A LEG OR TWO UP

[kjz2@juno.com (Karen J Zelinsky)]

Hey ya'll!

Enough of these petty discussions regarding horse nutrition, trailer
safety, electrolytes, rules and regs, selenium, emergencies, etc.  I am
introducing the REAL ISSUE . . .  riders'  legs!!  People count too,
right?  Why just the other day I finally got on my good 'ol gal bareback
and wow - after eons of not riding, these old legs got pretty sore/tight
quickly.  You know, the adductors and whatever muscles.  Well, for many
years, in fact, eons back, I have had bow legs, i.e., knees don't touch,
until, one day I had neuromusclur work done on them and voila -
temporarily the bones moved into straighter alignment).  The woman who
performed the muscle work said (maybe jokingly?) ... in your last life
you may have been a Mongul - or whichever bunch did the wild horse-riding
scene - Hun?).  Then, yesterday, noticed a friend who had been riding all
his life had the same leg conformation.  Hmmmm.  And me, being an equine
masseuse doing lots of show horses  I notice interesting leg shapes on
riders - many with non-straight legs.  Does anyone have any info to
contribute to my momentary obsession - riders' legs?  How are YOUR legs
affected by your horse addiction?  What are good stretching excercises? 
How often do you have to ride to keep them in non-stress mode?  I have
heard from human masseuses that riders are some of the worst in the back
department, and also that riding is so therapeutic for the back,
depending on the horse and riding technique used, but there's also legs
involved in riding - and other parts of our bodies, I am curious and want
to know.  (Maybe Deb Bennet can do charts on rider conformation and
suitability to different horse types!)   I have read postings regarding
backs and footsie problems so far - so, I might be opening another
Pandora's box, but I can't wait to hear from people about anatomy
functional preoblems, non-problems. Example - there must be different
problems for different riding styles, different horse builds, rider
builds.  Rider anatomy.  Another piece of the puzzle.  Sorry, I did run
on and on and on.  Still with me?

Okay, what do you think?  Thanks!
Karen  

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