Equine vets at the Animal Health Trust are appealing to horse riders to help with a research project, to assess the interaction between horse, saddle and rider.
Dr Sue Dyson, Head of Clinical Orthopaedics at the Centre for Equine Studies at the Animal Health Trust and Line Greve, PhD student, are conducting the study to find out how the horse, rider and saddle can influence each other. They are trying to understand better why a saddle may persistently slip to one side in some horses.
Line said: "Saddle slip is a problem seen in all sorts of horses and ponies and can contribute to back pain and thus impaired performance. Research suggests that 25% of British dressage horses have a history of back-related problems and subsequent reduced performance. Our preliminary studies involve just over 700 riders but for a more accurate picture we would like to bump this figure up to 1000 plus. We are urging all riders, whatever their level or ability, to help by completing the questionnaire."
The online questionnaire should take no more than 15 minutes to complete and all answers remain anonymous. The questions cover saddle types, fitting, use and maintenance; rider experience, training and 'handedness'; as well as horse type, use and any previous lameness or back-related problems.
To take part in the study, complete the questionnaire here: http://www.aht.org.uk/cms-display/premise_questionnaire.html. The AHT says that by doing so, you'll be helping to protect and improve the future health, welfare and longevity of the ridden horse.
The results will be presented at the Saddle Research Trust Conference in 2014.
PS: Whilst you're here, take a moment to see our latest job opportunities for vets.
I've done the survey and 3 comments on the questions
Firstly you asked if I had any injury which affected riding ability I answered no, as I don't have an injury. I do, however have an arthritic hip, which makes me sit slightly crookedly. This is due to age related wear and tear, therefore illness or injury might have been better
Secondly you asked my weight. Since you wrote MY weight, I put mynaked weight. Riding weight might have been better, as the contribution of tack to total weight varies considerably between disciplines.
Thirdly, as this was a survey on saddle influence on back pain, I was surprised to only find 4 choices of saddle type. I ticked GP, as that was the closest. I actually use a VSD saddle, as a GP would never fit my rather straight shouldered Sec D I would have added not only VSD, but also show WH and western,and divided the jumping saddle category into 2-show jumping and hunting/eventing, as these sadles are distinctive types
Wynne