Artists are Prophets

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Artists are Prophets

” Artists are prophets. They define the meaning of our lives and point the way.” (Anthony V. Bouza)

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We knew that we had an extraordinary saddle and we asked a great artist photographer, David Mendelsohn, to express his vision. His photography is indeed a prophecy. Not only has the picture emphasized the lightness and the beauty of the saddle, but also a design which rises to the level of actual science. Tensegrity, elastic energy, closed-chain mechanisms, force transports, are ignored by the deep seat, high cantle, thick paddings and oversized thigh blocks. Advertised as placing the rider into the right position, these models disrupt the interactions of forces between the rider and the horse and hamper the integrity of the rider body.

Observing during orthopedic surgeries that tissues do not functions as previously believed, Dr. Stephen Levin applied tensegrity to biology and demonstrated that every part of an organism, from the molecular to the gross anatomy, is integrated by a mechanical system into a complete functional unit. There is an integrity of the horse physique that is necessary to allow the refinement of limbs movements and other details. The same integrity applies to the rider. The delicacy, discretion, finesse, subtlety advised by our greatest ancestors is difficult to achieve through the equitation of the correct aids. The concept of harmonic tensegrity, where our entire body communicates with the horse through nuances in muscle tone, is much better adapted to actual knowledge.

We placed seven sensors on the thoracolumbar column of a horse and we set the computer program to measure upward forces. At the walk, trot and canter, the sensors registered upward forces and the dots illustrating the sensors on the computer screen started to move up and down. The wave motion of the line connecting the dots does not illustrate vertebral column movements. The computer diagram illustrates upward forces. This is the type of misinterpretation that lead to the theory of the swinging back. The two sensors placed behind the rider seat bones and ahead of the rider upper thighs registered the greatest amount of upward forces. Part of these forces are created by the propulsive activity of the hind and front limbs, part of the forces is created by the muscular system of the thoracolumbar spine converting the thrust generated by the hind legs into upward forces.

These force interactions are the dialogue between the horse and the rider. These forces are distorted by right and left shifts of the wide tree and thick padding saddles. Stability is the fundamental quality of a saddle. Stability is the fundamental quality of the Macel dressage Samba and the refined version, the Samba S pictured on the photography. The thick paddings and high cantle also distort the forces induced on the rider back from the limbs’ action and muscular work of the thoracolumbar column.

The dialogue with the horse involves numerous and simultaneous nuances on muscle tone which varies through the whole body but within an integrity ensuring harmonic tensegrity between the horse and the rider. The distorted forces induced on the rider body by the high cantle and oversized thigh blocks, don't permit such integrity. The seat of the Samba is a design marvel. Comfortable, narrow between the rider upper thighs allowing precise influence on the horse thoracic spine, the saddle does not place the rider in a static posture; the design allows the rider to find his dynamic balance. Integrity rests on a seat stabilized between the tone of the gluteus maximus behind the seat bones and the upper thighs and psoas ahead of the seat bones. The slackness of the glute’s muscles encouraged by the support of the high cantle lazy chairs alters the rider integrity at its base.

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” (Franklin Roosevelt) Many riders can achieve a high level of sophistication, but, the riding technique, as well as the saddle, need to fit actual knowledge. Harmonic tensegrity, elastic energy, forces transport, work of the fascial tissues, close kinematics chains, demand a dialogue of subtle nuances in muscle tone within an integrity of the rider's physique.

Jean Luc Cornille

Macel Samba

Contact Helyn at helyn@scienceofmotion.com