Fabian is not the horse I can mount and ride out the front gate. He is uncertain of his body, spoiled as concerns delivering and unaware of his responsibilities to the rider. Why? He never was started properly. He suffers from arthritis. And - he is beset with physical, mental and emotional problems, which follow this combination of ails. To add, as a youngster he was one of those breath-taking movers, doing trot extensions with a decidedly hollow back and hind legs, which track far away from the center of weight.
A hand-some now fifteen-year-old white Anglo-Arabian of our own breeding, upbringing and training, standing at 16 hands, he has served and continues to serve the research for a new balance. He does so curiously not despite but because of his condition, being kind, able and obliging, however protective of his properties. His responses are straight, forward and easy to read. Encompassing the full range from agreement to decided disagreements. His reactions at times are too rapid, even violent, for ease and comfort.
This horse Fabian today added distinct information to the discovery of a balance, which - even if not new - is rare enough to be called a new balance for a modern equitation. The thesis that an equipoise must exist that clearly differs from what we see and experience today comes as the conclusion of extensive studies in equitation, in equine and human physiology and in the history of civilization. Depictions of riders in antiquity and more recent renderings support this thesis. The horses we see on Greek vases, in Persian reliefs and in not Northern hemisphere horses are on their hind legs. The lower neck line is in the vertical, the lower jaw line is horizontal. For all practical purposes it is a pity no moving images of antiquity exist, that may bear record to equine locomotion then.
The incident, which I will describe below, occurred on a late Friday afternoon in June, It was a gray day, the air getting heavier by the hour. At lunch information was shared among compatriots about balance in general and how exactly it differs in the human and in the horse. Just a few days earlier I had caught on to functional differences of the latissimus dorsi in the human and the horse, as well as structural variations of the thoracolumbar fascia. The latissimus dorsi extends from the thoracolumbar fascia to the upper arms. In the human it proceeds from the lumbar region upward. In the horse it proceeds forward and down. Effectively uniting forehand and hindquarters and/or upper and lower body, respectively.
But, whow, what a difference. These muscles may as well have distinct and very different names. In the human, who is independent of arms and hands for locomotion, the latissimus dorsi gets involved for instance in praising God. The horse, however, relies on it for most basic motions in the field of gravity. This thought was followed by the realization that this particular muscle, which - after all the rider sits on and which he impacts with his thighs - is placed strategically between omotransversus/ brachiocephalis (conntecting occiput and upper neck vertebrae with the arm bone) and the thoracolumbar fascia, which towards the rear fuses into the muscles of the croup (gluteals). The latissimus dorsi in other words may very well be the centerpiece of equine dynamic balance. These considerations were in line with questions about balance in equitation, which I have harboured for some time. And, with them in mind I began riding this sultry Friday afternoon. Three horses were in training before Fabian finally had his turn.
A few words about my own whereabouts this particular day may be due. The preceding weekend I had experimented with a lesson, which - involving the position of the rider's belly button - lead to the realization that correct walking entails the very same motions, which in the saddle encourage the horse to flow; despite completely different orientations in the field of gravity and despite an elsewise distribution of the thoracolumbar fascia. In the course of the week I as well again addressed equilateral function of my shoulders needed to turn the horse smoothly. And using my legs in such a way as to permit full freedom of the latissimus dorsi for improved impulsion. These experiments, which - experience confirms - horses are quick to pick up were still processed as well that particular Friday afternoon.
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