performance

🌟🌟Unpopular opinion🌟🌟  So . . . What’s my beef 🍖 🐄 with pole work clinics?

I love pole work, I’m a massive fan of it, but as I know I have mentioned to many of my clients before, I am just not a fan of this whole pole clinic craze that every man and his 🐕‍🦺 seems to be running at the moment without, it seems, little knowledge of the biomechanics involved.

Ground poles & raised poles are great as part of a training, conditioning or rehabilitation programme to:

• Train proprioception, coordination, skill, balance and dynamic stability 

• Improve/restore joint range of motion

• Develop core strength & activate or strengthen back muscles

• Strengthen propulsive muscles

• Provide variety within training

Stepping over a pole is a complex motor skill requiring neuromotor control and proprioceptive stimuli. Visual perception of the position and size of the obstacle is relayed to the neuromotor control centre to make decisions which command the peripheral nervous system to make an appropriate muscular response.

However, not every pole work exercise is suitable for every horse’s individual needs and if performed incorrectly can set them back in their training or rehab. There aren’t really any generic one size fits all pole work exercises. If you set any array of poles out and put a horse in front of it they will virtually always find a way to get to the other side. Do we conclude it was an appropriate exercise just because the horse managed to make it to the other side without falling in a heap? NO!

When I watch horses navigate pole exercises I set, I am constantly evaluating and re-evaluating on each pass the strategies they use to get to the other side, as for the pole exercise to be of benefit they must be using functionally correct movement patterns otherwise we may as well not bother.

What am I looking for: 

> Maintaining a soft top line

> Suppleness 

> Engaged core

> Lift in the thoracic sling

> Limb flexion in the correct part of the swing phase

> Straightness

Horses that find the exercise too difficult will use other strategies to navigate the pole set:

> Raising their head and neck, putting the spine into extension, losing good dynamic posture

> Unable to maintain balance so looses straightness

> Rushing

> Flexing the hindlimb further in retraction

> Performing a passage like motion

> Circumducting the hind limb

In both ground work and ridden work (when appropriate), I watch my clients horses over various pole exercises to evaluate what strategies the horse uses. I can then change the difficulty level up or down or change the whole exercise if needed.  Doing pole work badly is worse than not doing it at all because you will be further ingraining a poor movement pattern, you can be doing more harm than good. 

I also like to coach ground work so then I can teach owners what to look for in a quality movement & poor movement so they know when a pole exercise, lateral exercise, rehabilitation exercise, etc. is good/bad for their horse or when their horse is becoming fatigued with the exercise. One horses weakness is another horses strength area, the way one horse passed over the poles is different to the next one so in a clinic type situation (where there are usually about 4 horses but I have seen up to 6 in some!) the exercise, distances, arrangements would need to be altered every 2 minutes for each individuals movement pattern. This just isn’t feasible so most coaches will just leave them all to do the same exercise, for some it might be perfect but for others in the group far from it, which can be of real detriment😔 A pole clinic can seem like a cheaper way to get tuition, to get your horse out and about, to experience work in a group situation and to have social time with your friends, but not if you are doing them all the time and taking some of the exercises home to repeat when you have no idea if they are the right exercises for your individual horse. There is no way all 6 horses in one group have the exact same needs when it comes to any exercise but especially pole work, so at least a few horses within the group are not doing the right exercises their horse needs. If you then take some of these inappropriate exercises home with you and repeat them on a regular basis this further enhances their weaknesses, poor posture, poor movement which ultimately leads to injury.

Unfortunately, I’ve seen some really bad examples of inappropriate pole exercises recently, ultimately to the detriment of the horse. One example was being called a passage pole clinic where the coach was setting the poles on purpose to make the horse struggle so they would have to get this passage like movement. This is fine if you have a horse that is at the correct training level to be doing passage, but not one of the participants (horse or rider) was at this level. If this exercise was repeated too often in a horse that has not been progressively conditioned to this level of work (& I mean over years not weeks), it will cause injury very quickly 😭

If you want any more information or to discuss further, feel free to contact me.

Camps are becoming more and more popular among riders of every discipline, pony clubs and riding clubs.  They are a great way to get a variety of lessons, with a variety of instructors at some great venues, also to have lots of fun with your friends and make lasting memories with your four legged friend.  However, as an instructor and physical therapist I have worked at many camps over the years so have seen the good the bad and the ugly!! As camp season is in full flow I feel it is important for your horses’ welfare for you take on board my top 6 points to ensure your horse is as happy with their experience of camp as you are.

