Ridecamp: Re: [RC] there is no way that young and small a body can ride astride a horse that many hours without damage

On Thu, 24 Oct 2002 19:30:19 -0600, "Heidi Smith"
<heidi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>> I'm well aware of the benefits of theraputic riding.  Theraputic
>> riding is generally in a ring, and for short periods of time.  Not at
>> all comparable to a fifty or 100 mile endurance ride.

>I'm working with one little girl right now with cerebral palsy.  LIFE is a
>stress for her.  The one time she is free is when she is on a horse.  She
>rides for well over an hour, and begs to be left up there when we're done.
>She struggles with everything else--on the horse, she no longer has to
>struggle.

Absolutely, it's wonderful.  Tell me, how many times has she ridden 50
or 100 miles at a time?

>> Just ride for 8, 12, 18 hours at a time.

>Again, Joe, the way these kids bounce off their horses and run off to play
>other games, or saddle back up and ride some more as soon as their horses
>have passed the final vet check, they sure don't appear to have stressed
>themselves much at all.

On the outside, no.  Have you x-rayed them or taken an MRI?

>> In short duration, no.  We're talking about ENDURANCE rides.
>
>Yep.  And if kids don't ride tense (and very few do), they don't have the
>musculoskeletal effects that we adults do.  The kids we're talking about
>here aren't racing up front--they are moseying down the trail like the
>majority of us, and I know I for one find that quite relaxing, unless I'm
>just flat waaaay out of shape.

You could anesthitize them and the physical stresses would still be
there.  They'd be better off racing up front, they wouldn't be on the
horse as many hours.

>> The main concern is bones and joints, and they are stressed by far the
>> most when a small rider is on a horse, with the legs spread wide and
>> the calves unable to properly grip the saddle.

>Aw, c'mon--there is NO comparison in riding to the stresses to bones and
>joints that occur in running or in contact sports.  The stretching issue is
>easily addressed by having the kids on horses that fit them, and narrow
>twist saddles that fit them.

Contact sports have greater intensity, endurance rides have greater
duration.  In the stresses I'm talking about, it's the duration that
does the damage.

No saddle can compensate for children the size of five and six year
olds.

-- 

Joe Long
jlong@xxxxxxxx
http://www.rnbw.com




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