Previously we’ve covered how the equine back
works in Part 1, which focussed on the musculo-skeletal structure, Part 2 went into
unmounted exercises to increase balance, strength, range of motion and
stability. Now to complete the equine back biomechanics series we’re going to look a little at ridden exercises and how to
strengthen the back with your schooling.
There are plenty of popular ways to build your horse’s back,
topline and core muscles whilst riding – keep him engaged, ride up hills,
shoulder in, work on transitions, do cavaletti. When it comes to why, how or
what they actually do though things often get a little more patchy. In this
part I want to cover what exactly these exercises do, which ones work, what
muscles they target, how to get the most out of them, and how to design the
exercises that suit you and your horse.
As discussed in Part 1 carrying a rider is a massive challenge
to the equine spine, and muscle activation is required to lift the horse’s back
into a position where it can support a rider comfortably. If the horse attempts
to carry the rider with the spinal column rather than the muscles, this will
hollow the back and cause pain, and potentially spinal impingement and damage. In
Part 2 we discussed trying to activate core muscles and to rotate and flex the
spine to increase range of motion (flexibility), reduce spinal impingement and
to build muscle strength, making it easier for the horse to round and carry a
rider correctly. Then we looked at combining these exercises with challenges to
the horse’s balance to make them more effective. In the ridden horse we have
the chance to again rotate and bend the spine, through less of its range of motion,
but this time with the added challenge to balance and strength of supporting
the weight of a rider.
As with the groundwork exercises the model for our ridden exercises is Meikle Rustler, a Welsh Section D who belongs to Alison Brown and is ridden by her mother Gillian Brown. Rustler and Gillian currently compete at medium level dressage.
Walk
Many people who have used a horse walker have been surprised by
the amount of topline a horse can gain just in walk. In walk the horse’s spine
is very mobile. It must bend in all three axes – flexing as it rounds and
hollows, bending laterally to the side and axially, twisting along its length,
and for all three types of bending its range of motion is dramatically higher
at the walk than in the other gaits. This means that in walk the horse has an
opportunity to address and increase his range of motion and flexibility, target
and release the muscles that move the spine and by stretching the spine and
hence opening up the spinous processes you can prevent and minimise spinal
impingement.
Walking actively, particularly up and down slopes tones the
abdominal musculature and prepares the horse for increased engagement and more
challenging work. Walk is also the ideal pace for exaggerated stretches, such
as asking the horse to walk a five metre circle around a cone or imagined spot,
with his nose very low on a long rein and an exaggerated bend, flexing to the
inside and out, to target spinal flexion and mobility, helping to increase
range of motion and loosen any tight spots.
Walking the circle. The
spine twists along its length to allow the near hip to raised and the near
shoulder lowered, bends in flexion, and laterally to the inside.
Trot
In trot the horse’s spine is mobilised with less range of
motion than in walk. The spinal muscles are activated and the ventral core
muscles such as the abdominals are recruited to control the movement. This
makes trotting with a rider on board an excellent work out for equine back
health. If the horse carries a rider correctly in trot, the muscles and spine
should continue to gain in strength and flexibility.
The addition of trotting poles or cavaletti increases the range
of movement at the trot, so increases the intensity of the work out, balance
challenge and stretching.
Rotating the shoulder in
trot, whilst bending on a circle.
Cavaletti
Cavaletti is often used just as another word for trotting poles
or pole work. Whilst it’s important for showjumpers, it’s also important for
dressage horses, or any horse that’s planning to use its back to support a
rider. Traditionally cavaletti were fixed poles suspended between cross-shaped
wings, which could be rotated for variable height poles, but these days people
mostly mean “getting the horse to step over things on the ground, in walk, trot
or canter.” What it doesn’t mean is jumping, just literally stepping over poles,
sometiems raised, usually in sets. Cavaletti/poles are great, they develop the
paces, the rhythm, the balance, the cadence, whether you follow showjumpers
like Scott Brash or dressage riders like Charlotte Dujardin and Carl Hester
you’ll hear an exhortation to do cavaletti. However pole work doesn’t just give
you a big rhythmic trot because the horse gets in the habit of picking his feet
up, it actually improves muscle tone, balance and flexibility.
Trotting poles or cavaletti in trot increase flexion in all the
horse’s leg joints and increase the amount of movement through the horse’s
back. This builds strength in the muscles and flexibility in all the joints, as
well as aiding muscular control and coordination. Unlike using weighted boots, tactile
stimulators or pastern weights, trotting poles also increase the amount of
flexion at the hip, activating the horse’s hip flexors. Similarly horses do not
have an ability to habituate to the poles, as no matter how many times they do
them, they still need to clear the poles, whereas horses can learn to ignore
pastern weights and other worn stimulators.
The height of the limb flexions shown and the amount of spinal
bending is proportional to the height of the trotting poles, and so these can
be increased as the horse becomes more advanced and more confident in his
visual coordination and synchronisation.
A single pole or single poles scattered all over the school are
constructive, but you can also get a more sustained work out by asking your
horse to walk and then trot over sets of four or more poles. For a walk
distance you need to move the poles in to be about 0.9 metres (a yard) apart,
in trot they should be 1.2 metres (4 foot) apart. After that there is no real
wrong solution with trot poles, you can use your imagination to create
interesting patterns. You might start by placing four poles out evenly and
change the rein after trotting over them to approach from different directions,
and build up to riding a figure of eight with trot poles along the diagonals,
and then even a serpentine with trot poles along each short side. You can miss
out a middle pole, leaving a gap of 2.4m so the horse trots a couple of steps
between poles, or ask him to follow the line of a curved set of poles. As long
as the horse is trotting actively forward he will continue to improve his back
strength and health whilst finding the work interesting and gaining confidence.
Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro,
using cavaletti in the warm up at the 2015 European Championships (photo Barbara
Schnell)
Shoulder in, shoulder
fore and lateral work
In shoulder in the horse is asked to bend to the inside whilst
continuing to travel forwards with impulsion, leaving the horse travelling
“on three tracks” when viewed from behind. Shoulder fore is a similar
exercise but with around half the amount of bend to the inside, making it a
useful building block both in terms of muscle development and the horse’s
education, confidence and understanding. These exercises are normally initially
performed along a wall or rail, by maintaining the bend as you come out of a
turn. The lumbo-abdominal flexion involved in shoulder in and shoulder-fore
shorten and challenge the abdominal muscles, particularly the internal oblique
and hence this is another exercise which is very effective in strengthening and
rehabilitating the back. The horse builds his muscles as he uses them to stay
in balance, and so it is better to achieve a small amount of bend in a balanced
way than to push the horse beyond what he can achieve correctly.
Once shoulder in is established further lateral work like
haunches in, leg yielding and half passes can continue to challenge these
muscles. As lateral work targets one side at a time (and should therefore always
be done in both directions) it is particularly effective in muscle development.
Lateral work targets lumbosacral mobility and hindlimb engagement (iliopsoas),
the ability to lift the forehand (pectoral muscles), and the difficult to
activate spinal control (multifidus muscles), and so it is often seen as a form
of rehabilitation for the back, in both a preventative and curative sense. It
does however put a lot of strain on the collateral ligaments around the pastern
and hoof, so should not be overdone.
Hill work
Hill work increases the challenge by making the horse work
against gravity. Hills can be incorporated not just into aerobic fitness, but
into schooling and muscle building exercises. For example you can ride a slow 15m-20m
circles in trot on the side of a hill, asking the horse to lower his nose and push
up the hill using his extensors of the hip and back (gluteal and paravertebral)
and then control his balance against the slope when going back downhill using
eccentric muscle contractions of the abdominal and hip flexors. For an advanced
horse you might even put a pole or very small jump on the hill, and incorporate
it into the slow 20m trot circle, and trotting poles on the lowest part of the
circle to increase flexion and rhythm.
Whilst this type of hill work comes highly recommended as a
rehabilitation exercise for the equine back and core, and can greatly improve
muscle strength and coordination, you shouldn’t underestimate how challenging
it is for the horse and initially it should not be continued for more than
fifteen minutes. I find this a nice exercise, without the poles, to incorporate
into my hacks, just throwing in a quick trot circle or two on a slope, trying
to keep the topline extended, before I charge off up the hill.
Canter
Canter involves the flexion and extension of the back (in the
hollowing and rounding direction), but not the lateral bending or axial
twisting seen in trot or walk. Work at
canter therefore does not have the same level of benefit of stimulating the
deep multifidus muscles or increasing the flexibility of the spine or strength
of the spine stabilisers as some of the walk and trot exercises. This doesn’t
mean that you don’t need the same spinal strength to canter, just that canter
alone is not the most effective way to build total back health. Canter does have
a large amount of active lumbo-sacral flexion and so is useful in building
strength in the abdominal and sublumbar muscles, which in turn support the back.
In canter the abdominal muscles contract concentrically,
shortening the rib cage and rounding the back. Depending on the leading leg
either one oblique abdominal muscle or the other is the main support. As well
as maintaining the flexion in the spine the abdominal wall muscles (rectus and
oblique) cause the pelvis to tilt downwards, tucking the hind end under. The
sublumber muscles (iliopsoas) flex the hip joint lending impulsion and further
flexing the pelvis and back. Finally the thoracic sling works to lift the
forehand. This means that whilst it doesn’t involve the same range of motion as
trot and walk, a correct canter with the additional weight of the rider,
requires a lot of strength and effort from the horse.
In counter canter the abdominal and sublumbar (rectus and iliopsoas)
muscles maintain the position and flexion of the hip, whilst the abdominal
(oblique) muscles shorten the trunk, and so this requires a lot of strength and
coordination from the abdominal girdle. Counter canter is a great exercise for continuing
to build strength once the horse is sufficiently advanced, but if attempted too
early it can cause tensions and rigidity which is counter-productive.
Jumping is a very different movement from that of trotting over
cavaletti, involving a flight phase, so whilst canter poles can be an important
part of the horse’s education and muscle development, they are very different
as muscle training exercises from trot poles. Canter poles are more similar to
small bounce fences causing flexion of the spine and putting great demands on
the muscles without requiring too much impact. Bounce jumps or canter poles
selectively increase the strength of the thoracic sling and upper neck muscles
through the abrupt loading and lifting of the forehand between the jumps. During
the flight phase, spinal flexion comes primarily from the thoracic spine and
lumbosacral joint, due to contraction of the abdominal and iliopsoas muscles,
and induces stretching of the supraspinous ligament and erector spinae muscle which
run along the top of the spine. This makes this an effective exercise in
opening up the spine in this direction, but also means that the horse must be
very well warmed up before bounces are attempted to avoid muscle or ligament
strains. The hip flexors and abdominal muscles also work to provide propulsion for
the poles or jumps, but these are most challenged by the increased engagement
at landing in the bounce, required so the horse can begin to lift his front end
before the hind end has landed, rather than the effort of take off itself.
In general if a horse is carrying a rider, his back is already
working, and great progress can be made merely from hacking out in an active
walk, and occasionally asking your horse to stretch down, and to flex left or
right, to open up his spine. By including a variety of the exercises mentioned
here, you should have a happy, healthy horse that continues to increase his
ability to carry a rider, becomes more powerful and balanced, and either
recovers from or prevents any back injury or soreness.
Photography: Abby Cook Photography, copyrighted to Sian
Townson.