1. Don’t throw you horse into it – make sure they are fit enough to do the level of work that you want them to.  Far too often I have seen people at camp that are just getting their horse back into work and thought that camp would be a good start.  At the majority of camps horses are having 2 lessons per day of approximately 1 hour per lesson for 2 -3 days on the trot, flat work, jumping, cross-country.  This is a level of work that they are not fit enough for, and pushing them to do this can be detrimental to their health and can cause injury, as the muscles and cardiovascular system are not accustomed to the level of work required.  Make sure a correct fitness regime is followed in the lead up to camp and you are getting towards the end of it before subjecting your horses to this level of activity.
2. Don’t do too much & if your horse is showing signs of fatigue stop.  Don’t feel you need to get your money’s worth by carrying on, completing every lesson to the end, jump every jump, do all the farm rides etc. as your horse WILL be fatiguing.  If they start flagging cool the off and let them rest if they are not able to do their next lesson that’s fine.  When horses fatigue they are a lot more likely to have an accident or suffer from an injury, it is not worth the long term welfare of your horse.  Signs of fatigue include:

You may miss out on some of your lessons, or not jump the big jump at the end, but at least your horse won’t suffer a catastrophic injury or be so fatigued they can’t carry on to do a lesson the next day.

3. Take your own hay/haylage – even if the venue provide it for the duration still make sure you take enough of your own to last for the time.  2 reasons, number 1; if your horse doesn’t like the forage that they provide they will have nothing to eat, 2; changing forage can be extremely upsetting for your horses digestive system.  Take your own so you can mix it with what the venue provide to ensure a slow change to not shock the digestive system, the 2-3 days you will be there isn’t long enough to change over completely, so again for the return home take a few nets of their forage with you to again mix with your usual stuff when you get home to ensure a gradual change back to your usual hay or haylage.

4. Use a good digestive balancer – I have seen many horses suffer with digestive issues while at camp such as colic and diarrhoea.  The usual causes are increased stress, travelling, the change in forage, change in routine, lack of turn out, increased work load to name a few so always give your horse a good digestive balancer even just for the short term.  Start a few days before you travel to camp, continue while at camp and carry on for a few days after you return home. 

5. Another issue seen regularly at camp or shortly after returning home is exertional rhabdomyolysis also known as azoturia or Monday morning syndrome.  There are many causes but the ones that usual relate to the camp situation are overfeeding non-structural carbohydrates (grain/pellets) as most realise the horse will be working more so increase their feed, poor conditioning or fitness, sudden increase of workload which we have already discussed, working too hard after a period of rest, especially if the feed ration was not reduced.  Another common reason at camp is electrolyte or mineral imbalances, especially potassium.  Therefore, along with a high quality digestive balancer it is important to feed a decent electrolyte. 

6. Choose camps where its not all about the riding and work, work , work. I’m seeing more and more camps coming up that are not just all about the work and the riding and getting that picture of you going over the biggest jump possible to get a good insta pic which your horse probably isn’t ready for! It should be more about you learning and your horse learning, ground work, behavioural work, horse pilates sessions, rider pilates sessions, as well as some ridden work but again ridden work of a different variety; rider biomechanics, horse biomechanics, and fetching all of this work to your flat work/jump lessons. I love these types of camps, these are the most beneficial short term and long term for your horses health and wellbeing. I would love to see more and more of theses sorts of camps going on than the traditional ones that have developed.

For more information and advice feel free to contact me for a chat

How do I build muscle on my horse?

This is a question that I get asked a lot especially regarding a certain area. For example, lack of back muscle, hind end, gluteal region, top line, neck etc. Where ever your horse might be lacking, there is one simple answer, exercise & correct nutrition.

There is no magical topline gaining feed or supplement that is going to make your horse gain muscle in the specific area it needs to, however saying that he horse cannot build correct muscle without good general nutrition.  The horse needs to get more energy from the food than it is using per day putting them into a positive energy balance and specifically it needs good quality protein.  What denotes protein quality is the essential amino acid lysine but you cannot simply increase the amount or protein or lysine in the diet to increase the amount of muscle, it doesn’t work like that.  They cannot absorb or use more than their recommended daily amount, feeding too much can cause other problems putting the kidneys under pressure to filter it out into urine.  You will find creatine in lots of horse muscle building supplements which although they have been shown to work for human muscle building, have absolutely no effect on horses as they cannot absorb it. Overall for muscle & general health it is recommended to replace energy from starches & sugars with energy from oils, a balanced vitamin & mineral supplement especially vitamin E, lysine and sufficient salt & electrolytes if in heavy work.

When it comes to the exercise, a variety of correct and appropriate exercise gradually increasing in intensity, duration & frequency over an appropriate amount of time (that varies depending on the individual horse their signalment; age, fitness level, ailments, etc.) is the one thing that in conjunction with correct nutrition can build muscle. We do not increase intensity, duration & frequency at the same time we only ever do one at a time and take a great amount of care not to over train as eventually this will have a negative effect on both muscle building and overall fitness. Once they are at a good general level of health and fitness we start to use more targeted exercises to help with the areas of concern in particular.

