Attaining a Comfortable & Healthy Musculoskeletal System for Your Horse

We can all appreciate that feeling of true comfort within our bodies but also how you feel when you’re not comfortable – grumpy, sore, fidgety etc, etc. Now, consider your horse and how comfortable he is in his body, or not. Pilates-style exercises for your horse can help him to feel good both physiologically and in turn psychologically. Using these exercise are also a great opportunity to develop a deeper bond with your horse.

As we celebrate the launch of the new Complete Pilates for Horses Programme, here’s a little insight into what you will discover when you embark on your Pilates for Horses journey and an exercise for you to try with your own horse.

The Complete Pilates for Horses Programme

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Why Pilates?

The aim of doing Pilates exercises with your horse is to help improve and maintain good equine posture, core strength, muscle condition, body awareness, control and balance.

There are lots of Pilates exercises you can do with your horse and the new programme gives you 74 different in-hand exercises. However, for your horse to feel maximum benefits from these exercises, it’s important to find the right ones to suit your horse’s individual needs, and are easy for you to incorporate into your routine on a regular basis.

There are two main aims of the exercises detailed in The Complete Pilates for Horses Programme – strengthening and stretching. For a healthy body, it’s important to balance strength and stability with flexibility, range of movement and suppleness.

Having a good understanding of your horse’s needs, posture, strength and weaknesses will help you decide which exercises you need to choose.

5 Focus Areas for Comfort

To ensure that your horse is comfortable and has a healthy musculoskeletal system it’s important to:

1 Be Passionate About Posture!

Good posture and symmetry distributes forces evenly through the body and reduces the risk of injury. As soon as we sit on the horse, posture, balance and movement are affected and strain on joints and soft tissue structures increases. It is up to us to do everything we can to make sure our horses have the best possible posture.

2 Strengthen the Core Muscles 

Strong core muscles are important in protecting the back and body against injury, supporting good posture and improving expression and performance.

3 Support the Lateral Stability Muscles 

Strong balance and lateral stabiliser muscles are important in protecting the limbs against torsional injuries when turning, moving sideways and crossing uneven terrain.

4 Ensure Good Joint Mobility

Taking joints through a full range of movement on a regular basis will stimulate the associated joint surfaces, capsules, ligaments, tendons, fascia and muscles and stimulate the production of synovial fluid. This joint lubrication is vital for maintaining healthy joints.

5 Maintain Suppleness

Good suppleness within the body is not just about the elasticity of muscles to allow for movement. All structures need to be healthy, mobile, well-lubricated and hydrated to allow a full range of movement. Suppleness and stretching exercises help to maintain range of movement and flexibility, and help to keep the horse injury free

Lateral Spinous Rock Exercise

Horses have evolved to run forwards not necessarily move sideways. Often horses are weak in terms of lateral balance. As well as improving suppleness and comfort within the back, this whole horse passive movement can really help to develop lateral balance and lateral spinal flexibility and stimulate the horse’s core muscles.

This exercise is particularly good for horses that have restricted back movement and struggle to bend through their body.

It is also a beneficial exercise for

• Horses on box rest and early stages of rehabilitation (depending on injury).

• Maintaining movement, mobility and comfort in older horses.

• Horses recovering from lameness particularly those undergoing tendon or ligament rehabilitation.

How to Perform the Lateral Spinous Rock Exercise

Horses love the gentle swaying motion of this exercise and find it very relaxing

1. Ensure your horse is standing well and roughly square.

2. Stand facing the girth line.

3. Place both hands on the withers. Take a moment for the horse to get used to your touch, focus on your posture, energy and breathing.

4. Imagine the movement initially, then gently push the withers away from you using the heel of your hands, then pull them back towards you using your fingertips.

5. Slide your hands a couple of centimetres down the spine and repeat the push-pull motion in increments all the way down the back until you reach the pelvis (tuber sacrali).

6. Get into a rhythm as you perform the movement, this will encourage the horse’s body to sway side-to-side. Most horses find this swaying very relaxing.

Start with three push-pull cycles in each position along the spine and remember to repeat the exercise equally from both sides of your horse. You can do this exercise at least once a week to help maintain mobility or whenever you feel it’s required.

The Complete Pilates for Horse Programme

This definitive toolkit will help horse owners to improve and maintain the horse’s posture, core strength, body awareness, control and balance.

“Every horse owner owes it to their horse to maintain and improve musculoskeletal comfort, and performing targeted Pilates exercises is one way that we can do this. I wanted to give all horse owners the opportunity to learn core strengthening and stretching exercises that can easily be done at home. The Complete Pilates for Horses Programme is the result.” Gillian Higgins​​​

 The Complete Pilates for Horses Programme gives you everything you need to confidently start using these hugely powerful and effective exercises that will make a real difference to your horse’s comfort, performance and well-being.

The Complete Pilates for Horses Programme

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The Complete Pilates for Horses Programme includes:-

1. A Comprehensive Guide to Pilates for Horses Book *Only included in the complete programme.

Take your time to study this detailed spiral bound book and understand each of the 74 Pilates exercises. Divided into 10 chapters, each one targets a different area of the body. Each of the non-ridden exercises is described in detail with the aims and objectives, plus clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions. 

2. Video Tutorial Course

Watch Gillian as she demonstrates each of the 74 Pilates exercises in bitesize video tutorials. On average each video tutorial is 4 minutes long. Gain a valuable insight into how these strengthening and stretching exercises affect the horse’s body. Follow Gillian’s advice to ensure you perform the exercises correctly and your horse will gain all the benefits of doing these Pilates exercises.

3. Online Exercise Selector

To ensure you and your horse get the most from this programme, we have put together a useful and easy to use Online Exercise Selector. Simply select which areas you would like to work on and it will recommend which exercises are best for your horse and help you put together a targeted exercise programme. 

4. A Comprehensive Guide to Pilates for Horses EBook

The Comprehensive Guide to Pilates for Horses is available as an interactive E-Book so you can easily access the exercises from your mobile, tablet or computer. Perfect for down at the yard or wherever you go with your horse.

5. 12-Week Pilates Exercise Planner *Only included in the complete programme.

This workbook will guide you through an assessment of your horse, help you choose the right Pilates exercises and keep you inspired and motivated as you incorporate them into your daily routine. Monitor and record the changes in your horse, make notes and much more. We recommend that you purchase 1 planner for each horse.

6. Certificate of Completion

Upon completion of the programme, you will receive a certificate of participation signed by Gillian. Many organisations will recognise this for CPD points. However, please note this programme is designed for horse owners and is not a therapy qualification course.

Find out all about it here: https://www.horsesinsideout.com/pilates-for-horses