Riding question.

[welsummerchicks]

Oh I got it wrong, I thought you had said these were all your horses and I thought they were off of work while you were not riding.

If they are lesson horses, they may get out and work/be ridden more often, but no one is evening them up. So they are going to be uneven. Just, done, that's it. It takes a lot of work to KEEP them even, many people don't even know how to do that sort of work. If it's not done, it isn't there.

AND....if you're uneven.....well, every horse is going to be uneven.

But I don't really believe people with scoliosis have to force themselves to be straight, I think it is more a matter of compensation for how you're crooked.

So say, there's this guy who has one arm, and one leg, on different sides of his body. He shifts his weight around so that there is the same amount of weight on both sides of the horse. He doesn't LOOK straight, his spine looks crooked from the rear, but he is competing in third and fourth level dressage in Europe...that's not easy. At all. And he does well.

But if you have a very marked scoliosis, I don't think that's ever really the goal, to look picture perfect, it's to be straight, weight wise. And a great many times that's very possible.

 

[GalloFino]

I have Mary Wanless' Natural Rider and I've been trying to work through the dismounted exercises on the days when I don't ride; with everything else I have going on though it rarely gets done.

I've changed my riding times slightly for the next month so that one of the three times per week I ride I'll be going out without my son and then I won't have any excuse for not concentrating on myself. I think it'll be good for him to have a special day once a week too, where I'm not riding but just watching him. Hey Ma, Look at me!

I think the idea of changing the side I'm posting on, on the half circle, is going to be a good exercise for both me and the horse. Maybe some work going back and forth like that between the two will help me figure out what I'm doing differently on each side.

I'm going to try to casually ask my instructor to check the things that Pat brought up, probably spread out over a few lessons so that he doesn't feel like I think he doesn't know how to do his job.

Another thing I'm doing is getting my own saddle cleaned up, as I've done the bulk of my riding in it and I think going back to it might make it more obvious to me what's going on. It's one of the Wintecs with the changeable tree, though, and the tree I have for it is super wide and I doubt it's going to fit any of these horses, so that change is going to be a while as that product isn't sold locally where I live.

I've been wanting to get some photos and video of my riding (I've never had any, I'm probably going to be horrified!). Maybe I can put my instructor to use on that too.

Y'all are wonderful. Thanks much for all the suggestions and help, I really appreciate it.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
100% agree. The goal is to be functionally even on the horse, which if you are built somewhat crooked can involve being somewhat crooked and still work ok.

That said, I still think it is HEAVILY worth having as much input as possible from a ground person or video as to how you are crooked, because many times it is more (or in the opposite direction) from what's unavoidable. And a lot of riding issues with mildly-crooked people are USAGE issues not structural ones.

Pat

 

[Dunkopf]

I have scoliosis too. My spine curves to the right at the bottom and the again at the shoulder blades. It causes one side to be atrophied while the muscles on the other side are stretched when resting. I was going to PT at the end of the year and it helped a lot. Now that I'm in a new year I have to pay my deductible before coverage begins and the PT sessions are 78.00 each. Once deduct is paid it's 7.80 each. I can't afford to pay the whole 500.00 in one month. I will start again once I can get 500.00 together though. It really helps. I really hate this stuff. Didn't bother me when I was younger but it's getting worse.

Good luck on the riding. I haven't ridden since I was a kid and I'm a little afraid to ride now. Sounds like you know what you're doing though. We got some horses when we moved 8 years ago so I'm familiar with the lingo. Never knew there was so much involved in riding properly. We always got on and used our heels and the reins. Lot more to it if you're doing it right.

Be sure you do whatever exercise you're doing with someone that knows what they're doing. If you aren't properly centered and in kine when doing core exercises for your back core muscles you can hurt your spinal cord.

 

[GalloFino]

Well, I'm slowly making progress. Thanks much for all the help you guys have given me!

Based on some of the comments on this post, doing some of Wanless' dismounted work, and thinking about what happened to my tush area when I first started riding again, I began to suspect that my left seat bone is lower into the saddle than my right one. When I'm standing, my right hip bone is definitely higher than my left, by about 1/2 inch, but I'm not enough of a wiz on anatomy to know what that translates to when sitting on a saddle.

I took my own saddle out with me today...it has a bit more give to it than the saddles at the stable which feel like slippery pieces of wood to me. And I rode with my right stirrup a notch longer than my left. With these adjustments I was able to post along with the left shoulder, although I was using a lot more abs to do it, and if I had to use any leg to bump the horse forward a bit I kept falling back onto the right. However, it was a major step forward and I think I'll leave things as they are tack wise for the moment and see how I go as I my physical condition and control improve.

Any further suggestions or comments are certainly welcome, though! And thank y'all again.

P.S. Dunkopf...thanks for the info re: PT. I did some when my spine first started to curve, as a young 'un, but haven't done any since. I should look into what one would suggest for me now.

 

[Dunkopf]

Quote:
I know a lot of people think PT is a scam and I will admit that if I was paying 100% of the cost, I would just go long enough to figure out my own exercises. My back doctor, knew less than the guy that owned the PT place. The doctor told me basics based on looking at x-rays and a full spinal MRI which took almost 2 hours under conscious sedation (The only way I will ever do an MRI again). The PT guy examined me and told me exactly what my spine was doing and what was causing the problems. He did it without x-rays or MRI. After 4 weeks I was getting better. Now I feel it getting bad again. I can't duplicate some of the machine exercises.

Good luck and be careful. DW had her lower back fused and the surgeon told her about 50% of his patients have injuries from riding. All women and most over 50. A lot of people think of core strength as stomach. It's actually all the muscles in your back and abdominal area. Just in case anyone wasn't aware. I'm a long way from being an expert. Just putting in my 2 cents for what it's worth, 2 cents.

 

[welsummerchicks]

Don't forget those hamstring muscles! They're part of the 'back protector' muscle group.

Abdominal muscles. Hamstrings and .... ah.....I'm having a senior moment.

The main problem most riders have is lack of conditioning and fitness. There would be fewer back injuries among horseback riders if they conditioned themselves better.