Your horse is an incredible athlete. He has sparked the imagination of humankind from the days we crawled out of the caves and saw the beauty and magisty of this wonderful animal. What a gift it is has been for the horse to blend to wonderfully into out lives and offer itself up for our use and companionship. This didn't happen with any other creature on this earth, even though we have had certain kinds of relationships with many other wonderful animals. Nothing comes close to the relationship man has had with the horse since time immemorial. But horses were not necessarily designed by Mother Nature to carry a burdon such as a rider. That doesn't mean that we should not ride them. But it means that they need to develop special muscles to carry a rider without injuring themselves. It isn't true that you can just "bring-em in from the wild and ride-em," as some would have you think. Well, you can, but you will pay dearly for it later; and so will your horse. This is a truth that was eventually learned by the best horsemen in the world, and from this, many disciplines developed.
Think for a moment, especially if you have ever played "horsie" with your kids. If you crawl around on the rug, with your kids on your back, and you hollow your back, you will scream with the pain. If, however, you engage your Abdominal Muscles and your Iliopsoas, and arch up, you will be able to carry more than one child on your back without much effort. This is the same for the horse, even though he is powerful and much larger than you are. There is nothing more damaging to a horse than to hollow his back, drag himself on the forehand, and not use his hind quarters. This will set up a situation which will create a predicatable cascade of very bad things which will happen to his spine from neck to tail. This is what I am here to explain to you, because it is essential that you understand these concepts to have a comfortable and willing partner in your horse, not to mention avoiding many years of lamenesses and veterinary bills. This has led me to coin the term "Sacro-Sciatic Syndrome."
