Relationship through movement : The rider’s pelvis
This article will explore one aspect of the physical skill of the rider, the seat. By increasing awareness of the pelvis and seat the rider can experience more harmonious communication with the horse.
Read the article for an understanding of why and how to:
• Help your horse carry a rider.
• Improve your riding so you are easier to carry.
• Improve your communication so the horse understands what you are asking.
Read the article and then watch the video (9 mins) for a visual explanation of how the rider’s pelvis moves in relationship to the horse.
For both humans and equines movement emerges as an expression of the physical (anatomical structure, physiology, skill etc..) as well as the psychological and social. Movement has a meaning or context related to an individual’s emotions and intrinsic values and also has meaning in a wider social context. Both humans and horses express themselves in this way through posture and movement (1, 2, 3, 4). When the horse and rider move together they are communicating in a shared language that takes elements from both the human and the equine world.
It is not natural for a horse to carry a rider. The horse’s back has not evolved to carry and manage the load of a rider. This means it is our responsibility to develop both the horse and rider to meet this challenge. Ideally the horse and rider are moving together in both physical and psychological harmony. The rider has the strength and skill to carry themselves. The horse has the ability to carry itself whilst also carrying the rider. They have the sensitivity and communication of a shared language to be able to express themselves in movement together.
As the horse moves there is complex three dimensional movement happening in it’s spine. The horse’s back only has a limited range of movement, but we are sitting on one of the most mobile areas; 9th-14th thoracic vertebra (5). We are balancing here and bearing weight through our pelvis sit bones (ischial tuberosity) and through the inner thighs.
Body Parts3D made by DBCLS
The rider exerts considerable force onto the horse’s back e.g. equivalent to 2 to 3 times our body weight during sit phase of rising trot (6). Of course this is not natural for the horse. The horse must be trained both physically and psychologically to be able to carry us. It is our responsibility to develop the horse’s capacity to carry us on it’s back.
It is also our responsibility to develop our ability to sit on the horse’s back. The way we sit can make it easier or much harder for the horse to carry us and move under us. In order not to negatively effect movement throughout the horse’s whole body we have to be aware of how we limit or increase the movement of it’s back under us (7). We do this by managing our own dynamic balance as we follow the horse’s back with our pelvis. Being able to balance through developing the muscles that manage forces going through our back is essential. This allows the rider to balance without gripping with the inner thighs, and instead to bear weight through the inner thighs. This widens the base of support for the rider making it easier for them to balance. And importantly it makes it easier for the horse by spreading some of the load of the rider away from the horse’s spine and distributing it over a larger area.
The movement in the horse’s back is directly related to the movement of it’s limbs, because of this we can follow the horses back to know what it’s legs are doing (7). This awareness also gives us the ability to time our seat and other aids at precisely the right moment to influence the horse’s posture or movement. For example when asking for a limb to be placed we must ask when it is in the air before it is on the ground – we need to know where the limb is before we can influence it.
To be able to maintain our self carriage and balance without disturbing the horse we need to have the ability to absorb and control the movement of our spine in three dimensions to accommodate the movement of our pelvis. We maintain the tone in our muscles to support ourselves but without becoming overly rigid. This allows us to follow the movement of the horse’s back rather than blocking it or loosing contact and then landing heavily.
Our job is to absorb and consciously redirect the forces coming from gravity and from the horse into our body. We may want to redirect the forces to influence how the horse is moving. We might alter our weight or slow down or encourage a particular movement in our body and therefore we ask the horse to change a particular movement in it’s body. e.g. for a change of tempo, direction, gait, collection or extension within a gait etc..The rider may spend more time listening than asking. This allows the horse to express itself and make it’s own suggestion about how to move forward and take responsibility for it’s body rather than being micromanaged. The horse and rider are communicating through movement. Both are able to participate in a shared expression through movement.
Becoming conscious of the feeling of the movement in our pelvis and body allows us to connect with the horse. The greater the sensitivity to the subtlety of our own body the greater vocabulary we have. We can then be more sensitive and subtle communicating with the horse. Horses are naturally much more sensitive than us, we have some work to do to catch up to their level!
The challenges:
-The rider may only have a vague awareness of the movement within their own body. They may only have a vague awareness of the horse’s movement.
-Some movements may be difficult for either the rider or the horse to access in their own body. Typically we are asking asymmetrical riders to sit on asymmetrical horses and expecting both to move together symmetrically.
– The rider may have altered breathing patterns due to concentration or psychological stress, which then influences their whole body including spinal and pelvic movements. For example breath holding or shallow breathing, which can alter the stiffness of the spine (8).
