General Training

Building the core

Much of the work we do every day with our horses helps them to become stronger and, to some extent, develop their core. However, there are specific exercises that are particularly good for isolating the core muscles and improving their strength, and thus the stability they offer. Here, we go through a few of these exercises that you can try with your horse at home.

Please just remember to start slowly, and gradually increase the work you ask your horse to do. As a lot of this work is done in the walk, it can be tempting to assume that it is ‘easy’ for the horse. However, in reality, if a horse walks ‘correctly’ with his core engaged, he is working hard (particularly if there is a rider perched on top) and his muscles will fatigue quickly. Keep this in mind and make sure that your sessions are short. If you are patient and work through these exercises gradually, you will quickly see improvements, but if you overface your horse, he will have to find ways to compensate and the exercises will be ineffective.

POLE WORK

These exercises can be done in-hand and ridden. Any kind of pole work is great for core stability because it encourages the horse’s head to drop and the core to lift, while requiring increased flexion and extension of the limbs.

A simple pole exercise is to ride, walk or lunge the horse through a sequence of poles in a line. Start with one pole and build up as your horse gets more confident. You can then start to raise alternate ends of the poles and then the entire pole to challenge the horse further by asking him to flex his joints and lift his limbs higher.