46/ MAY 2018 THE RIDER Saddle Fit & Technology:


ness’ or being comfortable is presumably of critical interest to you as his owner and rider. A horse is not able to lie, to ‘act’ like he’s feel-


By Jochen Schleese, CMS, CSFT, CSE ©2018 Saddlefit 4 Life®. All Rights Reserved


You probably know your horse better than


anyone – instinctively, you know immediately when something is bothering him, even if you can’t immediately diagnose where the problem lies or what is causing it. We can’t put into words to what you already know – how do you tell when your horse is happy? If you are honest with yourself, you may realize that there is lot of truth in what I am about to share. While this question may almost range into the


field of anthropomorphization (ascribing human characteristics to an animal), your horse’s ‘happi-


ing comfortable, happy, or relaxed, when he’s not. Watch for the feedback your horse gives you and it’s easy to see what his state of mind is. We all know the usual signs; the eyes, the ears, the tail. In nature, the horse – a ‘flight’ animal – can run full out at a moment’s notice. There is no necessity for the thought process “Okay, I’m being chased by a wolf, I’m going to have to run fast in about 3 sec- onds, so perhaps I should warm up a bit so that I can go full tilt”. By that time, the horse would be lunch. This is what has occasionally been paradoxi-


cal to me – in a saddle fit evaluation when riders are asked to show their horses under saddle, they usually have to warm up (sometimes for 30 min- utes or more!) before they feel their horses are ready to perform and before they feel they’re ready to show the fitter how they move at all gaits. After seeing around 2000 horses every year for the past 25 years or so we have come to the conclusion pretty quickly that this warm up is to be considered pretty much a ‘numbing’ up. Only after hav- ing been ridden to the point that the back doesn’t hurt anymore can the horse actually be asked to work the basic steps. What is wrong with this picture? Horses are so stoic – they put up with


everything we lay on them (pun intended) until one day they don’t. The current trend in riding, as in most


EC Convention Continued from Page 45.


performance growth Canada could achieve through traction and visibility.


in english, western and driving disciplines


Offering standardbred-only horse shows with classes in halter & showmanship, english &


western pleasure & equitation, pleasure driving hunter/jumper, games, dressage and more...


www.standardbredshowcase.com Promoting the Standardbred


Emotion and Inspiration Ran High at EC Awards Reception Day two of the EC Conven-


tion concluded with the 2018 EC Awards Reception - which was an emotional and inspiring one as EC honoured the 2017 national award recipients, com- prised of extraordinary equestri- ans


and


How do you know if your Horse is Happy?


other things, seems to be “going back to nature”. Riders everywhere are in- terested in current discussions about whether or not to shoe, whether or not to ride bareback, treeless or with a ‘normal’ saddle, whether or not to “chemically” supplement your horse’s diet. According to documented statis- tics, the following life expectancies show the opposite to be true: • Life expectancy of the wild horse (for example Mustang) is 5-7 years. • Life expectancy of a horse ridden by an inexperienced rider, never exercised to the point of cardiovascular exertion: 7-10 years. • Life expectancy of a horse under pro- fessional training and supervision, rid-


den in competitive sports or in active training: 20-25 years. Doesn’t that tell you something?? Na-


ture may be good; professional advice and proper equipment to do “what’s right” actu- ally can prove to be better for your horse.


With ears pointing forward and air to 'Sjapoer's' gait, this horse is clearly happy and the rider, Aden Uhlir is looking pretty happy herself! (Photo used with permission).


should be considered when determining what is best for your horse. The complementary and coop- erative efforts of professionals such as your veteri- narian, farrier, chiropractor, and saddler, will exert their influences positively, to enable you and your horse to achieve maximum life expectancy, health and performance. What does a professional look for and con-


The whole “circle of influence” philosophy


sider when called in to address a problem or con- cern? Clearly, there are many external factors and influences acting upon a horse at any given time. For example, consider that there are 15 points which can influence saddle fit (or saddle fit per- ception) alone:


check. Armed with worksheets and a stethoscope, participants learned the basic skills neces- sary to monitor a horse’s vital signs and overall health. “Some people have looked


equines. The


presentations included posthu- mous honours to Susan Grange in recognition of her extraordi- nary impact on the Canadian equestrian landscape, and Some- beachsomewhere, lauded as the most prolific Standardbred race- horse in recent history. Watch for full coverage of


the 2018 EC Awards Reception in the upcoming Special Con- vention edition of the EC Insider e-Newsletter (email communi- cations@equestrian.ca to sub- scribe).


