Monday, March 28, 2016

Let me see you stretch


So, part of Bacon and I's new routine includes stretches. Not for me so much, but for her. Every day (if I remember) I try to do stretches with her in hopes to treat her more like an athlete. I read a article recently that examined the effects of stretching and the effects of creating a round topline. They only did stretches (no other riding) and each of the horses showed improvement after a few of months. I like improvement. Give me some of that.

The stretches I have been doing are all of the stretches on the Evention video. Bacon has started to become accustomed to these now, though she still gives me confusing looks after making her reach to her hip for a carrot.

But I have also read info that is somewhat conflicting as far as stretching goes too. Another study showed that horses that were stretched 6 days a week had detrimental effects (lowered range of motion). These were focused on stretching of the limbs. Three days a week seemed best and increased range of motion in the joints (stifle, shoulder and hock were most significant), but did not increase stride length. So, hmmm.

In the first article, they were working on rounding and lateral stretches to strengthen the abdominal muscles in the horse. These were chin to chest, chin between knees, and chin between fetlocks, and chin to girth, chin to hip, chin to hind fetlock. These were done 5 times a day(!!) 5 days a week for 3 months. That's a lot of stretching.

So, my question is, do you stretch your horse? Have you seen any benefit from stretching? How often and what exercises do you do? Bacon's favorite stretch seems to be the last one in the evention video. I am hoping that I provide the correct stretches for her, and that they further improve her performance and comfort.


13 comments:

  1. the only stretching I do is under saddle - really long and low. I do some mobility stuff but not geared towards stretching like you're cooling down after a run, it's more for tension release.

    so on the whole, pretty unhelpful comment.

    my horse now is so flexible he can (and does) fold himself in half.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I just had body work done on Riley and we were given homework of stretches before and after our rides. We do side to side stretches like you're doing with Bacon and I can hear bones in his neck popping! We also do a stretch (I'll try to get a video for you) where I put pressure on muscles on either side of his butt and the reaction once I hit a pressure point is him lifting his entire hip/back (the vet said it's like horse-pilates)!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Our Chiro recommends stretches and I have had some trainers suggest them. We do the usual carrot stretches. My husband does them almost every day that he goes to the barn. I'm a lot more inconsistent, but I should do them more.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Every time we do our stretches, Bobby crackles all along his neck. Gross but okay. The most improvement I've seen is now that he's getting the hang of stretching under saddle, his topline is blowing up.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I do them with Red and my mother's mare, they get stiff without it. Red LOVES the stretches. I stretch out his legs before a ride, and try to do carrot stretches every day or every other day. It's really seemed to help him a lot, if I stretch him before a ride he tends to come out a lot less stiff. Stormie hates them, the only thing that I've noticed a difference in is her neck gets very stiff on one side, and if I keep it stretched out, she's a lot less stiff after.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I will stretch Ellie's neck and back- usually when we have time. I'd need to make it a touch more regular to really see results!

    ReplyDelete
  7. i'm pretty sure we need more stretching in our lives... why is it so hard to remember to do them tho?!?

    ReplyDelete
  8. I stretch too! Will steal some of the evention ones/yours :) The only horse I don't stretch is Henry because he is so flippin mouthy as it is.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I do carrot stretches after every ride. B knows the drill so well he will start doing them even before I ask. his neck always cracks GOOD to the left too. I do some stretching legs wise maybe every other week but never notice a difference with legs and I was told by my body work lady that horses don't need stretches like people, ten seconds max.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I try to stretch after a ride. I need to be more consistent

    ReplyDelete
  11. I do a couple of carrot stretches pre-ride to gauge how C is feeling. I'm really leery of manual-manipulation type stretches, like manipulating the horse's leg. I mean, I doubt a certain bay princess would passively let me hurt him, but the possibility exists and that makes me uncomfortable.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I don't do carrot stretches all that often, but do other stretches before most rides. I do notice a difference when I do them and when I don't, especially in her shoulders and back. For hamstrings, I get better results massaging them before I ride. I notice the most difference when I can massage her all over (with a people massager because my hands can only take so much and a Thumper is too expensive). Even just a quick 15 minute one helps and the vibration loosens up my neck and shoulders too.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I need to be better about doing them.

    ReplyDelete