Scientific evidence of the harm of horseback riding and non harmful ways to be with horses
0 (0 Likes / 0 Dislikes)
Horse trainers talk a lot about learning the horse's language.
If the purpose for learning
their language is so that you can a horse
that enjoys being ridden or pulling your load,
you will not be able to understand
the horse. To understand horses,
i had to let go of my
expectations and learn to
truly listen. Early on
in my horse training career, I started learning about
bits and ways to control
the horse's head, leading to my bitless conversion
in 2003. But it wasn't until
about 2006 that i started
studying the science of what goes on
in a horse's back when she is subjected
to a saddle and a rider.
Sure, i knew that horses occasionally
got sore backs and needed treatment
or a better fitting saddle, but i certainly didn't
understand what goes on each and every
time a horse takes someone for a ride.
One of the reasons that some of this
information might seem to be new
is that it wasn't until around 1992 that
Saddletech saddle pressure testing pad
was developed. These pads
and other similar devices
more recently developed include
sensitive sensors that can measure the amount
of pressure between the horse and the saddle.
These pressure sensing
technologies led to a flurry of interesting
scientific studies in the equine world.
When this information was combined
with other studies of mammalian muscle tissue
it all suddenly pointed to
a huge dilemma.
In the Journal of Veterinary Science, Vol.14
N°11 1994,
well-known veterinarian
and saddle ft expert, Dr Joyce Harman,
reported on the results of a study
using the Saddletech pad.
In the report, she informs us
that 0.75 psi
(pounds per square inch) is the highest
pressure found in the capillary bed.
Pressures that exceed 0.75
psi will close down
the blood flow in the arterial
capillary bed. So, what does it
mean if the blood flow is shut down? This is
what happens on a small scale when we
press on our skin and it turns white, or if
we sit in an awkward position for a longer
amount of time and we experience our leg
or arm going to sleep.
She also states that in studies of
canine and human muscles, sustained pressure
of 0.68 psi
for over 2 hours causes significant
tissue damage.
In Dr Harman's study, she compred pressures
generated by English saddles with a rider.
She wrote "For the purposes
of thi study, saddles with pressures of up to
1.93 psi
were grade an excellent fit,
between 2.0 and 3.38
psi without persistent pressure
points were graded fair,
and saddles that exceeded 3.4 psi
or had persistent pressure points
throughout the sessions were graded poor.
These numbers were derived from
preliminary data indicating that it was
difficult to find an English saddle with pressures
below 0.75 psi.
It's important to know that the Saddletech
sensor pad used in these first studies
used sensors developed to
evaluate the risks of pressure sores in bedridden humans.
And only measured pressures of up to
4 psi.
More modern sensor pads such as the Force
sensing Array system can record
much higher pressures.
In one test Western saddles with high priced
pads, average peak pressures
measured between 8.25
and 14 psi.
Pressure sensing pads
have the limitation of only being able
to record pressures at the level of the skin.
Saddle pressure is transferred through the muscles
to the bony structures underneath,
the vertebrae and the ribs.
And if we could measure the pressure there, it would
be significantly greater.
Dr Harman writes that: "There is surgical
evidence in human medicine that subcutaneous
necrosis (which is the death
of cells underneath the skin)
begins closer to the bone before cutaneous
redness and ulceration (or redness
and sores on the skin) is seen.
This means that if we've been around horses
long enough to notice white spots or tender
swellings in the saddle area, we are
only witnessing the end result of a long process
of tissue destruction.
The longissimus dorsi and trapezius,
two of the muscles that a rider sits on,
have been developing since the dawn of the horse,
when Eohippus first used them to
facilitate movement. Their structure
was never created to bear weight
in the form of vertical pressure from above
and this remains true even after centuries
of selective breeding for "riding" horses.
Selective breeding
has perhaps created horses
who are less expressive of their pains but because of this,
we cannot assume they are not experiencing painful
sensations. We may have bred horses
that are better at hiding their discomfort
in order to get along in the world of human
expectations.
