Developing Correct Movement, Training Series Part 4: The fine line between ‘working over the back’ and ‘being on the forehand’! 

This is a training exercise where you need to ‘get your eye in’ so to speak! 

In Part 2 of this blog series, I talked about horses being heavy on the forehand, and that we can positively affect this in the horses body! Part 3 was about why we seek long and low posture in the horse. 

This weeks blog is looking at...

Why we seek ‘long and low’ posture! 

Good correct posture in movement, is the horse using all of his body including his back and core, and the ‘long and low’ posture enables the horse to use his body fully. 

Movement in the horse is a cycle of energy from the hindlimb, up over the pelvis, over the back and neck, and this cycle pushes the horse forward from the hindquarters. 

By developing the long and low posture where the horse lengthens and elongates...

Getting your horse off the forehand

You might have heard this said about your horse…get him off the forehand, or he’s heavy on the forehand?
Does your horse feel heavy in the contact like he’s leaning on the bridle / your arms? Does he pull you down the reins or pull you out of the saddle? Is he a bit unresponsive in the contact, lacking ‘brakes’, feels like he runs into the ground so to speak, looks downhill in his body?

These are all signs that your horse is...

Mobilise - Activate - Strengthen

This is a simple strategy that can be applied to EVERY HORSE!

Whether going through rehabilitation, bringing your horse back into work, correcting your horses posture and movement, following kissing spine diagnosis, starting young horses, working with senior horses to improve and maintain their flexibility, horses with arthritis…. ALL of these horses will benefit from working on these important foundations!

And by using mobility and flexibility work...

Did you know that your horse is either left or right handed? All horses are 'one sided', crooked, stiffer on one rein, whatever we want to call it...they are all crooked to one degree or another. And it affects the whole body unfortunately. 

One sidedness is present in our horses bodies throughout their life, and it means that they can do movements in one direction better than the other. They prefer to take their weight on one hindlimb/diagonal pair more than the opposite...

If you have followed me for a while, you will know how much I LOVE and RECOMMEND some non-ridden exercise for our horses! 

Whether horses are in rehabilitation, coming back into work, you are working on specific movements for competition, or you are working with a senior horse, or a horse with a previous injury...any of these horses will benefits from specific in hand exercises!! 

I have been working on In Hand Exercises with my own horse, as well as clients horses, for years, so...

Spring has finally sprung here in the UK!! It has felt like a long winter, and I imagine all horse owners are now planning what they might want to do with their horses this summer (me included!)! 

So I just wanted to write a post with a few tips and ideas for things to consider with your horse as you start to increase their exercise this Spring. 

I like to consider and talk about injury prevention, and all of the ways that we can strengthen and correct our horses body and movement,...

How it all fits together...

Next week (7-11th March 2022) I will be running my 5 Day Free Online Training Event for the 3rd time, on Posture, Core Strength & Natural Crookedness in the horse, so wanted to write a brief blog post as an introduction to what we will be delving into next week!

The downside about horses first...

Horses aren't evolved or designed to be ridden or do the sports that we would like to do with them. We as humans decided to domesticate horses, and they are quite...

Is your horse ready? Ready for what?! Ready for whatever you want to do!

In the UK we are about to enter Springtime (anytime now!), so you may be about to increase exercise with your horse, start competing, or bring your horse back into work after time off/reduced exercise over the winter months. 

At this time of year I like to recommend stepping back, physically and mentally (!) with our horses, to consider what they have been doing over the winter, where we would like to get to with...

As an Equine Physiotherapist I work with a lot of horses with injuries, and something that has really stood out for me during my professional career with horses over the last 10+ years, is that they really are not a good design for riding. They are not evolved or designed to do what we do with them, and are definitely not a good natural design for being ridden...hence breakdowns and injuries happening. 

So just taking one element of this within this post...horses weight distribution is...