Strengthening exercises for your horse don’t just have to about strength! You can include strengthening exercises into your warm up to encourage your horse to become more supple and improve their overall going, ensuring the muscles have the flexibility and power to enable the horse to balance and carry themselves.
This exercise is slightly more advance and will work with horse’s who can bend easily and move off of your leg, it works best if you have an arena which is 20m x 60m to allow you sufficient space, without rushing the exercise. You could also do this in hand if you are confident at asking your horse to shoulder in.
Throughout the exercise it is key to maintain a smooth rhythm, if you loose energy in the trot your horse will not be strengthening his muscles. You can ride this exercise in walk to begin with, this allows you to practice in a slower pace and have in your mind the changes in bend before asking your horse to go forward in trot.
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For a horse, when one area of their body is under developed or housing muscular tension, it has an effect on the rest of the body. Muscles have to compensate and can easily become fatigued, which can then cause further tension. Ensuring your horse has sufficient strengthening work in their fitness programme encourages overall balance and symmetry and can improve their overall wellbeing.
When ridden well this simple exercise can strengthen your horse’s hindquarters and improve his balance in your downwards transition from trot to walk. You are looking to encourage your horse to keep his hindlegs underneath him as he moves forward into walk.
Don’t forget you could easily take this exercise out hacking! Although it may seem simple you do need to focus on maintaining a forward rhythm from the slower trot into the walk. You don’t want your horse to fall into the walk or stop abruptly as he will not have his hindlegs underneath him. Having a strong warm up routine can not only improve your horse’s fitness and prevent muscular tension and injury, it can also improve your overall partnership and trust in each other. Beginning with a loose rein, allowing your horse to walk and stretch gives him time to relax, use this time to also allow yourself to become calm. Think about your breathing and see if you are holding any tension in your body, if you are breathe into the area and encourage the muscles to relax.
Within this exercise you will be working on improving the trust within you and your horse, whilst allowing you both to relax into a good canter rhythm. It is also fantastic for encouraging your horse to push from his hindquarters and improve his balance, allowing him to warm up his back muscles and improving their muscular development.
This exercise is also about your balance and fitness, you want to remain light throughout the exercise otherwise you will be putting too much pressure on your horse. You need to focus on your posture and breathing, using your weight and seat to encourage your horse forward. Keep your leg on to ensure your horse is pushing from behind, if you feel he is running away from you, slow your breathing, ask him to slow with you voice. You are looking to improve your connection with this exercise, allowing your horse to realise you are working together, not against one another. There are many exercises you can do in hand with your horse, this allows them to strengthen their muscles without carrying your weight. In hand exercises can also be beneficial for improving the overall partnership with your horse. Remember to stay calm in these exercises, particularly if you haven’t done in hand work with your horse before it can often take some time for him to understand what is being asked for him.
In this exercise you will be working on increasing your horse’s core strength as well as improving his overall symmetry. Ensure your horse is confident with reining back, in hand, in a straight line before beginning this exercise.
This exercise may prove quite difficult for your horse, you want to be focused on getting a few good steps back, don’t push your horse too far as he may become unsettled and tense. If he can only manage a few steps stop and praise him. You are looking for your horse to be able step back confidently, taking the same size steps back on each rein. If this isn’t happening it is likely one side is not as developed as the other, he may be housing muscular tension which will also be effecting his ridden work. When working your horse, no matter their fitness level, an effective warm up can help to prevent muscle tension and injury. Always allow your horse plenty of time to walk and stretch before taking up the reins, this improves your horse’s mobility and allows him to become relaxed before beginning work. From here you can begin your warm up, be focused on what you want to achieve, you want to be increasing your horse’s heart rate so the blood flows to the muscle’s warming them up.
This great exercise helps increase the blood flow and builds up the fitness levels in your horse after their initial walk and stretch.
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