I do this frequently in my series work - if your horse has worked with me, you know I take movement seriously and I spend a lot of time watching horses move so I can correct their imbalances.
Thirty-eight horses jogged up for the vets and all were accepted.
By my anecdotal and non-medical assessment using the same criteria I use for my series horses, all thirty-eight horses showed:
-Evidence of negative palmar angle, excessive flaring, egregious medial-lateral imbalance in one or more hooves, clearly collapsed or crushed heels, feet that were clearly too upright, high/low syndrome, toe or quarter clips, or landings that were not heel-first.
- overdevelopment of brachiocephalic muscle
-Pelvis angle too steep - indicative of chronic psoas tension
-What EFIT practitioners refer to as a “V” holding pattern. Evidence that tension is chronically improperly transferred across the superficial dorsal lines and superficial ventral lines.
Of the thirty-eight horses, thirty-seven had improper development of the longissimus dorsi muscle.
Thirty-six had dysfunction of the forelimb protraction line - commonly seen in jumpers
Thirty-two prioritized moving their limbs to create forward motion rather than recruiting the full-body chains of kinetic myofascial lines
Thirty were tail wringers, or avoided tail movement at all. Thirty showed incorrect development of the medial glutes and the quadriceps.
In twenty-eight horses, the Cutaneous Omobrachialis was easily visible
In twenty-six horses, the cutaneous trunci was easily visible
Twenty-two horses showed either dorsal pelvic dysfunction, or lower impulsion chain dysfunction - both associated with galloping, starting work too young, or acute or chronic hind limb trauma
Twenty-one horses stood out to me as having an especially hard fascial expression, excessive freeze responses, excessive spooking, or excessive ear movement - all indicative of chronic stress or discomfort
Nineteen horses were presented in a flash noseband
Eleven horses demonstrated “spicy” or spooky behavior despite being some of the most highly-trained animals in the sport
Six horses demonstrated headshaking or nerve-fire behavior in the head.
This is the sport of eventing. This is the sport I fell in love with as a teenager - before I knew what I was seeing. Things have gotten better, and they are still this bad.
I have had success alleviating all of these symptoms with manual bodywork and specialized movement work. We can do better.
