• New Beginnings
• Clinics
• Winterizing—Cold Weather Reminders
• The True Core Muscles Used by Expert Riders – featured guest article by Tom Nagel
• Book Review

NEW BEGINNINGS – JOY is a choice! Give the gift of joy.

As the end of the calendar year 2008 comes, I reflect back on all the wonderful adventures I have had and all of you that have touched my life. One phrase that a friend/client said to me stands out, "joy is a choice".

At this time of year, with all the hustle and bustle, I think it is especially important to remember joy is a choice. We all must take care of ourselves first before we can adequately take care of anyone else, mentally and physically. Giving too much of our time and energy to and for others can become downright unhealthy. Maybe this winter you give yourself (and your horse) the gift of better body alignment through starting a yoga class, a Feldenkrais or Alexander course, or find a good chiropractor or bodyworker. Maybe you learn self massage or simply change to a healthier diet. Perhaps you find one of those all too rare instructors that realize the importance of alignment and sees your horse with the respect deserving of an equal to lesson with. I say it often, "Your horse mirrors you, mentally, emotionally and physically; they can only be as aligned and in self carriage as you are". Make a difference in your life by choosing joy and see how contagious it becomes!

I would like to thank Tom Nagel for contributing his guest column. This man and his work, based on use of the psoas and hyoid for correct self carriage and posture, possibly changed my life this year more than anything else. My horses are all very grateful to him! By finding alignment within myself (which believe me was not such an easy task and took diligent awareness to self correct), I have realized radiant health myself! Alignment is central to your physical and mental health as it is our horses. His book Zen & Horseback Riding, with a foreword by Sally Swift, is available through Tom’s website (www.zenandthehorse.com), www.amazon.com and a few other online stores.

To all of you that have touched my life this year, thank you!

Dr. Suzan Seelye, DVM, CVT, CVA

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CLINICS

In 2009 I will be expanding the "Heal your Horse, Discover Yourself" clinics into Oregon and California.

My vision of empowering people through knowledge took me to beautiful Victoria and the magical Whidbey Island in November and December. Both clinics were very eclectic groups of horse owners, massage therapists, trainers, and instructors open to a different paradigm.

The days were full of learning for participants and then applying that knowledge with their horses, and of course good food and lots of fun! I found the questions participants asked inspiring and thought provoking. To watch people truly seeking to gain a deeper understanding of their horse, and help them, is a joy. I am grateful to be a part of the process.

I extend my thanks to Kathy Jawl, a 3rd level Centered Riding instructor, for hosting my clinic in Victoria, and Connie Lloyd, certified Feldenkrais practitioner, physical therapist, and Centered Riding instructor, in hosting and joining me for a clinic on Whidbey island.

To schedule a clinic for 2009, you can contact me by phone, mail or email.
Dr. Suzan Seelye, DVM, CVT, CVA
Healing Heart Equine & Small Animal Veterinary Specialty Practice
PO Box 325
McKenna, WA 98558
T / 360-348-0285
E-mail: healingheartvet@aol.com
www.quantumvet.com

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WINTERIZING – Cold Weather Reminders

Add ½ to 1 Tbsp. cinnamon daily to your horse’s grain as a wonderful winter warming herb. My horses love it!

Remember, when the weather turns cold your horses will need extra feed, preferably hay, to generate more body heat and keep warm. As the temperature drops below freezing, start increasing their feed. A good rule of thumb I use is to increase by 50% when the temperatures get into the teens. Be sure to include the wind chill when estimating temperature.

If your horses are wearing shoes, it doesn’t take long to accumulate snowballs in their feet. These can create tremendous strain on ligaments and muscles and result in minor to severe damage if not removed. Be sure and pick their feet out several times daily. Winter is a wonderful time to consider letting their feet go "au natural" for a few months for those of you whose horses have not gone barefoot fulltime already.

Keep your horse's natural defense system (their immune system) strong during times of weather stress. Consider adding Colostrums, by Symbiotics, or APF (Advanced Protection Formula), by Auburn Laboratories, Inc., to their feed.

Make sure your horse has an adequate supply of water, preferably 40 degrees or warmer. When a horse has to drink "iced" water, it serves to cool their bodies further. When water is too cold, they drink less, which can lead to colic. A warm bran mash can help get more water into their system and help keep their digestive system regular.