-The rider may not be able to stay balanced by absorbing and following the horse’s movement. The rider grips with their legs instead; counter-intuitively this makes it harder to stay on. Gripping blocks the horse’s movement as well as the connection between horse and rider.
-The rider’s seat bones are making a lot of unconscious movement ‘noise’. The horse can’t tell an aid from the background ‘noise’. The horse tries but can’t understand because the message is vague or lost. The rider has to use more extreme cues to get a response from the horse. The rider cannot listen to the horse and the horse notices this lack of response from the rider. There is no connection between the horse and rider. The horse may give up and stop paying attention. Either the horse becomes ‘difficult’ or dull, shut down and unexpressive.
– The rider gives aids at the wrong moment when the horse’s body is not in a position to be able to immediately respond. The rider thinks the horse is late or unresponsive and uses heavier aids. The communication is incongruent and imprecise.
A way forward
Human:
Due to our shared evolutionary ancestry humans and equines have analogous anatomy and movement patterns (9). The movement in the human pelvis and spine when we walk has many similarities to the movements needed to accommodate the horse’s back when we ride (10).
Our individual movement and walking patterns are like fingerprints (11). They reflect our individual anatomical variations, our past injury history and our personalities (3).
It is completely normal to be slightly asymmetrical in some aspects of our gait (12). Our pelvis, spine and hip joint anatomy are commonly asymmetrical and have normal structural variations from ‘text book’ anatomy. It is important to note that these are usually painless and easily accommodated but they may influence our movement patterns (13, 14, 15, 16, 17). Even Usain Bolt, the world’s fastest runner has a 14% asymmetry when he sprints (18). These asymmetries are normally not a problem. However when we are riding an animal as sensitive as a horse even small things can have a significant impact.
By becoming more aware of our own body, our movement skill and our natural asymmetry we can then make a clear plan of how to improve ourselves. We can make some improvements with unridden exercises without involving the horse, which we can then further develop when riding (19). By developing our movement vocabulary we can communicate more sensitively and clearly when we are riding. With the communication more open ridden work can be used more effectively to overcome challenges together.
Horse:
Like us horses have their own individual movement patterns, a reflection of their anatomical variations, past history and personalities.
Horses have also been shown to have normal structural variations from ‘text book’ anatomy, which may impact on their movement abilities (20, 21, 22). Asymmetry has been found to be common in domestic and feral horses (23, 24). Feral horses have been shown to have a left laterally in reactivity, vigilance and aggression. Feral horses have also been shown to have a right or left forelimb dominance (4).
Through bodywork and movement analysis we can become aware of the horse’s movement skill and natural asymmetry. We can then use specific groundwork and ridden exercises to help the horse develop the physical and mental ability to carry the rider.
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Increasing our awareness of ourselves can help whether we are a beginner or a high level rider. Here are what others are saying about working with me to increase their body awareness and movement ability:
“This is so helpful, my half passes to the left are now better than to the right, I’m still trying to work out where I’m going wrong just going straight, but it’s already much better, or at least Roddy complains less 🙂 also walk pirouettes are greatly improved. Thanks ever so much. “ Miriam K
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“I am very impressed and even more happy about the fast and lasting success of your treatment.
Ten years ago I became aware of a blockage in my right hip caused by my sacrum and my femur as well as a heavy stiffness in my right shoulder.
When I started to do the exercises you gave me I felt a very strong awareness in different parts of my body (not only the obviously affected ones) and some very old memories came up of events and emotions. I decided to heal them together with the protective attitudes my body had taken a long time ago. I don’t know how important this clear intention of mine was but it took me only two weeks until my body had released all main blockages and not more than a month until I would consider myself as healed from a very old burden.
