Don’t Just Warm Up Your Horse
As most know, it is very important to warm up our horses before starting a workout. Just as humans, they too can tear or strain cold muscles. Warming up gives the joints time to properly lubricate and increase circulation to warm up muscles. Although our feet are not making the steps we are still working hard and need to do our part in taking care of our bodies. In this post I will give you some ideas of some simple stretches to do right from your horses back while they are enjoying a free walk. These stretches should not consume more than a lap or two of your warm up walk. Stretch #1: Shoulder and Rib Cage Place the reins in the left hand with a loose contact. With your right hand, reach up your horse’s neck toward his ears and feel the stretch through the latissimus (lats). Now raise the arm straight over head, rotate it past your ear, rotating through the rib cage to place your hand on your horse’s croup (top of the rump). Slowly rotate the rib cage with deep breaths. On the