Understanding The Horse's Back E-Book

Sara Wyche

• Herausgeber: Crowood
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

A unique guide to understanding the horse s back: how it works, what can go wrong and why, how to recognize problems and how to prevent them - an essential handbook for all owners and riders. Topics covered include: the basic anatomy of the horse's back; sources and causes of problems; recognizing pain in the horse; professional diagnoses and therapies; orthodox and complementary treatments; rehabilitation and recovery; remedial exercise and training; shoeing; saddle fitting and finally back-friendly riding and management.

Leseprobe

UNDERSTANDING

The Horse’s Back

Sara Wyche

First published in 1998 by The Crowood Press Ltd, Ramsbury, Marlborough, Wiltshire, SN8 2HR

www.crowood.com

This e-book edition first published in 2011

© Sara Wyche 1998

All rights reserved. This e-book is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author's and publisher's rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

ISBN 978 1 84797 363 4

Dedication

To Jim.

Credits

Photographs and line-drawings by the author.

Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1     What is a Back?

2     Anatomy

3     Shapes

4     Mis-Shapes

5     Diagnosis and Therapy

6     Rehabilitation

7     Daily Management

8     Riding

Postscript

Index

Acknowledgements

In a small town in Germany lives a man who breeds horses. Nothing remarkable in that. He also breaks them in and competes on them. Nothing remarkable in that either. Like all breeders and riders his horses have their fair share of problems. What makes this person special is that his horses never have back problems! Not through luck, lack of judgement, and certainly not through ignorance; this is simply a horseman who has an overwhelming sense of responsibility towards the movements of the horse – to preserve their natural rhythm and flow, whatever the level of training and whatever the type of work. There are no concessions to rider error, no concessions to the degree of collection. Short, fumbling strides are not only unacceptable, they are inexcusable. The horse must carry its rider willingly forwards, with a back that is soft and supple, and limbs that swing freely and comfortably. Whether it takes twenty minutes or two hours, the horse does not return to the stable until its back moves with Schwung.

It has taken me a whole veterinary degree and twelve years of treating horses with back disorders, to appreciate fully the importance of Schwung. It is the most fundamental characteristic of the horse’s natural movements, and the quality most easily lost as soon as the horse has to carry a rider. This book has come into being because one man in Germany insisted that his horses’ backs never lost their swing!

Introduction

‘If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? … And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?’

William Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice

In the thirteenth century, Mongolian warriors rode thousands of miles across Asia on horseback. To tenderize their meat, they used to put large slabs of it under their saddles. Did their horses all end up with back problems? The answer is, probably not as many as those horses of ours that work for only a few hours a week, but in enclosed spaces and on entirely unsuitable surfaces, or else spend a great deal of time standing on one spot in the confines of a stable. It’s all a question of balance: physical balance, mental balance, emotional balance and, who knows, probably spiritual balance as well.

In human medicine, back pain is often regarded as something of an enigma. There are sources of back pain – such as slipped discs, fractures, compression of the spinal cord, or arthritis – which can be demonstrated by modern imaging techniques, but what about those subtle variations in muscle tone, or slight deviations in posture? Small areas of muscle tension cannot be made visible by X-rays, yet they may significantly interrupt the flow of information between a muscle and its nerve, and thus restrict the freedom of movement throughout the whole body.

The presence of back pain in horses is disputed, both among riders and veterinarians. It shouldn’t be. Pain is a nerve signal which is transmitted when specific chemicals are released in tissue that is threatened or damaged. This can happen in a back, just as it happens in a leg or a foot. However, when the painful site is in the horse’s back, close to the spinal cord which is a direct link to the brain, and yet the horse is conditioned to show basic obedience to the rider, the behavioural expression of that pain can be extremely varied. Acute pain can lead to the most exaggerated response, like bolting or rearing; chronic pain can be suppressed to the extent that it is hard to demonstrate the existence of a problem at all. In horses, the enigma is not so much in the pain but in its cause. What was the situation that led to the misunderstanding, that caused the imbalance, that resulted in the damage, that triggered the signal? At what point did the problem become the pain?

