Re: shoulder asymmetry

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From: Brent Seufert 
Email: Brent.Seufert@pipe.nova.ca

I attended a great seminar and clinic by
Deb Bennet this past spring.  Much of
the discussion was on her recent
theories on "straightness" in a horse.

a couple of points from her seminar
were:

* She spent quite a bit of time
  describing _static_ and _dynamic_
  straightness, or "crookedness" in a
  horse

* While in recent history crookedness
  has been blamed sometimes on uneven
  leg length (she herself believed this
  at one time), she feels that uneven
  leg length exists in less than 
  2% (or close to this figure, anyway)
  of the equine population.

* All horses are crooked to some degree
  or another. Most are undetectable by
  the average rider unless you know
  what to look for.  This is by nature
  of the makeup of the horse. eg, one
  aspect is the suspention of the chest
  between the front legs by what is
  effectively a huge elastic band
  (muscle) from both shoulders.  To be
  straight, the chest must be centered
  between the elbows.  If the horse has
  some asymetry of development in the
  shoulders, the chest will hang to one
  side, resulting in a whole series of
  misalignment/crookedness in the horse
  (head, neck, spine, scrolumbar, croup
  tail) and asymetrical development,
  even including which eye he prefers
  to look out of.

* Barring actual physical injury or
  malformation, the cause of crookedness
  in the horse is mostly due to the
  rider, both on the ground AND in the
  saddle.  We start teaching the horse
  to be crooked by always approaching,
  saddling, mounting the horse on the
  left side.

Anyway, In my own experience with my
current horse, Starrtrek, over the last
couple of years I had been noticing he
was getting stronger on one side,
favoring one side over the other.
there was no significant developmental
asymetrey I could see at the time.
after the seminar, I arranged for a
private clinic with Deb and, while she
very much liked the conformation of
Starrtrek, she said he was a classic
case of crookedness, and with her
pointing out the indicators, it all 
became clear to me.

Luckily, Deb also showed me some
techniques on the ground and in the
saddle to "straighten" Starrtrek out.
that and my starting some lessons with
my step daughter's jumping/dressage
instructor and he is really improving,
including some unexpected benefits of
improving Starrtreks attitude and
curbind his desire to "race" (ex race-
horse).


I highly recommend taking in one of
Deb's seminars or clinics.  there is
so much there, and email cannot do 
justice!

Brent
and
Starrtrek (if brent had only listened!)
Mazan, Dillon, Denny.