Paardrijden aan de Teugel

Ik kreeg zonet een email binnen over de praktijk van wat een dierenarts zoal binnenkrijgt van dressuurpaarden.

Het gaat hem hier niet over 1 enkel geval, maar over een regelmaat!

 Denmark 2008

6th October dressage horse whipped hundreds of times.

FN shocked over excessive punishment.

Dressage trainer in court accused of cruelty to animals.

Germany 2008 24th October FN to appeal to international sport arbitration court punishment decreed against German champion is too lenient.
 

“What you see here is not staged it is every day practise in countless clinics worldwide. I have been involved in this kind of thing for over two decades, it has become more clear that today’s mechanised reckless training methods have a direct connection with our veterinarian work. “Where are the responsible veterinarians, judges and functionaries?” Dr Gerd Heuschmann.

 

 Dr Gerd Heuschmann is the author of Tug of War: Classical Versus “Modern” Dressage: Why Classical Training Works and how incorrect riding negatively affects the horses’ Health. He is a German veterinarian who has the unhappy task of operating on horses that are the victim of our celebrity riders and trainers, fixated on getting the cup at any cost and fast to increase the profits and celebrity status. He is not only a veterinarian he is also an advance rider and a lover of horses. He told me he now refuses to inject horse’s backs because it is a lie; it is the careless training systems that are to blame and must be stopped.

 

“It is high time to stop giving into commercial interests and to return to proven rules and principles…. It must be our mission to develop the body of the horse to form it and positively influence it rather than destroying it.” Dr Gerd Heuschmann.  

 

 

 

 

Watching and listening to Dr Gerd Heuschmann’s simple anatomical truths displayed in 3D animation in his awe inspiring DVD, “If horses could speak,” soon floats us down from our lofty clouds of fame and fortune to a stunned silence.  

Gerd with other world class equestrian luminaries shows us not only how a horse can be worked according to its anatomical design, it also opens our eyes to what is going on at the “top,” exposing the twisted truths of modern training and judging and how the mind set of global greed and corruption, fuelled by media hype and celebrity is downright cruelty to horses.

At the age of 13 Gerd began competition riding and then went on to train as a professional rider. He then went on to Munich to study veterinary medicine.

“Quite soon I had to acknowledge that reckless forms of equitation had done some damage to my mare, of course I began to investigate what was wrong with my riding style and this prompted me to look into classical dressage.  10 years ago I joined the veterinarian facility of the German riding school and focused my study on functional anatomy and bio mechanics. I finally realised that today’s equestrian sport is directly in opposition to classical dressage principles. To understand these principles we must look into a few anatomical and biomechanical fundamentals. Only then can we assess the often catastrophic effects inflicted on horses by careless training methods.” Dr Gerd Heuschmann.

 Facing the underlying truths.

 Nature has designed the horse with a beautiful suspension system:

1. The nuchal ligament consists of the funiculus nichae and the laminar portion.

2. The funiculus portion of the nuchal ligament extends from the poll to the long spinous process of the withers. The laminar portion of the nuchal ligament extends from the hood of the spinous processes of the withers to the cervical vertebrae. Thus the entire head, neck axis is connected to the long spinous processes on the withers

3. The dorsal ligament runs from the withers backwards to the sacrum and is attached to all the spinal processes. The forces through the neck are conducted through these ligaments to the back like a kind of suspension bridge. This ligament system is called the upper suspension.  The structural system of the upper neck are crucial for lifting up the back, especially the supra spinous ligament and this is the basic requirement or,” must have,” for the horse to carry the rider without sustaining any damage.   

The long back muscles which cover the entire back from the lumbar spine to the cervical vertebrae is a locomotion muscle and works to lift the trunk. It must remain supple and free for its proper function as a locomotion muscle.

“The greatest misunderstanding amongst riders is over the function of the long back muscle. The long back muscle is actually a locomotion muscle but many riders believe that it’s a load bearing muscle as the saddle is place on it and the rider sits on it. The long back muscle runs horizontally and of course it can only carry weight in a positive tension over tensing is damaging for any organism.” Dr Gerd Heuschmann

4. Abdominal Muscles

Abdominal muscles like back muscles are also locomotive muscles, they connect the rib cage with the pelvis and can work unilaterally or bilaterally.  Abdominal muscles are locomotion muscles that actively pull the pelvis and hind quarters under the trunk. When a horse is in motion these muscles do not play any part in carrying the horse’s trunk or the rider. This function of carrying the rider is performed by the upper neck musculature.  Only on the basis of these two synergetic operating muscle groups is natural and supple riding possible. Horses will be harmed and destroyed if the upper neck musculature is over tense or pulled in and contracted by the rider. 

A low neck position acts on the withers lever to raise the back. The spinal processes in the withers are drawn forwards and raised by the pull of the nuchal ligament, thus tensing the supria spinous ligament. A grazing horse bears its trunk weight without strain thanks to the upper suspension. This natural physical principle is a prime significance when training horses.  The horse has to drop its neck and stretch out of the wither – and only if it does that, can the back muscles take on a positive tension – and that is the only way the horse can carry the rider in balance and free up the locomotion muscles to do their work creating impulsion. …

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Stof om eens over na te denken. Waar zijn sommige dressuurfreaks mee bezig???

Het gebeurt meestal dan nog aan de top!

Als paarden konden praten!!!

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Philippe Karl. Author of, “Twisted truths of modern dressage.”