Back pain is not new. Treatment of human back pain has preoccupied civilizations for centuries. At present, in the twentieth century, our treatment is largely based on chemical pain control or surgery, yet previous civilizations developed entire philosophies of life to explain the phenomenon of pain in the human back. These philosophies went far beyond any simple medical definition. The great, ancient civilizations of the world all regarded the back as an interface between the living energy of the human being and the energy of the world around him. The back’s physical health depended on the human’s mental, emotional and spiritual state. If there was no pain, the body must be in harmony with its surroundings; if there was pain, the body must be at odds, either with its emotions, or with its life-style.

Today, more working hours are lost to industry through back pain than through any other cause. Although we are beginning to realize the importance of postural comfort, both at home, in the car, and in the workplace, our high-speed, high-tech life-style doesn’t always allow sufficient time for us to put this knowledge into practice. Not so very long ago, one way to close the door on the pressures of a hectic environment was to enter into the company of a horse, to experience the world from the vantage point of an animal with a single-horse-power engine and a top speed of 30 m.p.h. Now it seems we have drawn the horse into our own world: instead of leaving behind our own busy schedules, we simply add our horses to the agenda, fitting them into an already overflowing timetable.

It is therefore almost inevitable that the horse’s back should come under the influence of the same problems that affect his human partner. The whole anatomy of the human spine acts directly upon that of the horse. It transmits the commands for equestrianism, but it cannot help transmitting a whole range of human emotions at the same time. We all know that a rider’s anxiety will be felt through the saddle, and that a ‘plod’ may wake up under an ‘electric backside’, but the spectrum of human emotion is much wider than this, and the horse is a very sensitive recipient.

Diagnosing back problems in horses is not without its difficulties because so many factors have to be taken into consideration. For example, humans are free to take off any shoes or clothing that make them feel uncomfortable. The horse can only try to communicate his discomfort by changing the way he moves, or by making small changes to his facial expression. If early signs of discomfort are overlooked, the symptoms can accumulate until the back is thrown out of balance. The result is a back problem, even though the source is not necessarily in the back.

Producing hard, visual evidence for every case of suspected back pain in horses is usually beyond the scope of general veterinary practice, and often beyond the financial scope of many horse owners. The sophisticated diagnostic procedures used in human medicine are available for horses, but because of the size of the patient and the cost of the equipment, they are only to be found at specialist equine clinics. Enter the back person. Once upon a time this was someone who manually adjusted elements of the horse’s spine using a basic knowledge of levers. Nowadays, a back person may be any one of a number of therapists, who not only manipulate without apparent physical force but who talk of harmonizing energy and expanding auras!

Orthodox medicine addresses the problems in backs by using chemical or surgical pain relief. However, there is currently a growing concern about the role of posture and emotion in the development of back pain. Ancient forms of medicine are increasingly sought after because they take into consideration the effect of the patient’s emotional state on his otherwise physical illness. This holistic approach to treatment is the basis for acupuncture and acupressure, as well as the more recently derived therapies such as homoeopathy, chiropractic and osteopathy. These alternative forms of medicine are now being successfully used to help horses with a variety of locomotor problems. In fact, there is almost an excess of alternative therapies available for horses, which has led to something of a therapeutic free-for-all. Whilst many disorders in the back certainly benefit from treatment with non-orthodox medicine, there is unfortunately a tendency to circumvent an exact diagnosis – sometimes at the expense of the horse.

It is often said that the horse’s back was never designed to carry a rider. This is rather like saying that if God had meant man to fly, He would have given him wings. The horse’s back is a complex web of muscles and ligaments around a hollow, bony core, which protects the nerves vital to every function in the body. The horse is a natural athlete, and there is no reason why he should not continue to be an athlete in partnership with a human being, provided he is skilfully and considerately trained. All we have to remember is that beneath the saddle there is living tissue, not a collection of mechanical bits and pieces.

1 What is a Back?

What is the difference between a crocodile, a jellyfish, and a salmon? Did an antelope ever need an osteopath, or a camel a chiropractor? They all have backs of some description, backs that are highly mobile and that perform great feats of strength and agility. Why is it unlikely that these backs will ever need the same sort of attention paid to the back of the human – or the back of the horse? What exactly is a back, and what makes the horse’s and the human’s back special?