So, until we learn how to levitate saddles,
even a saddle with an excellent fit,
the best air, foam or wool stuffed panels
and an average weight rider
will have pressures which are more than twice
what it takes to shut down the blood flow within
the muscles. Mary Wanless writes
in her book, For the Good of the Horse,:
"Perhaps one of the horse's saving graces
is that squeezing the blood out his tissues
causes pain for the first 10 to 15
minutes of a ride, and then his back goes numb."
Other effects
of weight on the horse's back include extension
or hollowing of the back which:
"may contribute to soft tissue injuries and
kissing spines syndrome."
Briefly, kissing spine syndrome is when the spinous
processes of the vertebrae, the long bony protrusions
of the vertebrae which forms the structure of the withers
and the topline of the back, start
to touch each other and will eventually remodel
themselves and fuse together in severe
cases. "This condition is
clinically significant in jumpers
but occurs in all types of horses."
"Kissing spines, or impingement
of the dorsal spinous processes,
occur due to repetitive undulations
in jumping horses, basculing
or rounding over a vertical fence,
overextending upon landing or stretching out
and hollowing the back over a wide oxer
can cause this problem. The result
is that the individual spinous projections are
pushed together tightly. This generally occurs
from the end of the withers to the beginning of the loin
(10th-18th thoracic vertebrae)
There are a plethora
of similarly significant traumas
to the back which are either a direct result of a rider
on the back or the indirect result of what
the rider asks the horse to do.
For example, sliding stops, jumps, etc...
Some examples are spondylosis,
hunter's bump,
sacroiliac joint injury, supraspinous
ligament injury, dorsal ligament tears,
stress fractures of the ilium
and lumbosacral joint injury to name a few.
I hope that you're starting to get a sense of
the risks we subject the horse to with what
we consider to be a "normal use of the horse"
so that i don't need to go into detail with each injury.
...
Let's go back now to the first trauma that
happens when a horse is saddled: compromised blood flow
in the muscles. It is true that
muscles have wonderful regenerative properties,
and many times, pressure sores can heal
if infection is avoided and the horse
is receiving proper nutrition and time off
from more pressure, but what about the pain that
was involved in the process?
We are all familiar with the sharp pains associated with
sensation coming back into a limb
that has "fallen asleep" or "gone numb" due to
compromised blood supply but who has experienced
the pain of developing pressure sores,
even mild ones which itch
and hurt even before they are outwardly
visible signs? It is exactly this
discomfort that causes us to shift position
every few minutes when we are sitting or standing.
If we didn't, we would develop
pressure sores, also called bed sores
just from the weight of our own bodies
on a soft chair or bed.
A horse, when saddled, has no chaance to shift this
weight to relieve the discomfort.
He probably tries to tell us in other ways
like fidgeting, exhibiting a shortened gait,
ears back, swishing tail,
trying to rub on a fence or tree,
or bucking. These should all be considered
signs of a perfectly honest horse
trying to relieve pain. The horse
who is more dangerous to herself is one
who quietly goes on with her work, having
experienced the consequences of showing any signs
of back pain, such as a stronger
pain from the bit, the halter, the rider's heels,
whips or spurs, probably
combined with a longer session under saddle.
Horses are masters at learning
how to "get along" and most will quickly
discover exactly what it takes to minimize
pain and survive. A numb back
is probably much easier to tolerate
than the other ways humans have devised to control
horses. When we subject our horses
to the pain of being ridden for our
own pleasures, we are eroding something
fundamental in our relationship.
The fact that many horses tolerate these traumas
speaks more about their own instinctive coping
mechanisms than any proof of our "right"
to sit on a horse's back or their enjoyment
of this process.
I hope this is becoming clear that any time we sit
on a horse for more than a moment
without understanding what's going on between us,
we are compromising the horse's well being.
Now, there are 2 ways we can be sure that we do not
injure a horse. The first is
to turn the horse out in a large field
and wish her well in a natural herd environment,
the second, it's to study the horse's
system so minutely that we can say
with authority that what we are doing is not harming the horse.
the horse.
