The evolution of the horse...and why it's important to consider

I start a lot of my talks with a quick few sentences about the evolution of the horse, because it's a part of horse ownership that doesn't get talked about that much, and it's REALLY important to consider - we can really learn a lot about our horses and their issues, by studying their evolution. 

Horses 'in the wild' might seem like a totally different horse to our modern day, domesticated horses, but they are still the same 'variation', the same animal, as they have been over the last 1 million years! 

We have domesticated them and used them for different tasks over time, and now we use them mainly for leisure/sports. But the horses themselves still have the same needs that are tied to their evolution. So providing as 'natural' a lifestyle as possible is so important for our horses, whatever it is we do with them. 

In the wild, they cover 20 miles + per day looking for water, food, shelter, safety for the herd etc...this is called a 'nomadic' lifestyle. And just this point alone is important to understand... horses are evolved to be 'on the move', so this is how their bodies operate best. They can see in the dark and can adapt to their surroundings! 

They are classed as prey in the wild, which means predators (tigers etc) are looking at the herd, and looking to pick off the weakest / slowest member of the herd, to eat! So this can explain the 'spooking at the bush' episodes quite well (tiger might be behind bush!)!

But there is also a downside to this point, which is that horses have learnt to 'just keep going' so they don't get picked off by the tiger...so they know how to mask low grade pain and discomfort, by making subtle postural changes. So translating this into our modern day horses, they can be making subtle postural changes, such as tightening the back, to manage low grade pain...just keeping going. 

In terms of diet and movement, horses are evolved to eat rough grasses, not the lush green paddocks that most horses are kept on in this country, and also are evolved to have lots of movement, 20 miles + per day, as a natural lifestyle. Comparing these points to domesticated settings...our horses diets are likely way too rich for their evolved needs, and the amount of movement that our domesticated horses can achieve, is often way less than their evolved needs. (easy to see how you might struggle with their weight?) 

Then coming onto the ridden horse. Horses are actually a POOR DESIGN for riding, and they are simply not evolved to be doing the sports etc that we do with them. 

We sit on the lowest part of the horses back, where the bones (dorsal spinous processes) are not only closest together, but are also pointed towards each other (see image below)...it's no co-incidence that 'kissing spine' is most commonly found in the middle section of horses back. 

Unfortunately when we add all of this up, domestication is a very long way from the horses natural lifestyle, and when we transpose 'domestication' onto them, I hope it's easy to see how some of the common issues with horses are actually just inevitable...injury, kissing spine / back issues, digestive issues, lack of movement issues, problems with the stabled horse. 

I'm coming at this from a physio point of view, so it's the body posture and movement part that I look at most...and unfortunately a lot of the horses issues within domesticated life are due to the fact they are not evolved to be living the sort of life where they don't have access to everything discussed above. 

So we owe it to our horses to think about this and maximise the natural lifestyle for them as best we can. 

I hope this post has been interesting and though provoking, especially if it's the first time you have really considered the evolution of the horse. 

***If you would like to learn all about nutrition, exercise, rehabilitation, posture, crookedness, and much much more, click through here for all the details of my online training programme and members group: Membership