The major division in the animal kingdom is made between those creatures that have backbones and those that do not: the vertebrates and invertebrates. Vertebrae developed for two reasons: first, to provide a stable, central axis for the whole musculoskeletal system and, second, to protect the nerve-fibres needed to operate not only this system, but all the internal organs. When life crawled out of the primeval swamp, it needed an efficient means of getting about on dry land. This led to a gradual lengthening of the limbs, as well as changes in neck length, skull weight, and tail strength. It all depended on what height your dinner was from the ground, and how fast and manoeuvrable you needed to be to catch it. The more complex the range of movements, the more refined and highly tuned the musculoskeletal system became. We have only to think of the speed and agility of the cheetah, or watch the domestic cat walk along a wall half the width of its own body, to appreciate that the specifications for these types of locomotor system – including the forces acting on the backbone – are going to be very different to those needed by a rhinoceros or a high-yield milk cow.

The evolutionary process has led to the creation of some bizarre and, at the same time, marvellous animal shapes. Yet evolution has always maintained a strict correlation between the shape of the body and its stability. If you have a heavy head and a cumbersome body, you will also have short sturdy legs, splayed feet, or some other form of counterweight, such as a powerful tail. If you are going to take your body swinging through the trees at high altitude, a prehensile tail becomes an extra limb for security. If you have a long neck, you probably don’t have a large head, but if you have a longish neck and a largish head then the skull bones are probably filled with air to compensate. Throughout the animal kingdom, the most evolved shape of any animal’s body tends to favour the most stable centre of gravity. This protects the stability of the spinal column, which in turn helps to safeguard all its functions. That is, until you decide to walk upright and become a human being.

What is a back?

THE HUMAN BACK

The upright carriage of the human being is usually held responsible for all the things that go wrong with its spine. There’s more to it than that. The spine evolved to house and protect the spinal cord, a long, closely knit bundle of nerve-fibres, which connects the brain – itself a network of nerves – directly to the rest of the body. The brain is the highest command centre for all the physiological processes which keep the body running. However, the brain has the capacity to generate thoughts, senses and emotions. These not only create our behaviour, they influence our physiology. Whether we are ambitious, susceptible to stress, an optimist or a pessimist, an introvert or an extrovert, open and loving or angry and frustrated, these mental states affect the function of all our organs, including the musculoskeletal system. Our entire self-carriage as human beings owes just as much to our individual mental configuration as it does to our evolutionary status.

The modern human body is unstable. That is, it’s just about fine as long as it stands still over feet that are placed shoulder-width apart (even though this is no guarantee that it will not topple forwards or backwards). The moment a leg is lifted to take a step, the centre of gravity falls outside the body’s frame and has to be re-established each time the weight is shifted from one foot to the other. Learning to walk on two legs is not only a question of developing a sense of balance, it also makes enormous demands on the strength and flexibility of the spinal column. Add to this the expectations, ambitions and social pressures which surround the human body as it grows from infancy to adulthood, and it makes just walking upright an almost Olympic achievement.

Nevertheless, as soon as we have mastered the art of walking, we immediately set out to find new challenges for the musculoskeletal system: we make our base areas smaller, our distance from the ground greater, our centres of gravity more unstable: we start to run, jump, try to stand on one leg, even on the point of one foot, or upside down, on our hands. As if this were not enough, we then do it all over again on moving objects, such as bicycles, motorbikes – and horses.

Mechanical devices used in sport -motor cars, bikes, cricket bats, golf clubs, skis – respond to the human operator in a predictable way. Their parameters of movement are predetermined because these are a product of the design. Not so with the horse. In equestrianism there are two sets of variables, the rider and the horse. There are two locomotor systems, each with a central axis full of nerves, and there are two separate command centres, which have their own thought processes, their own instincts for survival and their own mental priorities. Furthermore, the two spinal columns are not parallel, they meet at right angles: the vertical rider, whose centre of gravity now hangs off the end of his spurs, and the horizontal riding horse, who now finds his centre of gravity somewhere between his shoulderblades -and that’s only while they’re both standing still! When we consider the steps achieved by horse and rider combinations in any equestrian discipline, we can begin to understand the demands made on their individual senses of balance, their co-ordination, and their backs.

The back contains an information highway. The way this information is processed, through the relative position of the rider’s back to that of the horse, is absolutely unique. Problems occur when for any reason this information becomes confused, because it automatically leads to loss of balance. Of course, this would not be so likely to happen if the horse, at least, had short, stocky legs, an altogether thicker neck, a much lower head carriage, and a good strong muscular tail – but then, who wants to ride a crocodile?

