Developing proprioception
Proprioception is often an underrated aspect of movement patterns, but it is absolutely vital for even the most basic undertakings. Proprioception refers to the body’s ability to perceive its position in space. For instance, it allows us to walk on the ground without using our eyes to watch every footfall.
It is easy to see why proprioception is key for horses. First and foremost, a lot of what we ask our horses to do in terms of exercise is ‘unnatural’ for their bodies and requires different movements than they would inherently practice on their own. A horse needs a clear awareness of their body in space to avoid tripping, falling and standing on themselves. Whilst most horses will ultimately adapt to the demands placed on them, anyone who has sat on a clumsy young horse for the first time will know just how much proprioception develops in horses over the course of training.
To accelerate a horse’s progress and give them more confidence in meeting our demands, these simple exercises can help our horses, particularly youngsters, develop a good sense of the positioning of the limbs in space. This will ultimately pay off in the long run, and you will have a far more balanced and coordinated partner.
Basic exercises for proprioception
Simple exercises are often the most effective because riders are likely to practice them more consistently. And, let’s face it when it comes to improving movement and coordination, consistency matters above everything else.
The following pole exercises offer an easy way to improve proprioception in your horse without the logistics and effort involved in setting up more complex exercises. The fact that they are so simple to set up also means that you can do them even on days when you are short on time. Riders are often surprised how a little rearranging of the horse’s posture, as is required with these exercises, can create notable improvements. These adjustments include activating and lifting the base of the neck, increased rotation and bending in the trunk and back, and stimulation of the nervous system, particularly in the feet and forelegs.
These exercises alone will not make a horse fit, but when practised for 5 or 10 minutes before your ride, they help activate the nerve pathways and deep postural muscles that will improve your overall session.
These exercises can be performed from the ground or in the saddle, although it can be a good idea to do them from the ground so that you become well acquainted with observing your horse’s posture and general bodily alignment.
Top tip
As these exercises are so easy to set up, and do not require much space there is no reason that they can’t be set up outside of the arena. This is particularly useful for horses that do a lot of work in the arena and can become a little sour.
Exercise 1: The forelegs
- Stand your horse perpendicular to a single-pole lying flat on the ground.
- Ask him to step one front foot and then another over the pole.
- Once both front feet are over, ask him to stand still for 1-2 seconds.
- Now ask him to step his feet back across the pole.
- And then immediately walk his front feet forward over the pole again.
- Continue repeating this forward-backwards movement for between 6-8 repetitions.
Points to note
- Most horses will initially step on the pole or be clumsy with their feet. This is not naughtiness or evasiveness but instead a genuine reflection of the difficulty of this simple exercise. Continue practising, and generally, within a few repetitions, you will find that the fancy footwork improves!
- Once you have this mastered, you can up the level of difficulty by asking all four legs to step over the pole individually and then asking the horse to back up over the pole. Again, this sounds easy but really is not!
Exercise 2: The oblique
- Walk your horse across the pole at a diagonal angle; imagine his body making a 45-degree angle with the pole.
- Continue walking back and forth across the pole, each time making a 45-degree angle.
- Alternatively, you can turn the pattern into a figure-8 by circling around the end of the pole after each crossing.
- Repeat ten times in each direction.
This exercise is excellent for stimulating the deep scapular (shoulder) muscles as it asks the horse to move his foreleg away from his midline, which helps mitigate the effects of repetitive front-to-back movement. If you have cavaletti blocks available, you can make the exercise even more difficult by raising the ends of the pole.
Exercise 3: The parking bay
- Walk your horse energetically toward the pole, aligning him parallel to it.
- When the horse’s body is alongside the pole, halt promptly.
- Stand immobile for approximately 3 seconds.
- Then back-up for six steps, remaining as close to the pole as possible without hitting it.
- Immediately walk forward and halt again.
- Walk forward away from the pole and prepare to re-approach it, and repeat the sequence above.
- Once you have repeated this a few times, you can modify it to include trotting on your approach to the pole. You can also vary which side of the pole you choose to halt in order to keep your horse’s attention.
In this exercise, the pole serves as an alignment tool. The horse is aware both visually and physically of the pole’s position, and he, therefore, makes minor adjustments to account for his positioning beside it. In this way, his sensory nerves are stimulated.
Remember
The sensory nerves communicate with the motor nerves, so the more we trigger the sensory nerve communication, the more refined a horse’s movement can become.
Exercise 4: Transitions
- Place a single pole on the ground or raise it on both ends.
- Walk or trot towards the pole. Two steps before you cross the pole, transition to a different gait/speed to cross the pole. For instance, if you are approaching in a trot, quickly transition down to a walk, step over the pole, and then immediately resume trotting.
- Repeat this sequence but keep it interesting by varying whether you go up or down a gait/speed. The goal is to keep your horse alert and responsive to your aids or guidance from the ground.
This exercise is great for making lots of small adjustments to your horse’s balance and energy.
Points to note
Going up and down gaits is great and is definitely the right place to start to introduce your horse to the exercise, but if you really want to refine your communication skills with your horse, then varying activity over the pole can be a great exercise to try. Think of activity within a gait on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being the least active trot your horse can do and 10 being the most active trot. You can then, for instance, come into the pole at a 7-8 trot and drop right down to a 2-3 to cross the pole before returning to the 7-8. You can then swap this around and enter at a 2-3 trot, increase to a 7-8 trot for crossing the pole, and reduce to a 2-3 trot afterwards. If you can get your horse to be this responsive to changes of speed, you are really onto a winner!