What can a horse carry?

The last blog post this year will be about the horse's back. The purpose of the blog entries on hoof, mouth and back is to make us, who spend part of our time with horses and make use of their abilities, more aware that we are asking for something that the horse certainly can perform (and with honor!) but at the same time is contrary to its nature as an animal called horse.

When one gets involved in a thoughts it often happens several things simultaneously that really sets the own thoughts on spin. One student told me the following. During a visit to a friend in a barn, a horse was standing in the aisle. My student stroked the horse over the back and the horse lowerd its back - Don't tuch him over the back, the owner said, he is in pain. And that was obvious, but when the box was cleaned out the owner saddled the sore horse and took it for a ride. Where is the logic in this? One would expect a back that touchy would hurt bad when ridden.

Later that week I got a tip on an article written by Stormy May that added a few more sticks on the fire light going on in my head. The article is about what happens to the horse when we place our weight on its back. My post is a mixture of extracts from the article and my own words.

In "Journal of Veterinary Science" Volume (Vol14 (11), 1994)  the well-known veterinarian and saddle fitter Dr. Joyce Harman published an outcome of a study.

"For the purposes of this study, saddles with pressure up to 1.93 psi (pound force per square inch)  were assessed to have good fit, between 2.0 and 3.38 psi, but persistent pressure points, to have moderate fit and saddles that exceeded 3,4 psi or had persistent pressure points throughout the session was considered poor fit. These figures come from preliminary data showing that it was difficult to find an English saddle with a lower pressure than 0.75 psi, which is the highest pressure in the capillary bed, pressure exceeding 0.75 psi shuts off the blood flow in the arterial capillary bed. "

It is important to note that Saddle Tech preassure measuring tool, used in these studies, had sensors that have been developed to evaluate the risks of pressure sores in bedridden people and only measures pressure up to 4 psi. Modern sensors, such as the FSA (Force Sensing Array) developed by Vision Engineering Resaerch group (verg Inc) in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada can read a lot more pressure. In a test with Western saddles with good padding, measured normal "pressure spikes" between 8.25 and 14 psi. (Wesley, ED, McCullough, E, Eckels, S, Davis, E, Article # 9329, 2007, "The Horse" magazine).

The pressure that occurs on the tissues under the saddle is propagated down through the muscles to the bone structures found underneath. Research on pressure ulcers in humans have shown that tissue death begins near the bone long before redness and skin lesion is present.What have happened with the horses that have visible wounds or scars in the saddle area?

The muscles longissimus dorsi and trapezius, which the rider sits on, the horse has developed since Eohippus (between 60 million and 45 million years ago) to facilitate mobility. This structure was never designed to carry weight in the form of a pressure from above. In many horses, you can see a marked muscular atrophy just behind the scapula up at the withers. Nevertheless, I have heard a coach say that he did not want to have horses with muscular backs because they become so difficult to saddle.

Pressure from the saddle and rider on the horse's back occurs independent of use. When blood is pushed out of the tissue and comes back, it feels like a thousand needles sticking in the body part. We have embedded sensors that ensure that we change position from time to time, when the pressure on a single point has been too high for too long. For a horse that is ridden, it is difficult to stow the weight on his body that way. It can try to attract your attention by taking shorter steps, swishing tail, scratching himselves against the fence /riding school wall, nip at the leg, have ears back or even bolt or buck.

What is emphasized in the article is that it is all too common with today's horsemanship, to dismiss the horse only possible way of communicating, body language,  as disobedience and as such it should be corrected - often with "stronger pain in the mouth, on the head, ribs and flanks, probably in combination with a longer session under saddle" writes Stormy May.

Now neither the author nor I are proposing to forbid riding but I share the conclusion that increased knowledge of the horse's movement mechanics would be a fantastic Christmas gift that would please both rider and horse.

I have searched both articles Stormy May refer to online but without success. It seems like an interesting task for 2013 to gain more knowledge on the issue. I would like to know more about how each study has been done.

As always, when it comes to our relationship with the horse, it is we who must strive to interpret the horse's signals/language - the horse already has full notion of us, as the true humanist it is.
Now I take Christmas holiday and will return after Twelfth Night. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!