THE HORSE’S BACK

At some point in history, man looked at the shape of the horse’s back, and decided to sit on it. It is, after all, a particularly inviting shape, a sensuous shape, a shape that is unique in the animal kingdom. Of course, over the centuries selective breeding has modified it to suit the needs of specialized equestrian disciplines; but essentially it has retained its fundamental structure, which must have fascinated man right from the start: he didn’t go to such lengths to change the ox – at least, not for the purpose of riding!

The shape of the horse’s back is created fundamentally by the shape of the spine.

The shape of the horse’s topline has come to be synonymous with all the qualities we associate with the horse itself: grace, nobility, strength, elevation and speed. These can be harnessed by man, just by the putting on of a saddle, or so it seems. Sitting on the back of a horse offers man the possibility of extending his physical or mental being beyond the capabilities of his own body. For athleticism, speed or simply companionship, the horse’s back offers all things to all people.

The shape of the horse’s back is created fundamentally by the shape of its spine, or more precisely by the shape of the bony extensions which radiate from the top and sides of the individual vertebrae. These are called spinous processes, and they are there for the purpose of attaching muscles and ligaments. The dimensions of the muscles, whether short and fat or long and spindly, depend on the calibre of the spinous processes. The height, angle and breadth of the spinous processes determine how much room there is for muscular development. The bony foundation is therefore directly responsible for the muscular contours of the back. This foundation varies greatly between horses of different breeds and, inevitably, between the types of horses used in different equestrian disciplines.

The spinous processes are highest at the withers and broadest at the loins. Breeding has produced a great many variations in both these areas of the back, from the high withers in the Thoroughbred, to almost no withers at all in some driving horses; from the slender loins of horses bred for speed, to the broad loins of those bred for strength. Between these two extremes, there are almost as many permutations as there are horses.

The withers and the loins form the boundaries of the saddle area. Their shape determines how much area of the back is available for the saddle, through their height at one end and their breadth at the other. There are spinous processes at the withers that extend so far in height along the topline that the saddle is constantly forced towards the unsupported part of the back, beyond the ribcage. There are vertical spinous processes that are so broad, together with horizontal spinous processes that are so narrow, that the only suitable saddle would have to combine an impossibly wide gullet, with a ridiculously small bearing surface. On the other hand, there are those horses that have such low spinous processes at the withers, and such broad spinous processes almost everywhere else, that it’s really anybody’s guess as to where the saddle should actually be.

The shape of the spine and its attendant muscles have a direct effect on the way the limbs are used. There are back shapes that round easily and there are shapes that round only with great difficulty. Rounding the back enables the horse to bring his hind legs further underneath his body. This engages the muscle power in the hindquarters, which creates more momentum in the forwards movement without the horse’s bodyweight being placed over the forelimbs. Good flexion of the hind limbs encourages the production of protective joint fluid; raising the forehand allows the forelimbs to follow through a more natural movement pattern, which reduces the effects of concussion. Therefore, horses that are unable or reluctant to round their backs -either because of their individual shape, or through injury or disease – are much more prone to degenerative processes in the joints of the hind limbs and forefeet than are horses that move fluently over their toplines. Conversely, painful concussion, which is symptomatic of degenerative joint disease, can be greatly relieved by paying constant attention to the suppleness and flexibility of the back.

There are horses that have low dorsal spinous processes at the withers and broad lateral spinous processes almost everywhere else.

Anatomically, the back is usually taken to mean the thoracolumbar spine, that is the part of the back from the highest point of the withers to the beginning of the quarters. However, this is rather like trying to describe the performance of a motor car just by talking about its drive shaft. The term thoracolumbar spine doesn’t incorporate the shoulder-blades or the pelvis, which support the back at either end; it doesn’t include the head and neck, with which the back has a reciprocal balancing function; nor does it include the tail, which is a reliable indicator of the back’s comfort. It doesn’t implicate the feet, or the shoes, over which the back is suspended, and it definitely doesn’t include the saddle and the rider, which, however sympathetically placed, will always compromise the back’s natural, physiological way of moving. So while ‘thoracolumbar spine’ might be synonymous with ‘back’, it is not the same as the horse’s back!

