Download Lesson 15 Junior/Senior

Horse Course # 49 - Collection continued
It is useful to define collection not just in terms of what the horse’s legs are doing but also in
terms of what his back is doing.
Assignment (Juniors and Seniors):
Week number 15...Be able to identify the five different areas of the vertebral chain
Be able to explain which vertebrae make up the three arches
Know which vertebrae make up the “true” back
Know which group of vertebrae join the back to the hindquarters
Find the loin on your horse by palpating for the joint
The back of a horse is a complex design of bone, muscle, tendons and ligaments all working
together. This complex working of bone and muscle, supported by tendons and ligaments allows
a horse to “round” up under the saddle and support a rider.
The back describes the area of the horse where the saddle goes. The thoracic vertebrae are the
true “back” vertebral structures of the skeleton. Note, these vertebrae point backward. (When
talking we tend to include the loin (lumbar region) as part of the back.)
The lumbar vertebrae (loin) provide the coupling that joins the
back to the hindquarter. Note, these vertebrae point forward. (So the
loin is found between the lumbo-sacral joint and the thoaracic lumbar
junction. You can find the loin by palpating for the lumbo-sacral
joint. Feel down the spine and when you get to the hip area, feel for
a spot that doesn’t have bone...sort of like a trampoline-feeling area.
To find the Thoracic lumber junction, put your fingers on the last rib,
and follow it up to the spine. The area in between is the loin.)
The prongs of the vertebrae serve as anchor points for the ligaments and tendons.
There is a huge long muscle (longissimus dorsi) originating from the last four cervical vertebrae,
runs along the length of the back and goes into the ilium and sacrum. This muscles contracts the
spine and raises and supports
the head and neck. It is the main
muscle used for rearing, kicking
jumping and turning. It’s the
muscle a rider sits on.
The equine vertebral chain is
made up of three arches:
1. Cervical - (pink)
2. Thorac + lumbar + sacral (yellow-blue-green)
3. Caudal - (orange)
The arches join to form the dips
(declivities) marked.
Where the lumbar and sacral meet is called the lumbo-sacral joint. This is structured in a way
that side-ways (lateral) movement is almost impossible but it does allow for up-and-down coiling
and uncoiling motion.
Loin coiling is the essential motion of collection. The lumbo-sacral joint is the key to athletic
ability in horses because it is the main site where loin-coiling occurs.
When a horse “rounds up” or begins collection, the first thing that he does is coil the loins, As
the loins coil, the pelvis and all of the rest of the bones which compose the hind-limb chain are
brought forward.
Which brings us back to lesson 47...True complete collection is the condition of a horse, either
in motion or stationary, in which his weight is shifted toward the hindquarters, through a
sustained lowering of the haunches (pelvis) at the lumbo-sacral junction, increased flexion of
all the joints in the hind legs, a raised back.....etc