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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | NHM Volum 10 Issue 5 Oct/Nov |  | |
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Nevzorov Haute Ecole Hard Facts Neurocranial Shock & Whipping |
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The following article appeared in Natural Horse Magazine Volume 10 Issue 5 Oct/Nov 2008. It is a combination of two seperate articles merged together. The information in the original articles were deemed too harsh and/or complicated for the general public due to the details in physiological explanations. The article presented here is my own version, using the rendition from Randi Peters, Publisher, Natural Horse Magazine and excerpts from the original articles by Alexander Nevzorov, Lydia Nevzorova, and with thanks to the Nevzorov Research Center, Russia. |
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The photo at left comprises what this article is about. Most people would say, `Oh, I never do that to my horse.` Really? Never? No slight jerk on the reins to insist or correct? No pull, ever? Hanging on to the reins for balance? What most people never notice is the moment captured in the horse`s face here in the photo. Notice this and then you will start to see it all around you in the standard horse world. A jerk in the horse`s mouth through the means of a bit causes what is termed neurocranial shock. Even if someone does not know how a bit works, in the ignorant, standard horse world, they are at least told that they need it to control a horse. This rudimentary, insidious device was cleverly designed by man thousands of years ago. After trial and error of other methods (nose ring, or tying the tongue to the lower jaw) a metal rod in the most sensitive part of the horse, among the soft tissues of the mouth, was most effective and continues today. |
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Strictly speaking, equestrian sport (ES) stands on two principal methods, as on two pillars. Apart from these, there are many tricks and methods, but these two pillars are the foundation for everything. Any “trick” is interchangeable with any other, any of these inconsequential “methods” can be distorted or removed from use – nothing in essence will change. However, the two principal methods of ES are eternal, they are fundamental and basic. If either of them is removed, equestrian sport will cease to exist. All of its standards will become unachievable. The first method is NCS (inflicting the pain of neurocranial shock to the horse by use of an iron instrument fixed in its mouth). The second is the beating of a horse. In the special language of sportsmen, this method is called “negative reinforcement”, “to drive”, “ to make a correction”, “moving off the whip”, “punishment”, “teaching the horse a lesson”, etc., etc. But the truth of this method is simply, the beating of a horse. Though the word “simple” is not fully appropriate here. This is not simply beating. Those who beat “simply”, without an idea, without drilling to achieve the special skill of a sport – stay forever patrolling in muddy riding schools or chasing flies in the rooms of others’ stables. Effective beatings require skills, competence, calculation, and have many nuances and aspects of application. Here we have the same kind of story as with iron. If a snaffle bit or a curb, tucked into a horses ’ mouth could make anyone become an Olympic champion, then everybody would become a champion. But only a few become “winners”, people with special moral, educational and character features, those who learned accurately, and callously to inflict neurocranial shock to a horse by a blow with an iron instrument fixed in the horse’s mouth. Those who have mastered this method correctly (by the standards of ES) use it. But as we know, 99.9% of sportsmen spend all of their lives mutilating the horse and its mouth, but remain unknowns even in equestrian sport, even in spite of having the main characteristic, which helps achieve success in ES, total insensitivity to the horses’ feelings. But this research will focus on the effects of NORMAL, permissible beatings, which are an accepted method in all branches of ES. There is a categorical, furious denial of the fact that these permissible and OBLIGATORY actions of sportsmen (the beatings of horses) are not just painful, but a traumatic influence on a horse, causing extremely significant consequences to the physiology of a horse. Naturally it ’s just an empty denial, generated by the remains of shame and desire to keep alive even a shadow of a myth about some possible “relationships” between a sportsman and a horse. What IN ACTUAL FACT are the results of those beatings for a horse, those beatings that are an obligatory part of its preparation for the achievement of ES standards? Of course, any response without proof is worthless, therefore below I show the conclusion of the first official forensic studies in the history of the relationships between a human and a horse, the goal of which is stated in the very title of the report. The task required photo and video materials proving that a young pony rider in a provincial sport school and a prize-winning adult an honorable champion of Russia work absolutely identically, sounds terrible but they treat the horse meeting all formal requirements» or in accordance to the norm. We have the indisputable right to emphasize that these inflictions or better to say tortures can be compared only with a strong electric shock as for their effect on the head`s nervous system. The official data from the research carried out by the scientific department of Nevzorov Haute Ecole together with JMRC (St.-Petersburg Judicial Medical Research Centre Bureau) prove that a bit pressure on soft tissues of the mouth and teeth reaches 300 kg per sq.см while applying standard pull/jerk. It's a scientific fact