My horses are very happy about that change in their rider’s hip and shoulder too and I can receive their physical constrains now also in a different way, I have new ideas of how to help them, riding wise (with specific dressage exercises) as with the right ground-work. Thank you Orson” Simin H
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“This should be the first thing that you are taught when learning to ride. Traditionally we are told ‘make him listen to you!’, instead we should to be taught to listen to the horse first. I found my seat bones for the first time!” Alex F
Copyright Orson Wajih Physiotherapy 2018
References:
(1) Evidence for subjective values guiding posture and movement coordination in a free-endpoint whole-body reaching task Hilt et al. Scientific Reports volume 6, Article number: 23868 (2016)
(2) Emotional and movement-related body postures modulate visual processing Borhani et al Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, Volume 10, Issue 8, 1 August 2015, Pages 1092–1101,
(3) First impressions: Gait cues drive reliable trait judgements John C.Thoresen Cognition Volume 124, Issue 3, September 2012, Pages 261-271
(4) Limb preferences and lateralization of aggression, reactivity and vigilance in feral horses, Equus caballus .P.AustinL.J.Rogers Animal Behaviour Volume 83, Issue 1, January 2012, Pages 239-247
(5) Functional anatomy and biomechanics of the equine thoracolumbar spine: a review Hafsa ZANEB1,*, Christian PEHAM2, Christian STANEK2 Turk J Vet Anim Sci (2013) 37: 380-389
(6) The biomechanical interaction between horse and rider. Patricia de Cocq (2012) ISBN 978-94-6173-116-6
(7) Kinematics of saddle and rider in high-level dressage horses performing collected walk on a treadmill A. BYSTRÖM et al EQUINE VETERINARY JOURNAL Equine vet. J. (2010) 42 (4) 340-345
(8) Links between the Mechanics of Ventilation and Spine Stability Simon Wang and Stuart M. McGill Journal of Applied Biomechanics 2008 24:2, 166-174
(9) The Placental Mammal Ancestor and the Post-K-Pg Radiation of Placentals O’Leary et al Science, 2013; 339 (6120): 662
(10) Human pelvis motions when walking and when riding a therapeutic horse. Hum Mov Sci. 2015 Feb;39:121-37. doi: 10.1016/j.humov.2014.06.011. Epub 2014 Nov 28. Garner BA1, Rigby BR2.
(11) One-year persistence of individual gait patterns identified in a follow-up study – A call for individualised diagnose and therapy F.HorstM.MildnerW.I.Schöllhorn Gait & Posture Volume 58, October 2017, Pages 476-480
(12) An Evaluation of Symmetry in the Lower Limb Joints During the Able-Bodied Gait of Women and Men Wanda Forczek1, Robert Staszkiewicz1 Journal of Human Kinetics volume 35/2012, 47-57
(13) Variation in Pelvic Morphology May Prevent the Identification of Anterior Pelvic Tilt Stephen J. Preece Man Manip Ther. 2008; 16(2): 113–117
(14) The alpha angle in cam-type femoroacetabular impingement new reference intervals based on 2038 healthy young adults L. B. Laborie, T. G. Lehmann, I. Ø. Engesæter, F. Sera, L. B. Engesæter, K. Rosendahl Bone Joint J 2014;96-B:449–54.
(15) Role of facet asymmetry in lumbar spine disorders. Dai L1, Jia L. Acta Orthop Belg. 1996 Jun;62(2):90-3.
(16) The prevalence of transitional vertebrae in the lumbar spine. Apazidis A Spine J. 2011 Sep;11(9):858-62. doi: 10.1016/j.spinee.2011.08.005.
(17) The Epidemiological, Morphological, and Clinical Aspects of the Cervical Ribs in Humans. Spadliński et al. BioMed Research International. 2016;2016:8034613. doi:10.1155/2016/8034613.
(18) https://blog.smu.edu/research/2017/06/27/does-symmetry-matter-for-speed-study-finds-usain-bolt-may-have-asymmetrical-running-gait/
(19) The influence of an 8-week rider core fitness program on the equine back at sitting trot Alexandra Hampson International Journal of Performance Analysis in Sport 2015, 15, 1145-1159. 45-344.
(20) The Occurrence of a Congenital Malformation in the Sixth and Seventh Cervical Vertebrae Predominantly Observed in Thoroughbred Horses May-Davis, Sharon (2014) Journal of Equine Veterinary Science , Volume 34 , Issue 11 , 1313 – 1317
(21) Variations and Implications of the Gross Anatomy in the Equine Nuchal Ligament Lamellae May-Davis, Sharon et al. (2014) Journal of Equine Veterinary Science , Volume 34 , Issue 9 , 1110 – 1113
(22) Developmental variation in lumbosacropelvic anatomy of Thoroughbred racehorses Haussler, K.K., Stover, S.M., Willits, N.H. (1997); American Journal of Veterinary Research, 58 (10), pp. 1083-1091
(23) Head and pelvic movement asymmetries at trot in riding horses in training and perceived as free from lameness by the owner Marie Rhodin , Agneta Egenvall, Pia Haubro Andersen, Thilo Pfau Published: April 25, 2017
(24) Functional anatomy of the caudal thoracolumbar and lumbosacral spine in the horse. Stubbs et al (2006), Equine Veterinary Journal, 38: 393-399.