09/01/2026
Did you know? Horses don’t follow the laws of physics!?
Apparently, there’s an idea floating around that once you say the word biotensegrity, biomechanics and physics quietly leave the room. It keeps popping up as comments on my posts discussing biomechanics.
The universe obeys physics. Galaxies do. Stars do. Fluids, bones, tendons, bridges, trees and tectonic plates all do.
But horses? No, horses are apparently exempt. Because… biotensegrity.
Let’s clear this up.
Biotensegrity does not replace physics.
It does not invalidate biomechanics.
It does not allow a horse to ignore force, moment, leverage, or gravity.
Biotensegrity is how living structures cope with physics, not how they escape it.
Physics describes what forces exist.
Biomechanics applies those laws to biological structures. Joints, tendons, bones, motion.
Biotensegrity describes how living tissues distribute, store, redirect, and tolerate those forces over time using tension, elasticity, and redundancy.
That’s the hierarchy. Not three competing belief systems.
A tensegral structure still obeys Newton’s laws. It still has centres of rotation. It still experiences moments. It still fails when loads exceed capacity. Just often later, and more creatively, than rigid structures.
Yes, horses are non-linear systems.
Yes, forces are distributed.
Yes, tissues store and release energy.
Yes, compensation exists.
None of that means moments stop existing. None of it means equilibrium stops mattering. None of it means geometry, leverage, or load paths become irrelevant.
In fact, biotensegrity only works because biomechanics is obeyed. It is a buffering strategy. A way of surviving imperfect alignment, uneven terrain, fatigue, growth, and injury within the rules of physics.
And here’s the key point that keeps getting missed
Compensation is not a design goal.
It’s a survival mechanism.
A biotensegral system can tolerate imbalance, for a time. But persistent imbalance still loads the weakest link. Tendons still strain. Ligaments still fail. Structures still collapse when limits are exceeded. Otherwise horses wouldn’t get injured!!!
So when we talk about biomechanics, equilibrium, moments, and balance, we’re not denying biotensegrity. We’re describing the force environment that biotensegrity is responding to.
Horses are not magical beings that transcend nature.
They are extraordinarily well-adapted biological systems operating within it.
And understanding the physics doesn’t reduce that complexity, it explains why it exists.