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The True Core Muscles Used by Expert Riders

Tom Nagel

Google core muscles and you get 5,770,000 hits.
Refine that search to core muscles psoas and you get 84,200 hits.
Google core muscles psoas riding horses and you get a grand total of 685 hits.
Look up core muscles in a medical text and you will not find any (-0-) muscle named core.

There definitely is a lot of discrepancy as to what muscles people are talking about when they say core muscles. Riding instructors are not alone when referring to the “core” muscles as being the stomach and back muscles when explaining to their students how to stabilize themselves while riding. However, these muscles are only the surface muscles of the body. This is the equivalent of saying that the skin going around the middle of an apple is the core of the apple.

The psoas (pronounced so-as) muscles are the actual core muscles used by expert riders. The psoas are the deep muscles that directly link the upper and lower girdles of the body. They are the only muscles that attach directly to both the lumbar spine and the upper legs. They lie below the surface muscles of the body and are the “missing-link” a rider must learn to use in order to follow the directions of their riding instructors and to feel their horse’s movement.

If you ride a lot, over a period of time, your horse will teach you to use your psoas muscles correctly. I discovered this while doing bodywork sessions with two expert riders. Both riders were able to soften their rectus muscles (the surface stomach muscles) when asked to level their pelvises. Leveling the pelvis is accomplished by bringing the pubic crest at the front of the pelvis in the direction of the nose. The average person will tighten their rectus muscles when leveling the pelvis. When I questioned the riders where they learned to move their pelvises this way, both explained they had learned this movement while riding bucking horses when growing up. I knew from my previous bodywork experience that they were using their psoas muscles correctly.

I subsequently have found that most riding instructors use their psoas muscles when they ride, but they do not consciously know what specific muscles they are using. Many instructors learned to ride when they were young, through trial and error on a body level. I call this “unconscious competence.” How riding instructors use their bodies is different than how their students use their bodies.

Students hear things like:

What riding instructors really mean is to engage your psoas muscles.

There is a simple test to determine if you use your psoas muscles correctly. Lie on your back, with both legs stretched out. Place your hands just below your beltline on your abdomen. Slowly bend both knees and drag your heels towards you until your feet are flat on the floor. Do the surface muscles under your hands become tight or do they remain soft? If they tighten, you are using your rectus muscles. If the surface muscles soften and fall back toward the floor, you are using your psoas muscles.

I have devised a simple set of exercises to teach riders how to use their psoas muscles. These exercises are outlined in my book Zen & HorsebackRiding. They can be of benefit in any riding discipline, if you simply add them to what you are already doing. By naming the psoas as the true core muscles, we become aware of them, we can talk about them, we can refine how we engage them, and we can learn to consciously use them.

Tom Nagel is the author of the book Zen & HorsebackRiding. Tom's training background lies outside of horseback riding and his main expertise is in how human bodies work efficiently. He has a third degree black belt in Aikido and is an instructor of Zen Bodytherapy®, a bodywork discipline that combines deep tissue and alignment work. This gives Tom a unique and unbiased perspective in how to help riders use their bodies efficiently, first off and then on their horses.

You can contact Tom at tnagel@zenandthehorse.com or go to www.zenandthehorse.com for more information.

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BOOK REVIEW

Tug of War:
Classical Versus "Modern" Dressage
Why Classical Training Works and How Incorrect Riding Negatively Affects Horses' Health
Dr. Gerd Heuschmann

A client first showed me this book towards the beginning of 2007 and my first thought was, "Thank goodness someone has put this knowledge into print; one less book I have to write!"

Dr. Heuschmann is an equine veterinarian and Pferdewirt (a professional rider and trainer with veterinary training) who writes in a clear, concise manner how incorrect "modern" riding negatively affects horses' health. Don't be mislead by the dressage word – remember this word simply means "training" and every time you work with your horse you are "training".

Dr. Heuschmann speaks out clearly against many of the "training" methods used today that mentally and physically damage the horse, the results of which I treat every day in my practice. The book is filled with wonderful pictures and diagrams to demonstrate how training horses too quickly and incorrectly results in long-lasting damage. He shows how lameness and other problems are associated with incorrect alignment and why relaxation, mentally and physically, is so important to develop.

Dr. Heuschmann is a true horse advocate. The world is a better place for those who speak out in truth against the techniques created for human agendas rather than the betterment of the horse. Read this book and give a copy to all your horse friends. Your equine companions will have a better life for it.

*Dressage = training, regardless of your riding discipline

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