Support our Advertisers! It is with their support that we are


able to provide the comprehensive news package that we do. Tell them you saw their ad in The Rider


Practical Takeaways at the Equine Gut Health & Colic Prevention Workshop During a roundtable ses-


sion on April 8, Equine Guelph Director, Gayle Ecker, taught about the horse’s digestive tract, and how to perform a colic risk assessment and overall health


at a health check and said it’s way too much work, but once you practice you can do it in less than two minutes,” said Ecker. “Don’t ever let anyone tell you this is too much work. We owe this to our horses. It is our re- sponsibility that we can pick up on abnormalities before they be- come serious.” Learn more about Equine


Guelph’s horse health initiatives at www.equineguelph.ca.


Chris Sorensen Proves Basics are the True Riding Magic Tricks EC certified High Perform-


ance 1 Coach and Canadian Equestrian Team athlete, Chris Sorensen, closed out the 2018 EC Convention with an auditor- focused live rider demo on April 8. Chris interacted with the au- ditors while leading three groups of demonstration riders (3’ hunter, 1.15m equitation and 1.30m jumper) through core ex- ercises he incorporates into his equestrian sport program to help riders progressively transition from hunter to equitation to jumper at the high performance level.


“What I think is really im-


portant when we’re teaching stu- dents is teaching the why,”


In summary, it doesn’t matter what you


choose to ride in or wear, the key principle is to be aware that everything needs to work together prop- erly. No matter how well a saddle fits at the time of purchase, one saddle will not fit a horse over the course of its life (unless the saddle can be adjusted and re-fit). Every horse goes through at least 7 major conformational changes as it matures. Keep in mind that not every saddle on the market is ad- justable, nor can be easily adjusted to accommo- date your horse’s changing three dimensional back shape. But your horse’s ‘happiness’ (i.e., well- being and comfort) depends on you to make the right choices for him and do what is in your power to ensure that he stays willing to work with you to the best of his ability.


explained Sorensen, who stressed finding and maintaining the right rhythm from start to finish as the key to optimum dis- tances, and balancing deep in the heels to perfect balance, lighten the seat, and allow horses to use their backs to their full potential. “We don’t want the students to be our robots. We want them to be thinkers and un- derstand the theory.” Sorensen set a course that


may have appeared basic, yet could be utilized to hone core skills, and adapted to suit any level of athlete. The simple yet effective exercises were de- signed to immediately expose areas for improvement, and re- sulted in many proven examples of how awareness and small tweaks can lead to instantly vis- ible results. “I think that a kid wanting


to be perfectionist is common in our sport,” said Sorensen. “Per- fectionism can get away from us, but can be a tool if used in the right way. I want the perfec- tionism on the process and not the outcome. You can make a change or an effort on every stride to control the here and now.” Sorensen concluded the


day with an impactful anecdote, stating, “One of the most amaz- ing things that you learn as you train with top people around the world is that almost all of them practice basics every day. We all think that these famous riders


are going to teach us magical tricks that are eluding us, but the fact of the matter is that riding is a very difficult sport, but it’s not that complicated. It requires a lot of discipline and control. What you see these riders do is very basic, but exactly what they need to do in terms of control in the ring.” For a sample of footage


from the Live Rider Demo, visit EC’s Facebook page - and keep an eye on the EC Insider e- Newsletter for additional cover- age. Subscribe today by e - m a i


l i n g


communications@equestrian.ca .


About the 2018 EC Conven- tion


EC was proud to host the


2018 EC Convention in the Na- tional Capital Region from April 5-8 at the Brookstreet Hotel, just steps away from the EC office. This year’s Convention featured three days of exceptional educa- tional opportunities, panels with renowned speakers and athletes, community updates from EC leadership, and exciting social and networking events – all aimed at encouraging personal excellence


ToPodium. V


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www.equestrian.ca/events-re- sults/convention for more infor- mation.


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