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Writer's pictureSouth Gwinnett Myriad

The Downside to Horseback Riding By: McKenzie Rogers

Updated: Sep 13, 2020


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Horses used to be an integral part of global society hundreds of years ago. While now the animal is not as important as before, they are still held to a certain esteem in some communities of our world. These equine beauties went from being a mode of transportation and commerce to being mainly used for pleasure riding and sports-racing. So far, no matter what time period, using horses always involved one thing in common. Activities that use horses have always ended up having weight be added onto the horses back. Veterinary science’s advancement and the need for acknowledging animal rights has increased over the last couple of decades. People started looking into the effects that things like weight had on a horse’s health. Universities and research facilities like the Department of Equine Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Utrecht University, Wageningen University, and Research in the Netherlands have made a lot more progress in the biomechanics(mechanical laws that have to do with the movement or body structure of living organisms) of animals.

One study in the Netherlands, specifically tested how various weights affected the movements on horses. Researchers believed that extra weight on a horse’s back caused back pain and may be a cause of Kissing Spine Syndrome-where a horse’s spinal vertebrae are curved into each other in an unnatural position. Below are pictures of the spine without and with KSS.

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Credit to https://www.smartpakequine.com/content/kissing-spine-horse Dr. Lydia Grey with SmartPak Medical

Researchers at Utrecht University hypothesized that carrying too much weight has a long-lasting effect on a horse’s back. To compensate for the added weight, the horse’s reaction and action will be altered. The same can be expected from the addition of a saddle and lunging girth. Over 12 separate tests in four different scenarios, they studied the reaction and actions taken by horses during the three main gaits(or ways that the horse walks and moves). The horses rode: with nothing on their back, while carrying a saddle, while a strap of leather placed behind its front legs on its abdomen (called a lunging girth), and while carrying a saddle holding about 165 pounds. They tracked the horse's mobility, range of motion, and the angles at which the horse: bends, flexes and moves to sustain motion with the weight.

Unsurprisingly, the results showed that weight on horseback greatly impacts a horse's movement. During the tests with the weighted saddle, the overall back extension increased and the forelimb retraction in one test increased. Scientists concluded that weight and saddle on horseback promote more extension of the back than what is natural for lengthened time periods. With this study, equestrians and people who work horse-related jobs can slowly alter their methods of using horses to carry and pull items. Changes in our techniques could very well make the task more efficient and less injurious for our horses. Also, the study does not definitively prove whether or not weight causes KSS. However unproven the fact is, a reduction of weight on horseback is still thought to be a way to help prevent the syndrome’s development.

Overexertion of weight on a horse’s back can lead to back pain. A horse arches and curves it back differently with added weight in the same way we do when we carry our bookbags on our backs. Logically, added weight over time can cause back pain due to the unnatural position the horse’s back is now forced into. With these new studies, concerned horse-owners and riders ask: how do we decide how much weight is too much? Deciding how much weight is too much is all dependent on the horse itself and the type of environment that the horse is in. Biological systems such as animal bodies have a low built-in safety factor for how much weight their body can hold (the safety factors based on the extreme scenarios vs the realistic scenarios). It’s all a balancing act between what the animal itself weighs and how much leeway its safety factor allows it to carry. Because their bodies aren’t built to hold more than a certain weight, their muscles and bones take on the extra exertion from carrying too much weight. Researchers have concluded that fitness training and changing your saddle to one with less weight can lessen the chance of your horse being injured by the weight on it’s back.

While riding horses will most likely not end, it should be remembered that holding weight on their back does affect their physical health over time. For now, there are only so many things that can be done to prevent riding and working horses from weight-caused harm. However, research has offered insight into what we can change in our own actions so that we can keep our animals happy and healthy.

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