What increases the intensity for them? Some things such as terrain, speed, duration, environment, type of exercise, surface all have an effect on the intensity so we can control & use that to help our training. However, other things naturally increase the intensity for the horse that we don’t have as much control over but we need to take into account when thinking about building muscle such as their overall health, weight and condition score, their conformation, the riders weight, weather etc.

Muscle training & training horses in general is a very fine line between loading the muscles hard enough to not only increase the number of muscle fibres (hyperplasia) but also to increase the size of the muscle fibres too (hypertrophy), while at the same time avoiding damage to bone, joints, tendons and ligaments. This why it is important to have regular assessments with someone like me that is a strength and conditioning coach, rider coach and equine physical therapist to ensure that the training programs’ intensity is correct for this horse at the present time.  If there is failure to gain muscle despite targeted training we must consider that this could be due to musculoskeletal disorders or pain, again why regular reassessments with your equine physical therapist are required to monitor this. Just because your horse is not “lame” this does not mean that there cannot be an underlying musculoskeletal condition such as back, neck or SIJ pathology, pain from issues like saddle fit, bridle fit, bitting problems or pain from other disorders within the body such as gastric ulcers. For more information or to discuss your horses training plan, please feel free to contact me.

No matter what discipline, if any, a horses’ training programme needs to be fully balanced and progressive to include all aspects of fitness (cardiovascular, speed, stamina, endurance, strength, suppleness, flexibility, coordination, agility, balance), plus working through the scales of training; rhythm, suppleness, contact, impulsion, straightness, collection, and improvement of skill level. A training programme needs to progressively overload the systems of the body for optimal and functional adaptation. Training and conditioning for all disciplines is a very fine balance between optimal adaptation and an overuse injury. Trying to work on all of these factors within one discipline can only be done through repetitive movements which is the major cause of overuse injuries such as ligament issues, mainly suspensory, tendon issues, muscle strain, wear and tear on the joints.

What is cross training?

Cross training involves adding different types of exercise, movement, disciplines or modalities into a training routine to achieve an overall more rounded fitness level and set of skills that the body can then call on when needed. If a horse is constantly trained dressage on a perfectly harrowed surface, one day for some reason there is a rut on the surface or a slightly hard patch due to frost or drought, causes the horse to roll on its step that it is not used to doing which takes the limb rotation into a different plane it is not used to, this can cause a strain on the DDFT or other soft tissues for example. If this horse was regularly ridden on varied or uneven terrain, grass, roads, hardcore, its tissues of the limbs in particular would be better conditioned to the variety in movement and would have no issue in coping with this minor anomaly in the surface.

Why cross train?

In human research athletes who specialise in a single sport had an 85% higher chance of injury than those who that do multiple activities (McGuine et al. 2017), this is expected to be higher in horses.

For a horse specialised in an individual discipline (ie exclusively a show jumper, exclusively a dressage horse), the repeated loading and strain from the one particular movement in one plane, doing the same thing day in day out will have the same effect. But also repeated riding in a poor movement pattern or with compensatory mechanisms in play being repetitively overloaded will also cause training overload associated injury, e.g. lack of flexibility, suppleness, fitness, subtle lameness/ unsoundness or asymmetry, pain, unbalanced rider as a one off may not cause much of a problem to the horse but if this is a repeated pattern will lead to injury. Hence, this is also another major reason for:

a.) Having your horse regularly checked and treated by an advanced qualified and experienced equine physical therapist to pick up on these minor anomalies in symmetry, posture etc. and correct these before they are repetitively loaded, affect performance, and cause lameness.

b.) having a coach that is dedicated to your horses’ correct way of going, global body mechanics and correct rider biomechanics rather than getting you to jump that big jump, perform movements that neither rider or the horse are ready for.

Cross training also allows for muscle recovery time, allowing the horses body time to repair and replace any damaged tissues.  DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) caused by build up of lactic acid that the body needs to remove and repair of muscle and free radical damage takes around 48 – 96 hours, replacement of muscle glycogen takes around 48 – 72 hours. Other types of exercise can be done within this time just not the same type of repetitive loading and alternative exercise and movement can actually help with these times.

