Nelson Saddle fitting perfection

28/04/2022

How does your horse/Pony look? Have a great Friday 🤩

Normal =/= Correct

The lumbosacral junction.

As with the break in the cervical vertebrae, the injury of the lumbosacral junction is extremely common and many owners/riders don't think twice about it.

The equine athlete has 18 thoracic vertebrae which lead into the 6 lumbar vertebrae, which lead into the sacrum. Unlike the thoracic and lumbar vertebrae, the sacrum consists of 5 fused vertebrae and is immobile except where it connects to the last lumbar vertebrae and the coccygeal vertebrae (tail). The junction is between L6 and S1.

Injury to this area can be caused by poor trimming resulting in a broken-backwards hoof angle (long toe, low heel) causing the pelvis to tilt backwards. In addition, improper riding (hollow, disengaged, false/forced frame) and ill fitting tack (too long, too narrow gullet channel, improper tree width/angle) can have the same effect on the back in causing the pelvis to be forced out of its neutral position to accommodate the drop in the back.

The dip before the muscle is typically caused by atrophy of the gluteus medius muscle and over development of the semitendinosus and biceps femoris muscles through working/training in poor/incorrect posture. This can also contribute to the lack of development from the lumbosacral junction to the dock, giving it a flat and sloped appearance. The hind end should be round, with no sudden dips, slopes or divots along the musculature.

22/08/2020

Interesting read for a Sunday! Beautiful animals ❤️

02/10/2019

Very true and I wish more people view horses this way......give me your thoughts?

Rushing to the wrong destination.

When we rush our horses in their training, we aren't expediting their fitness or building muscles faster - we are breaking them down and rushing to a place that will require more veterinary intervention, more alternative therapies, more time off, more risk of injury, more wear and tear on the fragile structures, and a quicker end to the riding career and soundness of our equine partners.

You cannot rush fitness, you cannot rush collection, suppleness, relaxation, it's impossible. Wherever you do rush and cut corners, you will end up with holes and issues in other areas of your riding and the overall health and welfare of your horse.

Don't want to take the time to teach your horse to collect, and instead just force him into a false frame? Well, you're going to be stuck with fixing the slew of problems that come with the tension you've just created.

Don't want to work your way up the scale to create true endurance and stamina? You now risk your horse pulling a muscle or injuring themselves from overexertion and being pushed too hard for too long when the body simply isn't ready for that workload.

Don't want to get a saddle fitted to your horse? Your horse will suffer the consequences of altering his posture and way of going to alleviate the pressure and pain caused by something that isn't suited to his build, even going so far as risking injury to yourself when he can't pick up his feet enough, causing a stumble which can be catastrophic.

Don't want to do boring small jumps to build up to the larger ones? You risk your horse not being able to find a good take-off spot, knocking rails, refusing and even crashing through the jump. You will also make the horse more nervous, anxious and again, tense and sometimes unwilling to jump again.

Don't want to waste time working up the scale of collection to achieve the proper head set without force? Let's just throw a harsher bit in his mouth, maybe tie the nose shut with both noseband and flash and begin seesawing on the mouth to get him into "frame". You've now lost all relaxation, the wrong muscles are activated and depending on how deep you yank the horses face in will determine if he's even able to swallow. Tension throughout the jaw and neck translate all the way to the hind legs, so zero collection is possible, even the slightest bit of engagement and lift of the back cannot be achieved.

Rushing will lead you nowhere except to more problems that could've been avoided had you taken the time.

This is something that needs to be said again and again, and again. It should be posted in every barn, every tack shop, every arena. It is so important for us to heed and understand. Our horses are not machines, they are living, breathing, feeling creatures and must be cared for as such.

Many thanks again to Saddlefit 4 Life ® for the wonderful insight!