Building Soundness: Reducing Injury Risk Through Conditioning

Building Soundness: Reducing Injury Risk Through Conditioning

It happens every day, your horse has been out of work for a period if time, you bring them back into work and all seems well when BAM!, they are not quite right, completely lame, or suddenly begin to exhibit severe behavioral changes. You are left frustrated and scratching your head as to what happened. Below are some principals you can follow to reduce the risk of setbacks and injury. Disclaimer: Accidents do happen and horses are unpredictable, it is impossible to remove all risk of injury or prevent it 100% of the time.

The basic principals I follow when developing a horse are:

  1. Take it to the Horse
  2. Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast
  3. Build at the Horses Pace
  4. Quality over Quantity 
  5. Be Fair
  6. Happy = Healthy
  7. Alternative Therapies 

1. “Take it to the Horse” as Celeste Lazaris,  Creator of Balance Through Movement Method would say. I understand this to mean, let the horse be your guide. Watch for the subtle cues and signs they give during your time with them. One of the best ways to get to know your horse is to sit and watch them in turnout, get very familiar with their body language and facial expressions. Watch their movement, note how it changes when they are tense or relaxed. Knowing your horses quirks and ways of communicating will help you work with them more effectively.

2. Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast. If you take time up front to teach the foundations of: emotional regulation, functional posture and movement, communication, and problem solving,  you will spend less time later on having to go back and re-train.  These skills best work when they are broken down in to small steps that your horse can digest a little at a time. You can put them all together as they become more competent in each one. In doing this, your horse will be calm and confident in your presence making their focus on the work you are doing much easier. It will also develop their muscle memory, proprioception, and learning ability allowing them to gain and retain new skills with increased speed and ease.

3. Go at the Horses Pace. This is cyclical with “take it to the horse” and was drilled into me as a young equestrian. Horses do not understand or have any need for human timelines and just like us, there are several factors that determine the speed and efficiency in which they develop fitness and skills. Genetics, past experiences, current lifestyle, diet, old injuries, how they fit into the discipline chosen for them and more all factor into this equation. Sometimes we discover things that were previously masked due to their instincts as a prey animals and have to take a step or more back and rethink our approach. That is ok and completely normal when working with any living being. 

4. Quality over Quantity. The quality of your work should be most important. If you work on something and 90% of it is sloppy, rushed, and of poor quality, but you get 10% that is fantastic you might feel you needed to go through that 90% to achieve the 10% of fantastic. This is not the case. What you have actually done is strengthen a dysfunction and made achieving the quality goal more difficult. If you take the time up front to train the “boring stuff” ( in hand work beginning with standing in correct posture that engages and develops the muscles required for riding, progressing to walk only when the horse has mastered standing and so on), once you are able to begin the more difficult work you will get a larger percentage of quality work and strengthen that. 

5. Be Fair. The horse is not a machine or sports equipment. They have a body with systems similar to ours. They feel fear, joy, stress, helplessness, and pain. Muscles get sore and stiff, they get sick and  can even get headaches. This is why many times when they have had time off that first ride back is amazing, then the next day it isn’t so good. Their muscles hurt, they just exerted themselves more than normal and their body needs to adjust. If you were to sit on your couch for weeks or months without performing any truly physically demanding tasks and then suddenly get up and go lift weights, run, do yard work, etc… you would feel sluggish and sore the next day as well. Know when to stop before you or they hit threshold this can be a break, redirect, or end to that days session. When your horse communicates that something is too difficult (even if they did it well last time) it is ok to stop and work on something else. In the long run you will get a more willing partner.

6. Healthy = Happy. A healthy horse is a happy horse and will be more able to do the work you ask of them. I always recommend working with your equine care professionals to get your horse in good health before beginning any work regimen. The list of professionals includes but is not limited to: Veterinarians, nutritionists, farriers, dentists, bodyworkers, bit and saddle fitters, and more... The professionals you need to consult with will be unique to each horse and situation, however, if these basic needs are not being ment you are likely to run into issues. 

7. Alternative Therapies. I know the fancy gadgets are all the rage right now and things like PEMF, red light therapy, cryotherapy and so on are all helpful and complimentary treatments however, nothing can replace hands on work from an experienced bodyworker. A good bodyworker will be certified in at least one area of expertise and carrie liability insurance. they will also be able to recommend other complimentary therapies to aid in your horses comfort or healing. If you are wondering how to tell if your horse would benefit from bodywork, the answer is (barring a few contraindications) if they are breathing, they will benefit. I don't believe there is a horse living that hasn't had some sort of trauma. 1 in 4 horses sustain broken ribs just from the process of being born. Working with a bodyworker to remove tension and restore proper function to the body will reduce the risk of injury. 

8. In Conclusion. I know most of you were expecting specific exercises that you could do with your horses to help keep them sound. The reality is that each case is different and sharing these blindly could do more harm than good. If you stick to these basic principals: take it to the horse, slow is smooth & smooth is fast, build at the horses pace, quality over quantity, be fair, happy = healthy, and utilize alternative therapies your horse is likely to stay sound and you will have reduced their risk of injury. In addition, you will grow in your horsemanship and be a better steward to your horse. 

If you've stuck with me to this point, Thank you!

Sarah A Koch - Owner/Founder Form Through Function Equine Development

 For more information about BalanceThrough Movement Method (I highly recommend their Master Class) visit:

btmmacademy.com/spaces/11109662/page

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