Summit attendees will build on equine models

Summit attendees will have a rare opportunity to learn equine anatomy at a special Summit elective, offered on Friday, October 29.

The class, which will cover the anatomy of the top line, runs four hours in length and is available only to those already registered for the Summit. Class size is limited to 25. Cost is $150. Students must be registered already for the Summit. CLASS FULL. 

Jon Zahourek, founder of Anatomy in Clay, will bring his expertise and equine skeletons for this very special elective. Jec Ballou will be on hand to help students connect what they are building in the class to what they experience with their horses.

Summit director Maddy Butcher first learned of Anatomy in Clay after watching this video on YouTube.

“The whole learning concept resonated with me immediately,” said Butcher. “As a learner, I’ve always been pretty challenged. Low stress, hands-on processes work best for me. As a conference director, I’m always looking to engage our attendees in ways that really stick. Building muscles on likenesses of horse skeletons with your hands – it will be brilliant for our audience.”

Zahourek, Butcher, and Summit presenter Jec Ballou met over the phone to design a custom program, one that would be especially relevant to the Summit crowd and schedule. They tailored the program to four hours on Friday, October 29. The session will cover the topline, that is, the muscles and ligaments running directly off the spine.

Watch this Anatomy in Clay video.

Ballou, an accomplished dressage rider and coach, said she’s excited that this elective will offer added value and supplement what she is planning on presenting during the academic portion of the Summit.

“This is going to interface wonderfully with what we’re teaching,” said Ballou.

Specifically:

• Using quarter life-sized EQUIKEN® horse skeleton models, attendees will expand their understanding of the biomechanical range-of-motion involved in the flexion and extension of the galloping horse.
• Teams of two participants will share skeletal anatomy models.
• Each model focuses on the movements of the lumbar vertebrae, sacrum, pelvic girdle, and femurs in the standing horse, the flexion phase (or gather) of the gallop; and the extension phase of the gallop.
• Students will first build the sacroiliac, sacrotuberous, iliolumbar, inguinal, and femoral head ligaments, then move to build belly or ventral muscles—quadratus lumborum, quadratus femoris, internal oblique, iliacus, psoas major and minor muscles. Finally, they will construct the top line (dorsal) muscles – multifidus, longissimus, gluteus minimus, and gluteus superficialis muscles.

As Anatomy in Clay folks say, “The Mind Cannot Forget What The Hands Have Learned.”

Class size is limited to 25. Cost is $150. Students must be already registered for the Summit. Sign up here.