Biomechanics seems to have become the buzz word in the equine industry in the last 10 or so years. Everyone these days is a biomechanics coach, but what does biomechanics really mean and is biomechanics really important to you or your horse?
Lets us look at the meaning first. If we look at Wikipedia, biomechanics is defined as “ the study of the mechanical laws relating to the movement or structure of living organisms”. But what does that really mean and how does that relate to you, your horse or your riding?
In a nutshell, Biomechanics is the science of the movement of a living body, including how muscles, bones, tendons, and ligaments work together to produce movement or are influenced by an outside force such as gravity, pressure or weight.
I like to break Rider Biomechanics into 3 components – the biomechanics of the human, the biomechanics of the horse and finally the biomechanics of the horse and human combination – rider biomechanics.
Basically all horses and all humans are born asymmetrical and as we grow older our asymmetry increases. This asymmetry places unnecessary strains and stresses on joints and ligaments, and if not dealt with can cause real physical problems for both ourselves and our horses.
The Biomechanics of the Horse
Like us, horses are born right or left handed – or more correctly in their case, left or right footed. They have a hollow and a stiff side and naturally carry more weight on their forehand. Understanding the longitudinal (front/back) imbalance is easy, although this cannot be corrected until the lateral (side/side) imbalance has been dealt with. Understanding the lateral imbalances and indeed working out just which side is hollow and which is stiff can be far harder.
The actual terms “hollow” and “stiff” have been used for centuries. The term hollow is used to define the side of the horse that is more contracted, whilst the term stiff is used for the side that is more stretched. In more extreme cases your horse can look a little like a banana, with the stiff side being more convex and the hollow side, more concave. This isn’t a major problem if the horse is never going to be ridden but in order to carry a rider without undue strain, the horse needs to develop a strong back, be equally strong and supple on both sides and learn to carry his weight more equally. Therefore the horse needs to be taught how to improve both his balance and straightness – his biomechanics, using gymnastic exercises. It is only by training our horse’s muscles and straightening him that it is possible to achieve optimum movement, posture and position. A straightened horse will be physically and mentally in balance, symmetrical and supple and be able to carry his rider with ease. This training is often easier to do without the hindrance of a rider and can be achieved by working with the horse on-line, in hand or on the longe.
The Biomechanics of the Human
As I have already mentioned, all humans are asymmetrical. Most of us collapse more on one side, stand with one shoulder higher than the other, have a dominant hip or place more weight on one foot than the other. In addition to our asymmetry, all too many of us are overweight and lack muscle tone which exacerbates the asymmetry. Another big problem for so many of us, is our lack of ability to isolate certain muscles or body parts, so that we use a hand inadvertently when bringing a hip forward or we clench our gluteal muscles (bottom) when doing a half halt.
To remain healthy and certainly to become better riders we need to take responsibility for our own bodies, become aware of our posture, and work to improve our suppleness and balance. Pilates classes (either mat-based or using a Swiss ball) are absolutely perfect to create awareness, increase suppleness and core strength and teach us how to isolate specific body parts.
The Horse & Human Combination – Rider Biomechanics
Finally we come to the horse and rider combination, or rider biomechanics. Every time we sit on a horse, we influence the way our horse moves, or he influences the way we sit. If we sit more heavily to our left our horse will move to the left. If we hollow our back, our horse will hollow his. Conversely a horse with a hollow back can cause us to hollow ours! We need to be aware of our position and weight when we sit on our horse, we need to be able to adjust our position at any moment in time to help our horse achieve correct balance and alignment. We need to remember that our seat is the one aid we cannot take away, and do our utmost to make sure that our sitting on our horse’s back becomes as pleasurable an experience for him as riding him is for us.
When I teach, I like to use PI (my electronic horse) initially to help my student acquire “self awareness”. The weight sensors and cameras enable the student to see their own asymmetries and they have the time to learn what a neutral pelvis feels like without having to worry about the movement of the horse. The rein sensors enable them to see just how heavy handed (or not) they are and they can practice “giving and re-taking” of the reins and half halts without any detrimental effects on their horse’s mouth.
Once we become aware of our own, and our horse’s asymmetries we can use “dressage” exercises as physiotherapy for our horse. Changes of bend in motion are really good for developing the lateral suppleness of the horse as well as the suppleness of our own hips.