The Old Gray Mare

Horse Anatomy and Musculature On the Live Horse



Posted: Thursday, September 08, 2011

by The Old Gray Mare
www.DressYourHorse.com

Many people have already heard about the Painted Horses by Gillian Higgins. Interested horse people from various walks of life and in assorted fields are anxious to view her presentations including veterinary students, professional race and show horse trainers, horse show judges and even 4-H and pony club members.

The horse is a complicated creature consisting of 205 bones and a complex system of 700 muscles. Learning horse anatomy is an involved task, somewhat boring, and far from an overnight study session.

Gillian Higgins, champion rider herself and an avid horsewoman, developed a Living Horse Model showing anatomical bone structureunique and acclaimed methodology for studying horse anatomy. Higgins’s idea is very clever - it provides musculature and bone structure live and in action directly on the horse – She paints the living horse itself.

As a rule, Higgins uses a light gray horse and paints the horse skeleton directly on the near side of the horse model and the muscle structures on the right side of the model. In order to keep it safe for the animal, Higgins paints with hypoallergenic paints that are water-based and wash off easily.

Having a living horse wearing the bone and muscle structures is an amazing teaching tool. Says Higgins, “Painting the skeleton and musculature on the sides of the horse really helps bring the subject to life. You can discover how to get the best out of your horse by seeing exactly what happens as it moves.”

Higgins, 27, is a sports remedial therapist in England with a degree in equine business management. She hit on the living anatomy model Tendon structure of forelimbhorse to provide practical and actual views of how a horse moves.

“'I'm trying to show the anatomy and how the horse works in an interesting and easy to understand way,” she continues.

Higgins’s idea has caught on with horse people, and she now travels all over the country. She has even given demonstrations in South Africa.

Gillian Higgins has published her live horse model concept in a book, How Your Horse Moves. She has a website, horsesinsideout.com that details her work.

Studying muscles and movement  The Old Gray Mare writes for

  www.DressYourHorse.com

  and horse blogs.
Heidi Rucki brings expertise as a horsewoman, dog lover and stained glass/mosaic artist. She is an accomplished freelance writer in the horse industry. Writing online as The Old Gray Mare, many of her current articles can be found on www.DressYourHorse.com. In the past, Rucki wrote for numerous horse organizations including The Connecticut Horse Council. She took early retirement from Phoenix Home Life where she wrote mutual fund prospectuses and was responsible for their submissions to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Old Gray Mare writes to share knowledge and her love of horses for everyone but especially for novice and new horse owners. Besides her two main websites, she has recently published three new blog sites. Of those, her favorite is www.BeautyOfHorses.com.
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)
» left by Christofer French
 259 days ago.
74 fans.
This is unbelievable. How informative. Such a stand out visually. It is absolutely gripping. Thanks for this. Good weekend.

Yours,

Christofer
» left by The Old Gray Mare 257 days 19 hours ago.
53 fans. Follow The Old Gray Mare on twitter!
I thought it was pretty clever. Be a lot more interesting class in this fashion and actually see the bone structure and muscles moving on the live animal. Pretty cool.
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