confirmed by the examination protocols. Even if the pulljerk was five times not as strong as that it would inevitably cause the most severe
pain, and be it 3 times weaker its effect on any tissues would be no more and no less than ruthless pang shock. That’s another scientific fact
confirmed by the series of experiments. It's relevant that neither age nor physical condition of the rider is of any importance. Lever system of
reins and bit design enable a 13-years boy, a 23-years girl or a 43-years adult (test group) to achieve practically identical effect and struck the same blow. To sum up the jerks of the first and the second type have been thoroughly tested and gave the most stunning results (300 kg per sq. см of a horse's mouth) and they are the ones which are the most frequently and widely used in ES. We can see such jerks on the photos and speak with confidence about strong effect they make on soft tissues, skull
bones, teeth and nerves. Neurocranial shock and its skillful application make champions out of some sportsmen. However, it is applied by ALL people practicing ES or amateur
riding. The first thing that every child has to be taught when joining any sport school is this trick. A common phrase shouted out during riding classes is `show who is boss!` (I was once told to not let the horse cut a corner, I should pull the reins `to rip his back teeth out`. MB) Firstly, we consider the following situation: we see resistance of the horse, its unwillingness to perform unnecessary and painful actions.
Naturally, horse ’s nature is absolutely physiological. It means that, primarily its attitude to the world rests on its physiological sensations.
Everything connected with sport training is painful in essence and we won't discuss it as this issue has already been considered in a number of
my articles. A standard set of bit in the mouth is quite enough to control the horse and make it carry out a number of forcible primitive actions
required by the sportsman who inflicts an average force pain. But pangs and inconvenience caused by rein pressure are always sharper and more
extreme, than pain in its back, neck or legs. The horse usually obeys this painful violence and a man who embodies it. But more complicated actions
imposed by the rider may provoke a serious resistance, because these actions come into conflict with myological and physiological nature of the
horse. And at this very moment the rider gives way to bit, causing neurocranial shock, resulting in pain considerably surpassing any discomfort or any negative or painful feels from a high jump over the painted bars or any other dressage element. All that pressure is pain, and it does hurt the horse - no doubt about it. And that ’s just the bit. Usually in equestrian sports a crop, bat, or whip is part of the accepted attire for the other end of the horse (and anywhere in between). Along with all of the physiological, anatomical and scientific data and excellent photo materials to illustrate bit damages, one can find the same for whip effects. In racing, eventing, or even timed jumping, when the horse slows down the rider will whip him from behind to get more speed, regardless of the reason for the slowdown - it could be a fracture about to happen, and the horse knows it, but the rider/jockey must win, so he uses the whip anyway. The horse gives him more speed and then breaks down. It is an all too common scenario in equestrian sports. Why does the horse comply, to the point of a fracture? Because the whip hurts, the bit causes more pain than the leg injury he is sensing. Talk about a rock and a hard place. How strong the bit blow should be to make it obey under the circumstances. Not only obey but even gallop with broken leg? It must exceed the pangs from fracture. The torture must have been not only extreme but physiologically more dangerous. Pang in the skull is perceived as more threatening and can be compared with the hellish explosion injuring the central nervous system and brain, namely such type of a pain «is developed» by neurocranial shock. Pain drives the horse and the horse too often dies in the end. The average weekend trail rider will deny ever doing suth thing to their horse, especially to such an extreme. But they do. Damage is incurred over time and slowly, silently, the horse is dying inside. There are biopsies done on living horses that otherwise appear pretty normal. The sample taken from these riding horses from the nuchal ligament are identical to tissue taken at necropsy (or autopsy from a dead horse) See this: http://www.angelfire.com/bc/curlygait/biopsy.html Neurocranialis shock is shock to the