CHAPTER VII 



RIDING AND SADDLES 



294. Anatomy of the Horse's Back. — No part of 

 a horse's harness causes more trouble than the 

 riding-saddle, and most of this trouble is the re- 

 sult of misunderstanding on the part of the 

 saddler or groom, or of bad riding on the part of 

 the rider. The most difficult problem we have 

 to deal with in harness fitting is the prevention 

 of sores from the horse's collar ; this trouble, as 

 stated in the previous chapter, is due to friction, 

 as a rule, and not to pressure. Saddle galls, 

 however, are almost entirely the result of pres- 

 sure, uneven or continuous. With proper care 

 there is no reason why a saddle should cause a 

 gall. 



Due to the gross ignorance displayed in the 

 past by so-called horsemasters, and to the bad 

 riding of cavalrymen, we find that armies have 

 been handicapped in campaigns ; and through 

 the bad riding of some hunting men, polo 

 players and others, cruelty of the grossest form 

 has been inflicted upon the horse. The question 

 has been asked whether sore backs are not the 

 result of domesticating the horse. The answer is 

 in the negative. This trouble is the result of 

 want of knowledge of the anatomy of the horse's 

 back. If there is any part of the horse that a 

 horseman should understand thoroughly it is the 

 back. We will therefore study the back from 

 the withers to the loins and around the girth or 

 thorax. 



295. P. 69, 70 show the bony structure of a 

 horse's back. The horse's body, consisting of 

 thorax, abdomen and pelvis, is enclosed in a 

 musculo-bony frame. The bony part of this 

 frame consists of a horizontal chain of bones 

 called the vertebral column, and circular bones 

 leading from part of this chain to the breast-bone 

 below, and at each end the upper portions of 

 the limbs. The body frame is attached by liga- 

 ments directly to the hind-limbs, but is only 

 suspended in front to the fore-limbs by muscles 

 on each side (serratus magnus). The verte- 

 bral column extends from the head to the tip of 

 the tail. There are 53 to 56 vertebrae in all. 

 Neck (cervical) 7, back (dorsal) 18, loin (lumbar) 

 6, croup (sacral) 5, and tail (coccygeal) 15 to 20. 



The vertebrae which we will consider are the 

 18 dorsal ones. The first eight of these have true 

 ribs (sternal) attached to them, the other ends of 

 these ribs being attached to the breast-bone 



(sternum) at the base of the thorax. The remain- 

 ing ten have false ribs (asternal) attached to 

 them, the other ends of which are joined 

 together by costal cartilages which are indirectly 

 attached by ligaments to the rear end of the 

 sternum. 



296. The first rib is the shortest, the ninth the 

 longest. The curvature gradually increases from 

 the first to the eighteenth. 



The true ribs are wider and flatter ; the false 

 are more like a semicircle. The sixth and 

 seventh, which cover the heart, are very wide. 

 The ribs project out almost horizontally for a 

 considerable distance on each side of the spinal 

 column before they bend down over the sides 

 of the thorax and abdomen. It is on this almost 

 horizontal portion, and nowhere else, that the 

 entire weight of the saddle must be borne. As 

 the horse inspires, muscles draw these ribs for- 

 ward, being hinged at both top and bottom. As 

 the centre part of each rib is drawn nearer to the 

 head, the diameter of the thorax, i.e. the horse's 

 girth, is increased, in the same way as our chest 

 is expanded by the ribs rising in front when a 

 deep breath is taken. Therefore, a horse should 

 never be girthed too tightly, and the girths 

 must not be too far back, as the expansion is 

 greater as we go farther back. The first rib 

 does not move with the expansion of the chest. 



297. Having realised what portion of the bony 

 anatomy should support the weight, we must 

 consider which portions must not bear any 

 weight. The loins, situated posterior to the 

 eighteenth rib and anterior to the hip bones 

 (ilium), are not covered by a bone on each side 

 of the vertebral column, but only by muscle. On 

 no account must any weight be borne on these 

 parts. Great care must be taken when a second 

 rider is sitting on a horse, behind a saddle, that 

 he sits on the pelvis, i.e. behind the hips, and 

 not on the loins, because, as the kidneys are 

 situated in this region, damage will result. 

 Nor must there be any weight borne by the 

 spinal column itself ; neglect of this is the 

 common cause of a great many sore backs. On 

 P. 69 it will be seen that spinous processes 

 project up from the body of each dorsal ver- 

 tebra ; these are usually called spines. The 

 spines increase in length from the first to the 

 fourth or fifth, and then gradually decrease to 



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