 |
Re: [RC] Gaited horses/sore back - Lysane CreeIf I sit all the time when riding a gaited horse I have sometimes become very stiff and sore even if the overall ride itself is very smooth.
I have ridden Rocky Mountain/Kentucky Mountain horses - they do a four beat lateral gait. One in particular had such a fast swinging walk that my pelvis would get swung back and forth so much, I would have a sore lower back and muscle spasms in my back after riding if I did not get my butt out of the saddle once in a while and post. Many of the Mountain horses will trot as well, but this particular one, I have never seen her trot. It was a little awkward to post to a lateral gait, but I was able to do it for awhile before getting all screwed up and starting over. Basically I had to post to the switching of sides rather than diagonals...there is a moment of suspension like in the trot but its a lot shorter since the horse always has some feet on the ground. It takes a little practice, but even doing it a little bit on and off on a long ride helped my back muscles.
Its probably just the fact that posting keeps us moving in the saddle - its too easy to become "frozen" in the saddle when cruising along on a smooth gaited horse, and not moving for a long time.
Lysane
*This is not a criticism of gaited horses.......but I wonder if others
experience the same as I do....my knees (and whole body) seem to feel better overall if I periodically post a trot. Earlier this year I had tweaked my back and had some serious muscle spasm's (just walking outside to turn horses out and open a gate caused extreme pain). I found once I started back riding again, even the sitting on the horse at the walk hurt like heck, but as long as I could do very brief moments of trotting during a ride, I was okay. Even now; if I did an hour of straight walking on a horse or a two hour walking trail ride, I would be hurting in my back and knees at the end of it. I always try to do a nice, long walking warmup before trotting....but after a half hour of walking, it's time to trot!. ... Karen __________________________________________________
|