nervous system of the skull, and it occurs when there is impact from a metal bit in the horse ’s mouth. The impact force on the horse ’s mouth, per experiments carried out on a horse mannequin by a child, a woman, and a man, measure in as follows: 1. The pull on the reins: steady pulling, from 110 to 220 lbs; jerking, from 484 to 660 lbs. 2. The impact force of the metal bit on the mouth (per 1 sq. cm. of mouth surface): steady pulling, from 110 to 220 lbs; an average force jerk, from 396 to 484 lbs; a strong jerk, over 660 lbs. That amount of impact puts pressure on not only the direct contact areas (tongue, lips, teeth, gums, bars, palate) but on local (and not so local) oral cavity tissue. It most certainly affects the facial nerves and all they innervate. It also affects the skull and related joints (bone and soft tissue), the neck, and vertebral column. Everything is connected. (See Neurocranialis Shock schemes I and II.) The mechanical impacts can cause a multitude of injuries, ranging from abrasions, hemorrhages, and mucous membrane ruptures to compound wounds, severe neurological damage, and even broken bones. Because of the pain caused, even respiration and heart rhythms are affected. This training method turns out to be very effective and is applied EWERYWHERE. Each sportsman applies this method
starting from 5 up to 30 times at each training session or competition. Let ’s consider the technique of striking a neurocranial shock blow. As it’s clearly seen from all the photos without exception the jerks of the
kind instantly injure practically all the cranial (skull) nervous net. We have to study “target areas” which are damaged. First of all, it is teeth, to be more exact - the second premolars of the lower jaw (dents premolars II). It should be stressed; with skillful application of the jerk the area of damage is the second premolars of the lower jaw. With unskillful application - upper jaw. The blow injures the under eye nerve (n. infraorbitalis), which leads to painful detonation of the whole upper skull nervous system. The second «object of damage» is – diastemas (margo interalveolaris). The powerful blow of 300 kg per each centimeter is struck on the main exit from pharamina into subsequent dense branch of trigeminus nerve – (n. trigeminus. It «fires» the lower nervous cranial branch which locks directly on the brain. The third direction of pain blow is the tongue (n. lingualis) nerve and its peripheral branch. The tongue nerve (supersensitive and excessively conductive) explodes complex and dense system of facial nerves- n. facialis which has reversible connections with it. Pain shock seems to reach its peak. But at this very moment one more horrible factor comes into action. You see, the soft palate (vellum palatinum) of the horse has a specific structure. It's very long and goes slantwise down, it decreases the palatal arch. Right there, into this very low upper soft palate supplied with very sensitive palate nerves (n.palatines minor) directly locked on the brain, the violent bit blow arrives. All the hell results into large scale pain climax in the horse skull - neurocranial shock – the foundation ES. I’d like to stress that we don't speak about some extremes, but about every day practice, about the most common trick employed by ES with the single purpose to force the horse to jump and perform various elements.
Introduce whipping In racing, eventing, or even timed jumping, when the horse slows down the rider will whip him from behind to get more speed, regardless of the reason for the slowdown - it could be a fracture about to happen, and the horse knows it, but the rider/ jockey must win, so he uses the whip anyway. The horse gives him more speed and then breaks down. It is an all too common scenario in equestrian sports. Whip damage experiments, studies, and findings - medical and forensic - agree that: 1. The general force of the strike of the popper/ flapper of the whip used in sport is at least 42 lbs per square centimeter, and the energy of the strike reaches around 20-25 joules per square centimeter. 2. Striking influences of given intensity may cause different injuries to tissues: from wounds and hemorrhages to local crushing of subcutaneous tissue, rupture of blood-vessels and partial ruptures of underlying muscles. 3. Frequent multiple local whip strikes cause trauma, hemorrhaging, and crushing of underlying tissues, which can cause general suffering of the organism, including damage to the kidneys. In the event of repeated strikes on the same area of the body, the size of injuries that were described above grows proportionately. |
