28/10/2026
Thought I would reshare from 2024 just a little updated, but still keeping my yoga pony 😄
Are stretches bad or good for your horse
When either doing research for my e books or just finding information to back up what I am writing the one thing I found to be stable is that there is so much conflicting advice and often not based on anything else but opinions that what often I thought would take me maybe an hour or two to fact check would often send me searching for days and getting quite frustrated and how often popular opinion rather than correct opinion makes it way to the top of the pile, so god knows how an owner can digest all the information when my professional head is often left spinning
So, stretching exercises for horses often one camp deems them bad the other deems them essential but let us take away opinion and get some facts about stretching
WHAT MAKES A STRETCH? Again, it is not simply a muscle relaxing or contracting (now if you get my eBooks all the words, I say will make complete sense lol),
Let's start at the beginning in simple terms nerves connect the spinal cord to the muscles, each skeletal muscle fibre is supplied by a motor neuron (remember motor is for movement) but remember a muscle is made up of many fibres and one motor neuron can supply numerous muscle fibres, when a muscle is stretched the sarcomeres lengthen and tension is also placed on the surrounding connective tissue, the collagen fibres respond to mechanical tension and over time appropriate loading can influence how connective tissue adapts, something that may be relevant when your horse is recovering from injury or scar tissue issues but we must remember that healing tissue needs the correct amount of loading at the correct stage of healing, and stretching does not automatically mean we are reorganising scar tissue or making a muscle permanently longer
When muscles contract sat in the tendon is the Golgi tendon organ and like the muscle spindles it is a recording system but this is for the tension element and again sends signals back to the spinal cord, it helps the nervous system monitor and regulate muscle force but it is not simply a case of too much tension making the muscle automatically relax, think of carrying a tray out in front of you then someone suddenly places a weight on the tray your arms may automatically lengthen and drop but this involves several responses from the nervous system rather than just the Golgi tendon organ overriding the muscle spindle, both are continually providing information to help the body regulate movement and force
STRETCH REFLEX, the muscle spindle inside the muscle is the answering machine of the muscle it will record the length and speed of how the muscle has changed and send a message back to the spinal cord, and that in turn can trigger the stretch reflex which is basically a protective response to a sudden change in muscle length so it will try to contract the muscle and resist that change, and this is why the speed and control of stretching is important, slower controlled stretches are less likely to provoke a strong stretch reflex than sudden rapid movements, and when stretches are held we may become more tolerant of that stretching sensation so in turn the range of motion can be increased, but this does not necessarily mean the muscle has physically lengthened or the muscle spindle has stopped responding, and why we need to be very careful not to overstretch and not ignore the bodies warning signs and while we can listen to our own bodies it can be sometimes harder to resist pulling when a horse pulls its leg back rather than waiting
STATIC STRETCHING; This refers to taking a muscle or muscle group into a lengthened position and holding it there for a period of time, for example bringing the limb forward while the horse is stood still, the muscle is taken into a comfortable lengthened position with specific timed holds, the goal is often to improve range of motion and flexibility without over stretching leading to other issues, it was often thought doing these before exercise was beneficial but more up to date research, particularly in humans, shows that while static stretching can increase range of motion, prolonged static stretching immediately before certain activities may temporarily inhibit performance, so simply these are not bad stretches but we need to consider when we use them, how long we hold them and what we are asking the horse to do afterwards, and also what sort of work your horse is in will dictate what sort of rehab you are doing, range of motion and flexibility are some of the benefits of static stretching
DYNAMIC STRETCHING, is basically mimicking the motion of moving that may happen during the work period, baited carrot stretches are often described as dynamic mobilisation exercises so instead of taking a muscle to the end of its lengthening and holding it there you will take it through a range of motion, often criticism comes when the horse is moved past its own comfortable range of motion, we often see a horse flexing round to its hip and just assume that the horse can do that when we ask and the horse then resorts to snatching and ending tweaking areas rather than a slow methodical movement through their own range of motion, you are normally influencing multiple muscle groups with slow repetitive moves and over time the range may increase, but that doesn't mean we should be trying to increase it with every repetition
The most important part of any stretching routine is that it must be specific and not generic to each individual horse, you would not have the same exercises for a young fit horse and then do the same for an elderly or rehabbing horse and to learn to change as the horse changes over a period of time or their fitness level changes
So should they be recommended well for me again I assess each horse and give the appropriate exercises that are needed they do have a place but must always follow a considered regime when thinking about doing them, randomly doing them without understanding why or how the horse is responding may cause more harm than good, but done correctly as part of a holistic approach when rehabbing or schooling the horse can be advantageous
So if we are being sold a course or a rehabilitation programme with a set of pre recorded exercises, is that programme taking into account the individuality of your horses needs, you may be instructed to do a fixed amount of repetition but is your horse ready for that number.
