Postural improvement work with horses is one of my specific areas of focus, especially as I have a lot of experience with horses going through 'kissing spine', which is often a postural issue. 

I like to share my knowledge around posture, and how to assess your own horse, so that you can keep an eye on your horses posture and notice when things maybe need improving. Making changes before your horse starts struggling is always the best option...or even better, is to have your horse in...

Equine Posture & Movement Improvement is one of the specific areas that I work in with horses, which I do through exercise rehabilitation, particularly core and body strengthening and symmetry training in hand - I love the transformations that I see in horses and horse/rider partnerships, when the horses postural and crookedness patterns are addressed at source! 

So here are some of my Tips, ahead of next weeks Free Training Week (details below!). 

First step back and assess...

This week I am talking about some of the common movement 'issues' in the horse...they are present in all horses to one degree or another, they are issues within exercise and might actually feel like something different to what's actually happening in the horses body. 

It's good to be clear about what the main movement issues are, so that we can assess our horse and understand where we need to improve their movement or strength, to improve what we are feeling or seeing. And this...

As an Equine Physiotherapist & Rehabilitation Specialist, one of the main parts of my work to is look at improving the horses movement, and when I make amendments to horses' exercise/rehab plans to develop more full body strength, the difference in their movement and ability is quite transformational!! 

A horse can be doing 'ok' and able to do most of what is required BUT when you add some specific strength work to the horses routine, to genuinely strengthen the core and condition...

The further I have gone into depth with developing my core strengthening system for horses, the more I have weaved it into absolutely everything that I do and teach, so that whatever activity I'm doing with my horse Azuro for example, I'm always working on ways to engage and strengthen his core. 

If I have it weaved into all types of exercise, it's not just a case of 'doing a core day', because I'm working on it all of the time. 

Azuro had kissing spine surgery 5 years ago (see last...

What is good vs poor posture?

Firstly we need to know what good or poor posture actually looks like.
This is definitely something to ‘get your eye in’ with, the difference between good posture and poor posture, of the horse in front of you.
And once you start to see it and recognise it, you will see it everywhere.

Poor posture can lead really quickly and easily to back pain and 'kissing spine', so it's important that we can identify it with our horses, so that we can then work on...

The multifidus muscles in the horses spine are small muscles, but of HUGE importance to the horses back health. 

I talk about them a lot in my groups, and when I'm talking to clients about Kissing Spine prevention...I love that my clients ask me about this, as it means that all of the blogs and posts and talks that I put out are reaching horse owners that want to do the very best for their horses! 

So I wanted to explain about the multifidus muscles, what they are, why they are...

I talk a lot about horses posture, because it's important to understand, be able to assess, and be able to make positive change towards. And our horses posture can actually tell us quite a lot about what might be going on in their body. So assessing your horses posture regularly is a useful skillset to develop, whether you work with horses or you are a 1 horse owner. 

I like to compare human posture and horse posture to make it more easy to understand! 

In humans, poor posture is a...

'Poor posture' in the horse is a term that is used quite frequently these days, which is a good thing in my opinion! The more we talk about it, the more horse owners can learn about it, what it means for the horse, how to spot it, and most importantly what to do about it for the horse. 

The horses posture is a part of my work that I'm constantly looking at, assessing, adjusting work plans, rehab plans etc, to get the best results for the horse in terms of postural improvement, comfort...

Why we seek ‘long and low’ posture! 

Good correct posture in movement, is the horse using all of his body including his back and core, and the ‘long and low’ posture enables the horse to use his body fully. 

Movement in the horse is a cycle of energy from the hindlimb, up over the pelvis, over the back and neck, and this cycle pushes the horse forward from the hindquarters. 

By developing the long and low posture where the horse lengthens and elongates...