Enhancing Suppleness and Flexibility: Exercises for a More Agile Horse Discover a variety of exercises tailored to improve your horse's suppleness and flexibility. Explore the benefits of incorporating these exercises into your horse's training regimen.
- One key exercise for improving suppleness and flexibility in horses is carrot stretches. This involves holding a carrot or treat to one side of the horse, encouraging them to stretch their neck around to reach it. This helps to loosen up their neck muscles and improve flexibility. Each stretch should be held for around 10-20 seconds and should be a slow movement. If your horse makes a snatching action, start with smaller stretches and gradually increase until they have increased their flexibility to hold a larger stretch. (If you are unsure please speak to your massage therapist for advice).
- There are effective exercises you can do on the lunge, which help to stretch and strengthen their muscles evenly on both sides, promoting overall flexibility. These include the spiral, where you shorten the lunge line every circle until they are close to you and then lengthen the lunge line until they are back out where they started. First perform this exercise in walk, until they are strong enough to perform this in the trot. I like to always include this exercise in my warm up on the lunge.
- Pole work is also beneficial for enhancing suppleness. Setting up poles on the ground in patterns or grids requires the horse to lift their legs higher and step over them, encouraging greater flexibility in their joints and muscles. Once the horse is able you can raise one or both sides on your poles to increase the difficulty of the exercise.
- Incorporating lateral work, such as leg-yielding and shoulder-in, can further improve a horse's agility and flexibility. These exercises involve moving the horse sideways or at an angle, engaging different muscle groups and promoting suppleness in their body. These exercises are best taught from the ground before trying them under saddle.
These are just a few basic exercises that you can incorporate into your horses routine. Consider consulting with a professional trainer or therapist for personalized exercise recommendations.