Therefore, we cross train so we can continue to work them just in a different way, to work on different aspects of the scales of training or fitness to prevent excessive overload, to give them a better rounded education and to protect them against injury:

For horses cross training is adding a variety of exercises and training:

• Non-training related exercise – e.g. turn out, which has proven to be protective against lameness
• Varying surfaces – helps with tissue adaptation and also educates the horse in matters of proprioception and coordination which, again, helps to protect against lameness
• Stable exercises – good as a baseline before introducing other types of exercise and training, without the weight of the rider or challenge of movement. They increase flexibility, improve strength and endurance of the muscles and most importantly they switch on correct neuromuscular pathways. These include exercises such as active baited stretches, isometric contractions; ask your equine physical therapist for more and appropriate prescriptive specific exercises that are appropriate at the present time for your individual horse
• Proprioceptive training – poles, bending, inclines, declines, circles, surfaces, again ask your physical therapist about specific proprioceptive training for your horse and their individual stage of development
• Ground work and other work off the horses back – including lunging (video on correct use of lunging coming soon, keep a eye on social media for more info), long reining, straightness training, classical training
• Cross discipline – a dressage horse going on a farm ride, hacking, a happy hacker having a little jump, a show jumper learning piaffe, half pass etc. puts the body into a different range of motion that can be extremely beneficial to aspects of fitness and help the body to avoid injury. The engagement to work on these movements can also help to increase overall suppleness and flexibility and it can always help to be able to make a jump off turn by a stride of leg yield that the horse is used to doing instead of having to perform a sharp turn which can be very damaging to limbs so it can help avoid injury in this way too.
• Psychological benefits of cross training is also surmountable – it helps to prevent sourness and staleness of a particular discipline.

Overall, to prevent injury, for your horses health, fitness, sanity, and increasing their performance in your chosen discipline, cross training is essential for long term benefits.

Rider biomechanics is such a massive subject area and one that I am very passionate about, but I don’t want to get in too deep in a simple blog but it is important to me not only as a coach, trainer and rider, but also as an equine physical therapist, it is such an essential aspect of riding that for some reason is so often over looked by coaches. Everyone knows that poor riding can have a negative effect on the horse, their health and way of going. No one likes to think of themselves as a “poor rider” but to me this includes poor rider biomechanics too, as this can massively have a negative influence on the horse. Its not just about having a pretty position it is so much more than that.

So many riders have been taught incorrectly or using out of date research over many years and this has become their body’s default riding position. There is now so much more data that shows how we need to sit, our weight aids, posture, harmony, neutrality, and now it is not been corrected by many coaches and because you can now “ride” you go to coaches that are going to get you jumping higher, wider, bolder, braver, doing higher level dressage moves etc., rather than concentrating on these foundations and the basics of your own biomechanics which if they are not correct, your centre of balance is in the wrong place, your weight aids are incorrect, the horse can’t carry you properly in balance, or you cause him to brace through his back, blocking him, which affects his dynamic posture, he doesn’t move right which over time leads to a long term compensatory lameness issues, but not because of his own compensations (he has those to deal with as well any way!), but because of compensating for you. So in a nutshell; YOU CAN MAKE YOUR HORSE LAME! I see it so often, more often than I would like. Even in some riders at quite a high level, they don’t understand why their horse is blocked through the back when they ride, struggles with certain movements and I can feel it when I come to treat them. Then when I strip everything back and watch them ride, look at their biomechanics on the horse it all becomes obvious. Sometimes all it takes is a few tweaks to their dynamics here and there and it can make a massive difference to the horses comfort and way of going.

A lot of the time when I first start coaching people I take lots of photographs and video’s and use an app called the coaches eye so I can slow everything down, draw on it and show riders exactly where the issues lie, and we can compare the beginning of the session to the end, or in a few sessions time to see the differences that such small alterations make to the horses performance. So often when riders look at videos people take of them they are looking at the horse; is his head in the right position, how much is he clearing the fence by, etc. not at themselves, or they can pick out their flaws but are not sure how to correct them, and some are completely oblivious that their posture is causing the horse to shorten his stride, tighten on the left side etc.

Studies have shown correct seat and position are the basis for a good performance. One study in particular aimed to measure deviations from the correct seat, test a seat improvement program (dismounted exercises), and investigate whether horse behaviour was affected by the rider’s seat and found that in particular improvement of backward tilted pelvis, which I see very often, showed a reduction in horse behaviour classed as “evasive,” and the horses’ heart rate decreased (elevated heart rates are associated with stress and pain). Heart rates of riders decreased therefore it was a either a lot less effort for them to ride in a biomechanically more efficient posture or it was less stressful for them too when the horse is less evasive. 78% of riders felt the exercises improved their riding performance.

It also applies if you have any physical medical issues, tightness, old injuries in your body that affect what you can do, your posture, movement etc. This is when you need to go see a good human body worker yourself, get yourself sorted, as again you will be affecting your horse. Most people put their horse first but there is no point in getting the horse treated if their problem is being caused by you. I work in conjunction with some really fantastic human bodyworkers so that together, both specialists in our own field can get you and your horse to be happier, healthier, sounder, in better harmony and balance so that you can achieve your goals.