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Horse Rider

July 31st, 2009 admin No comments

Horse Rider

Protect Your Horses Back From Pain

Protect Your Horses Back from Pain

I treat 100s of people for back pain. I have trained 100s of riders to ride and protect their body especially their back from pain. I have treated many horses as well for back pain. It is partly for these reasons that I specialize in developing Horse Riding Equipment for riders.

As Horse Riders we give our horses back pain. The causes of back pain in horses can be all or a combination of the following. We use poor fitting saddles that sit low on their back. A saddle can cause pressure points at thewither and any where along the gullet. The padded part of the saddle can become lop sided from a rider leaning to one side. The stirrups are often not equal length because again riders lean to one side; this creates pressure points in the horses back. We use dirty saddle blankets that are coarse against the skin and we often don’t use enough shock absorbing padding under the saddle. Rugs are another cause of back pain in a horse.

The work we do training our horses is a major cause of back pain. Dressage riders spend hours doing circle work, Jump riders can over jump their horses, endurance riders ride for hours. All of this is fine if we respect fitness and flexibility. The long slow process of training muscle length, strength and function as well as obedience in a horse is often neglected because we want results fast. You can buy a clock but you can’t change time. You can’t get a horse fitter by over doing his training. You can’t build strength by doing twice as much. Back pain is the result. Resistance and bad behavior is the effect and misery is the outcome. Many riders then decide to do more and more and so the cycle continues. Some even go so far to tie their horses down to teach them a lesson.

I’ve seen the above pattern over and over.

I advise every rider to train out of the saddle one to train themselves to ride better and two to respect the effect of hard muscle training has on their own body. I like rider to feel pain and pressure and stiffness and understand they need to treat it and manage it not just do more. Riders who train out of the saddle have so much more respect for their horse.

The use of massage after a training session has such a good bonding as well as therapeutic benefit to your horse. I use acupuncture myself. Feeding electrolytes and of course a balanced feed is essential. If you don’t know what to feed appropriate then go and learn.

Horse riders must learn correct rug and saddle fitting. I will not ride without an air step saddle pad under the saddle or without checking the space between the saddle and the horses back. With an air step saddle pad I know it is clear. I take the stirrups off once a month, hang them on a hook and check they are equal. It is amazing how many aren’t and the rider swears they are.
The second biggest management for a horses back pain is the way a rider rides. A good rider is balanced and strong in the saddle. They don’t bounce and pull and move around so the horse has to catch them all the time. To learn HOW TO ride like this follow my Applied Posture Riding program it will make you a better rider and save your horse from back pain.

About the Author

Physiotherapist/Horse Riding Instructor/Rider/ Pilates Teacher Author Applied Posture Riding

http://www.applied-posture-riding.com/

http://horse-riding-equipment.com.au/