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What you see above are normal strikes from a riding crop. Surprised? Usually, nothing is apparent on the surface of the horse`s skin, but underneath, haematoma is common. There are forensic photos of humans being beaten to death with a simple riding crop. Even for me, the photos are a little too much to show here. It ’s understandable that the goal of this research is to use a strictly scientific method to identify the extent of trauma caused by simple blows by a standard sport whip on a horse. This study, of course, doesn’t show the how the horse’s mental state has been affected as a consequence of such influence. Such facts, based strictly on scientific experiments don’t exist. However, based on the knowledge of physiological responses of a horse to pain and traumatic factors, based on how these physiological responses change aspects of its behavior, its mood and character, knowing the total dependence of horses’ mentality and psychology on its physiological sensations, we can surely talk about extreme mental and psychic traumas, which are the consequence of pain and trauma. The natural response of a horse to a blow is very quick, very sharp, and sometimes hysterical. Try to lash a free horse, not tied with halter, bridle, etc. The response will be immediate and very harsh. Even a slight touch with a dry rod, which is not flexible and consequently has a tiny contact area with the skin (approximately 3-6mm) and an equally small force of impact, will cause an extremely quick response of anger and fury. Horse skin is very thin, especially in the places where blows fall most frequently. For example, in the area of the muscle m. vastus lateralis its thickness rarely exceeds 2mm, and closer to the inner side of the thigh – 1mm. But whatever the skin’s thickness is, we have to remember that skin (dermis and epidermis) is generously supplied with nerves, making it a supersensitive organ. Naturally, the amplitude and the force of a child ’s blow will be somewhat different, but this was also taken into account. Typical blows were examined, not those which are practiced in “pathological” beatings, when a rider has a desire to “take it out” on a horse or really make it suffer from severe pain, but the so-called “educational” blows, “driving” blows, “moving off the whip”, “teaching the horse a lesson”, the ones which are officially permitted in the practice of ES. Results of experiments were studied with detailed care (using standard methods of morphoscopy and morphometry), and were also being recorded by photography using digital camera As a result of studying the physical parameters of the striking effect of the popper/flapper of whip used in equestrian sport with help of special experimental settings it was found that the general force of the whip was no less than 19 kg/cm2 and the maximum energy of the strike was about 20-25 joule/cm2. During the following experimental studies it was found that as a result of strikes by a standard type of whip used in equestrian sport (with standard amplitude of strikes of this type) on a model of soft tissue of a horse, the following injuries were observed: - On sheets of paper: deformation and trough ruptures of long oval form in size up to 6x1 cm with uneven, ruptured borders, surrounded with a zone of deposit of black pigment in width up to 0,5-1,0 cm (which follows the zone of a graze wound around the primary injury); - On blocks of ballistic plastic impressions were formed, identical in form and size to the features of the striking surface of a mass-produced whip used in equestrian sport: a) From strikes by flat surface – with total size of 9-10x2-3 cm; From strikes by raised surface – 10-11 x 1,0-1,5 cm. Damage on models of soft biological tissues like this usually coheres with the following types of injuries: Multifocal injuries; Multifocal bruises, subcutaneous hemorrhage and hematomas; Crushing of subcutaneous tissue; Detachment of skin in place of traumatic contact; Ruptures of blood vessels; Lamellar hemorrhage under the muscle fascia; Multifocal and infiltrative hemorrhages into underlying muscles; Partial ruptures and crushing of muscles. Aside from the local signs of the striking effect on the animal ’s body it is significant to note that frequent repeated hemorrhages and also crushing of tissue can cause general suffering of the organism. These traumas are connected with a process of reabsorption of repeatedly induced hemorrhages (hematomas) and other tissue injuries. During the process of reabsorption, cells are detached including hemocytes (erythrocytes) from the center of traumatized areas in the form of free protein – hemoglobin and myoglobin. These proteins and their debris, having a high molecular weight, have the ability to accumulate in small vessels (capillaries) as well as in the kidneys, obstructing them. Hemoglobin and myoglobin cylinders are formed, which can lead to nephrosis (an inflammatory disease of the kidneys). All of this compromises the processes of filtration and discharge of waste products of metabolism, which cannot not affect in a negative way the health and general state of an animal. We can do better for our horses. There are horsemanship methods that build other types of relationships instead of purely athletic competitors for equestrian sports. We know that children should be taught to respect horses and be kind, gentle, understanding, and fair with them. We can learn, and then teach by example, a meaningful and considerate relationship. horsemanship. We can toss the crops and bits, and other cruel, punishing ways. We can teach them that there is more to having a horse than winning ribbons and shiny prizes. We can learn about ourselves while we teach (and learn from) our horses. Relationship skills reach beyond the horse/ human relationship. And remember … Horses don’t cry. |
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