To do the horse’s back justice we really need a three-tier system of anatomy:

1. The regional anatomy.

2. The functional anatomy.

3. The combined functional anatomy of horse and rider.

The regional anatomy (the thoracolumbar spine proper) describes the bones of the spine (the vertebrae), the working parts (muscles, tendons and ligaments), the protective soft-tissue features (fascia and bursae), and the command elements (the nerves), as well as the nutritional supply and drainage system (the blood and lymph vessels). The functional anatomy includes all those structures most closely associated with the way in which the back works, namely the shoulder-blades, pelvis and ribcage, as well as the back’s extensions at either end – the head and neck, and the tail. The combined functional anatomy describes the man-made frame within which the back has to move when the horse is ridden, namely the shoes, the bridle, the saddle, and the rider.

Whether it is viewed in the narrowest anatomical sense or in the broadest sense of a great, sporting horse-and-rider combination, the horse’s back is a system of anatomical and mechanical complexity: on the one hand, it must have sufficient muscular softness to cushion the rider when moving slowly; on the other it must have enough skeletal rigidity for the rider to remain seated at speed. There are other animals whose backs are perhaps better suited to either one of these demands. Yet there are none that can achieve them both – and in such spectacular fashion – as the horse.

2 Anatomy

PRACTICAL ANATOMY

The horse’s back was not originally constructed to carry significant weight on top of the spine. The fact that it can do so, even over obstacles or at great speed, is owed to the horse’s unique anatomy, which gives its back a combination of elasticity and rigidity. However, in case we should be tempted to think otherwise, the features of the back that most enable us to sit on it evolved through physiological and behavioural necessity, not because they saw a saddle coming!

The back of the horse has to serve him at rest, steadily browsing with his weight mainly over the forehand, in flight, when his weight shifts in response to the terrain, and in the act of procreation, when the bodyweight is balanced over the quarters. For this reason, there are some parts of the back that need to be fixed and some parts that need to be flexed, depending on the situation. Areas of flexion always require great muscular control, and it is these areas that are particularly vulnerable in the ridden horse.

In wide, open spaces such as the horse’s natural habitat, it is desirable to have a clear means of communication: visual signals that cannot be misinterpreted, even at a distance. The horse communicates by using his body. He can change the shape of his head by pricking or flattening his ears, or change the shape of his body by arching his neck, elevating the forehand, rounding or hollowing his back, raising or lowering his quarters, and lifting his tail. The topline of the horse, from the tip of the ears down to the last hairs on the tail, is a powerful means of expression: the intentions are clear, the signals are unmistakable. The art of riding simply choreographs the movements that are already in the horse’s natural, postural repertoire.

We have probably all had the experience of riding a horse bareback, yet our more usual form of contact with the horse’s back is through the medium of the saddle. It is not always easy, especially in competitive riding, to keep on reminding oneself that what is underneath the saddle is really flesh and blood. It is, after all, the saddle that is moulded to our backsides, not the horse. Like the favourite old armchair, it’s often the well-worn saddle which gives the rider security, rather than the lean profile of the super-fit eventer, or the coiledspring outline of a top-class showjumper. Nevertheless, whatever the shape of the back beneath the saddle, the anatomical building blocks are always the same. We need some idea of the consistency of these building blocks, as well as their function, before we can understand the strengths and weaknesses in the back’s overall construction.

The horse’s back is a means of expression

Bones

The spine is the solid core of the back. It is made up of individual vertebrae, which are essentially nothing more than a series of interlocking rings of bone. Each ring has a small indentation on either side, which, together with that of each neighbouring done, form complete circular holes. These mtervertebral holes are present all the way along the spine, and they allow the nerve fibres to leave the spinal cord at every intersection. The spine is really a very long, segmented tunnel, with service exits between each of the segments.

The rings of bone vary in size and thickness, and they have vertical and horizontal bony extensions, which are characteristic for the different sections of the back. The vertebrae in the neck are typically chunky, with short, but sturdy spinous processes, for the attachment of a layered system of muscles. This allows the neck bones to articulate in several directions. The vertebrae at the withers have long, dorsal spinous processes (in excess of 12in/30cm in some horses) which slope backwards and give the withers their characteristic shape. The spinous processes beneath the saddle are much smaller, positioned very close together, and nearly all vertical. In the loins the vertebrae are characterized by broad, transverse processes which make them look like aeroplanes. The profile of the quarters is created by the sacrum, a set of five vertebrae which are actually fused together. The large, horizontal process of the first element of the sacrum forms a connection with a similarly shaped part of the pelvis. Together they make a complete circle of bone – the pelvic girdle – of which the sacrum is a solid roof.