The importance of non-ridden exercise for your horse

What is your exercise regime with your horse? Do you cross train, ride every day, or only ride at weekends? Do you already do some non-ridden exercise with your horse?

I'm a fan of mixed exercise for horses, and looking at their exercise plans as you would an athlete, considering fitness, strength, flexibility, core strength, co-ordination, symmetry, and looking at what you actually want your horse to do, and working backwards from that point! 

Horses are naturally crooked, and not a great design for being ridden, so we need to work with these 2 significant issues, to train strength and symmetrical use of the body and limbs into our horse on a continual basis, to prevent injury from uneven loading and poor posture, and certainly prior to doing a lot of ridden work. 

We sit on the lowest part of the horses back/spine, and this is a common area for 'Kissing Spine' where the bones in the horses spine come too close together and touch, which is painful for the horse, and ultimately can make them unpredictable/dangerous. So it's important that we strengthen this part of the spine/back in particular. And you can help your horse significantly by doing this from the ground so that your horse isn't carrying any weight. 

I always encourage my clients to add a couple of days non-ridden exercise into their horses weekly exercise routine, whether this is lunging, lung reining or in-hand exercise. It's beneficial for the horses body to be exercised without the weight of the saddle and rider as they can lift their core and back more easily, and you can strengthen the core more effectively without the rider! 

I like to use a mix of lunge work, lunging over poles, some long reining, and in-hand/groundwork, as I am asking Azuro to use his body slightly differently with each type of exercise, and each one benefits the other. 

So then when I do want to ride, his core is strong, he is flexible, lifting saddle and rider rather than dropping his back, and is already used to working over his back and in a good working frame (see pics!). 

I see so many horses with sore backs, whether it's muscular, sore/reactive joints, or treatment/management of Kissing Spine, and alterations to their exercise plan can be super effective in improving back pain and posture through correct strengthening, alongside treatment. 

I have developed my online training courses and the members group after working really hard for years with my own horse Azuro, as well as clients horses, to find the best ways to strengthen and symmetrically train our horses! Ultimately I have found that some non-ridden work each week is a really beneficial way of training! A combination of daily core activation exercises, and regular lunge/pole sessions and a couple of in-hand exercise sessions per week is a rough guide. 

If you would like some training on groundwork and/or core engagement work (including core training aids), the links are below to my online training. These courses are the culmination of my experience of working with all of these exercises over a long period of time, and seeing the results! 

In-Hand Exercises: CLICK HERE for In Hand Exercises Online Course 

Core Exercises: CLICK HERE for Core Exercises Online Course