No one ever told me that at my age I would be studying this hard to learn the anatomy and biomechanics of horses. Most of us have done the standard parts of the horse in Pony Club, 4 H or what ever club you belonged to as a young person. But to now be head first into the muscles, bones, tendons, fascia etc. was not something that I thought I would ever do.
I did take a "Horse Husbandry" course in college but never actually understood how so many things and the parts worked in these wonderful animals.
Now I am learning about how everything works and applying this to my work to help horses. This is such an intense and fascinating topic. To see how these wonderful animals work for us when they were never designed to carry us.
As a rider, I never thought of how everything worked, I just enjoyed spending time with and riding my horses. I carried on just doing what I have always done and when my horse was injured I relied on my first aid books and if bad enough what my vet told me to do, without really understanding any of it. I didn't even start to understand about bodywork and preventative maintenance until I started training seriously, which I am sure most of us were like that.
When I first started showing, we were lucky if we had blankets to put on our horses, never mind the boots, and protective coverings, the therapy tools that are used today.
While I understand that my training for my discipline requires certain things, I am now more focused on what the horse requires and to go back to basics while practicing more advanced moves to ensure that my horses are willing and able to do what is required.
Straightness, self carriage, willingness, and interest are all important parts of our training process.
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