Exercise series to develop your horses engagement
Brought to you by Miriam Sykes Veterinary Physiotherapy and Esther Mills BHS Stage 4 Coach
Together we created 4 videos to demonstrate exercises that you can do at home with your horses. The full write-up for these videos can be found on my Facebook page: Miriam Sykes Veterinary Physiotherapy.
We used a variety of clips to demonstrate how to do these exercises and included some not-so-correct examples and noted where the problems arise so that you can recognize these at home.
If you are currently rehabbing your horse please check with a professional before carrying out these exercises and if your horse is finding them difficult always ask for advise. Enjoy!
Exercise videos
Mastering the Walk
The walk is such an important gait no matter what level your horse is at. It is low impact exercise that strengthens the soft tissues and joints and improves balance and posture.
Top tips to improve your long reining
- Get used to your equipment and hold the lines like reins
- De-sensitise your horse to the lines around the hind end with a helper
- Keep horse forward into a gentle contact as if riding
- Keep a safe distance but not too far away (about one horse’s length)
- When walking the corners position yourself slightly to the inside to maintain outside contact and make turning easier
The rein back
Rein back is a simple exercise, takes little time, requires no equipment and can be so beneficial when practised correctly and consistently so I really recommend making it part of your routine. The movement encourages flexion of the spine, conditions the core muscles and increases hindlimb flexion and engagement.
Top tips to improve your rein back
- Start in a good square halt
- Ensure that the poll remains the highest point by resisting the urge to just pull on the reins but instead push from the chest.
- Try standing on both sides to see if this affects the direction in which your horse travels
- Struggling to stay straight? Try using the arena fence or poles to help guide your horse
- Develop on the ground before ridden
Poles, Poles, Poles
Using poles has multiple benefits including improvement of balance, rhythm, engagement, and proprioceptive awareness and again, it adds variation to your week! Ridden poles are also beneficial for developing rider balance and accuracy as well as being a great introduction to jumping. We tend to keep our poles simple but strive for correctness. This video demonstrates straight poles and diagonal poles but with a few variations that you can try to get the most out of your sessions.
Tips to improve your poles:
- Introduce the horse to one pole if they haven’t done it before
- Only raise once they are comfortable over ground poles
- Be prepared to adjust distances to suit the horse (can be helpful to have someone on the ground so team up with another livery and do poles for each other)
- Set your horse up well – rhythm and straightness
- Make sure the horse is actively moving forwards but be aware they cannot do this if the spacing is not correct!
Using transitions
What are transitions? Essentially, they are just changes. This can be a change of gait i.e., walk to trot or it can be a change of tempo i.e., working trot to medium trot. Transitions are the easiest thing to work into your session, whether on the ground, out hacking, schooling or jumping. Using good transitions helps your horse become more responsive, find good balance, build muscle, develop power and carry more weight behind to improve engagement.
Tips to improve your transitions:
- Make them gradual whilst your horse finds its balance – being too fast and heavy will cause tense, poor posture as they try to find their centre of gravity
- Always improve the gait that you are in before you ask for the change – set them up well
- Add poles, cones or markers for accuracy – being accurate in a dressage test can really improve your marks
- Use a circle to keep them supple and soft through their frame – give this a go - especially if your horse is a bit stiffer
Lateral Work Exercises
Lateral work is used to describe movements where the horse is moving forwards and sideways. Some of the many benefits include developing the horse’s balance, coordination, suppleness, building the stabiliser muscles, developing the feel and coordination of the rider, and adding variety to your schooling.
Tips to improve leg yield and shoulder in:
- Get feedback! Have someone on the ground to give you feedback or film so you can watch back or use mirrors
- Try in both walk and trot. Unlike most exercises where we begin with walk, some horses find the trot easier as the limbs move in diagonal pairs
- Try leg yield on a circle – spiral in, leg yield out
- Begin your shoulder in with a 10m circle as the first step off the circle is shoulder in and starts you in the correct position
- ALWAYS look in the direction you are travelling – Leg yield look towards the track, Shoulder in look straight ahead (not through the horse’s ears)