On the first day of the 2012 Global Dressage Forum two working group sessions took place which couldn't have been further apart from each other. Swedish born Barbro Ask Upmark presented the dressage simulator, while Dutch Jarko Dun shared a few insights on equine physiotherapy.
Bill Greenwood, the inventor and creator of the Racewood brand of horse simulators, introduced his product which originated in a request from an injured professional race horse jockey, who wanted to get back to a good level of fitness without sitting on a live horse. The tall black plastic horse has three sensors for the leg aid, sensors in the saddle area and sensors for rein pressure. The head of the horse can move from side to side so you give it the required amount of bending to change direction and go through corners in the dressage arena projected on a flat screen in front of the rider.
Barbro Ask Upmark explained how she uses the simulator in her daily training program and brought one of her students along to demonstrate riding the simulator. Her student became extremely fearful after having had some bad falls from her horse. The major advantage of the simulator is that a rider can be taught to be much more consistent in giving the right aids - the place where one puts the leg, the pressure one uses on the reins and staying balanced in the saddle. "It teaches you to be more subtle with your aids," said Ask Upmark. "The machine does what you do so there is no blaming that the horse didn't understand your aid."
With a price tag of 70,000 USD for a front door delivery of the simulator, this product might provide the safety and security fearful riders need to get back in the saddle. The simulator could be a good tool to generate more body awareness by refining one's aids as the machine virtually represents the perfectly trained Grand Prix schoolmaster. However it can never replace the love, warmth and partnership you share with a real horse.
Jarko Dun on Equine Physiotherapy
Dutch team equine physiotherapist Jarko Dun is not the first physio to speak at the Global Dressage Forum but like most of his predecessors Jarko also slightly got lost in presenting a complex matter in 30 minutes. While his presentation was not very well structured and seemed more like the gathering of some random, important thoughts on physiotherapy for horses, the amiable Dun did share a few interesting insights into maximizing the horse's mobility and flexibility.
With two demo horses in place, Dun first worked on a Riccione offspring who stood quitely but shied a bit from the GDF audience. "I always start to look at a horse at the centre, the position of the spine, the muscle position," Dun said. "The line in the centre tells me he's also a bit tense." Dun looked for muscle reaction. "As a rider, you are on top of the horse and influencing the reaction of the muscles."
Dun stated that equine physiotherapy is not only about massaging the horse but it is equally important to help horses mentally relax as most of them enjoy the manual therapy. "When the body tension is gone, they are better in the mind and in the show ring. It can help also on a competition day as well," Dun said, but added that "some horses get too relaxed and mellow" citing a case of a Dutch team show jumper which after being massaged touched every single pole on a course but cleared the round nonethless. "It's not so difficult for a rider to bring tension in a horse, but making them relax (is another thing)," he said with a smile.
Dun starts every physio session with soft massage and makes the whole horse supple, "not just one spot." If a horse strains a muscle, it will compensate with another. Jarko showed this by bending a horse's neck at the third vertebra to which the horse immediately reacted by putting his front leg forward. Dun stressed that one has to get movement in the atlas "because that is where the lateral bending starts." When talking about overbent horses, Dun said "the horse will hollow its back and the hindlegs can't get properly under without straining the hamstrings."
A few questions came from the audience and one was related to kissing spines. Dun stressed that "the muscles running along the spine shouldn't be cramped because they pull the spine together." He recommended to ride such horses often in a long and deep position so the back muscles are stretched.
The equine physiotherapy hot topic of the moment is the sacro-iliac joint. "It's the most discussed joint of the moment," said Dun. "The ligaments round the SI-joint are so stiff and voluminous you can't get much rhythm in that area. If you have too much tension in the muscle on top, you can't have lateral bending of the hip." Dun recommended physios to control the whole region, more than just the SI-joint alone. Trainer Wilfried Bechtolsheimer added that some young horses get pain in that area due to hypermobilization, to which Dun replied that "at a young age you can't create too much flexibility over there."
Text and Photos © Astrid Appels
Related Link
Eurodressage Coverage of the 2012 Global Dressage Forum