Now that some of the problems with riding
have been detailed, let's
look at possible solutions.
First, we must understand why we want to ride a horse.
If the answers include: "It's fun" or "I want to compete" or
"It's good exercise", then the research shown
here will likely have little or no impact
on what you do, and the current horse
world will give you plenty of support in pursuing
your goals. If your answers sound more like:
"I love horses" or "I want to learn how to have a good
relationship with my horse" or even "I think
might have something to teach me" then
it's likely you've already started
to look for alternatives to the traditional horse world.
The solution has to
begin with the premise that a horse knows her own
mind and in any matter regarding
her behaviour, she is always right
and always the authority.
Horses don't have a spoken language that we can understand
but they do have a language that we can learn.
It is a language of physiology and movement.
Once we spend enough time
letting go of what we think we know about horses,
we leave space for "what is"
to reveal itself. For example, if a
horse starts bucking under saddle,
we might think (or have been taught) that it was due
to him being "naughty" as if the bucking were comparable
to a young boy beating up on a schoolmate,
or maybe we think he's getting too much grain,
too much alfalfa, it's too cold,
too windy or any number of countless
guesses. On the other hand,
if we start with the premise that the horse has
a perfectly good reason for bucking and it's our job
to determine what that is,
he will begin leading us on a path.
It's a bit like seeing the horse as a living language
course. Of course, the horse is the master
of this language and we are the pupils
learning to decipher his movements and attitudes.
Horses see us for who
we truly are behind our masks
of words and hidden meanings.
They become privy to what we try to hide from ourselves
and other humans:
our frustration, irritations, dissatisfaction,
aggravations and at the base of it,
our fears. In what other
area is it socially acceptable
to beat an animal, where it's even televised
and the sport's greatest heroes are ones
who carry whips in their hands and strap
spurs to their heels, showing their "mastery"
by how invisible they can make these "aids"?
The horse learns this language of ours
and our capabilities for causing her pain
so well that in the hands of an "expert" ,
very quickly the threat of these devices
is sufficient and the devices
themselves no longer need to be
used. In order to start to understand
the horse's true language and in the process
to relearn our own natural language,
we must begin with a horse that we are not inflicting
any pain on, otherwise,
all we are learning is about
the actions of a horse in pain and then other humans teach us
how we can control her through the application
or removal of more pain.
Truthfully, this makes up the bulk of information
that's been studied for the thousands of years
that we've been riding horses. It's hard for the
typical rider to understand that a healthy
conversation with a horse must begin on the ground
with no halters, ropes or
small, confined spaces.
Just as signposts point the way to a destiantion,
i can give some hints about
some of the elements that will need to be understood
by the person who has endeavored to learn enough of the
horse's language to get to a point where she knows
what is harmful and what is beneficial
to a horse. As i endeavor
to progress in my understanding of horse language,
with its syntax of anatomy, physiology
and psychology, I learned ways
to "play" with the horse, which can lead to more
freedom and balance for the horse.
In the same way that yoga and martial arts
can help balance our own bodies and spirits,
i learned the yoga that balances and frees a horse
to enable her to greater expression.
The next step was when
i learned how to work with horses with greater discipline,
where both human and horse apply themselves
to specific elements designed to develop
the physiology of the horse and the mental
focus and concentration of both horse and human.
By this time,
i noticed that my desire to ride naturally dropped
away. At this level of understanding,
i had no more desire to bridle and saddle
my equine teacher than i would
to bridle and saddle my best human friend and prod
her along a nice trail ride.
Today, i enjoy supporting
horses in living rich, full lives as
nature intended.
I no longer ask them to do tricks,
carry my burdens or pull my load.
In return, they have shown me the peace
and beauty available in every moment
with things just as they are.
Horses can help us relearn our
own ancient language. And to find what
it means to live harmoniously with ourselves
and the other residents of this planet.
This is their gift.
...
...
Text from Chapter 3 in The Path of the Horse book
by Stormy May.