[RC] Mis-Understanding Saddle Tissue Physiology - Robert Ferrand
Mike Stofen
wrote
“I don't disagree that
poorly fitting saddles are highly problematic and the cause of many issues -
both behavioral and physical - my point is there is not necessarily a
direct relationship between actual measured pressures and
physiological functioning, damage or change.”
There is a direct
relationship between actual measured pressures and physiological functioning,
damage or change.”
In a previous paragraph
the Text of Medical Physiology, (the gold standard for all medical or veterinary
personnel):was quoted,
“Skin and muscle tissue require a
constant intermittent flow of blood to remain healthy.[i] In strenuous
exercise the muscles require significantly more blood flow to maintain a healthy
metabolism” [1]
Guyton, Arthur C., Acute Control of Local Blood Flow, Text of Medical
Physiology, 1986, pg. 349
Also
noted was: “For a given pressure applied to the surface of the skin (interface
pressure) capillary closure pressure will vary from horse to horse, as well as
location to location on the horse, depending on the amount of fat, location of
adjacent bone, status of the vascular system, systemic blood pressure and
general health of the animal.[1]As the animal ages its physiology also changes,
compounding this significant Issue.”
The
reason a horse can ride a 100 miles with a less that perfect saddle fit is that
as the horse moves, there is some movement of the back, so that pressures are
intermittently released. This is the important point: the release of
pressure for a brief time is the key. The horse becomes damaged with “bridging”
saddles, because the pressure is unrelieved and then the trauma occurs.
It
is critically important to understand that muscles are far more susceptible to
the effects of pressure than skin.The internal damage to the tissue caused by the surface pressure
only becomes obvious at the surface over an extended time.Many serious pressure sores first occur
internally adjacent to the bone and then radiate to the surface.
This
fact makes it very difficult to use apparent trauma to the horse's back as an
indicator of saddle fit, because during the time interval that the horse is not
being ridden, the horse begins to heal the internal trauma. This makes it virtually impossible to
develop a cause and effect relationship between saddle fit using observable
external trauma to the horse as the standard. Therefore, just because we do
not see obvious damage to the skin of the horse does not mean that damage has
not occurred internally.
So
the saddle fitting challenge is how to determine the fit, with any assurance.
Again, this is the reason interface pressure measurement is so useful, because
it is very easy to jump to conclusions, that are not based on a correct
understanding. That is why the “scientific method” was developed and is very
useful in saddle fitting.
