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What is Pilates for horses?

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Pilates for Horses utilizes the principles of Pilates in a thoughtful approach to training and rehabbing horses, useful for both professionals and amateurs. The program includes stretches, groundwork, longe work, and ridden exercises for horses of all disciplines.

Whether your horse is coming back from an injury, you are looking to create a new program with an emphasis on correct movement patterns and both strength and stability, or are looking to add new elements to your current program to support your horse’s wellbeing and longevity, there are exercises within the program to help.

Principles of Pilates:

  • Control: Ideally we are training the horse to activate the correct muscles at the correct time with balance, coordination, consistency and refinement. We must be in control of our aids, and our horse must be able to control his body. This is essential for quality gaits and transitions.

  • Center: This best applies to the horses’s core, which is the bridge between the front and hind end, from which energy must flow freely. A strong and stable center (core) is required for the rest of the body to move effectively.

  • Concentration: This requires channeling your horse’s energy and focus on a specific task or exercise.

  • Precision: Quality is key. Precision is the difference between moving efficiently and effectively vs. relying on pure strength to get something done. Think about re-training a thoroughbred who runs into the canter from trot at first. With consistent and correct training, the horse should spring into the canter from the precise aide, without quickening his pace.

  • Breath: It is essential that your horse is not holding his breath during work, which is a sign of stress, discomfort and/or tension. Paying attention to your horse’s breath will help you better understand what he’s feeling.

  • Flow: It is often said that a horse’s body is like a machine of interconnected pulleys and levers, and one movement affects or flows through the entire body. The machine must run smoothly without “sticky” bits of muscling or kinks. Flow can also be related to smooth, graceful, functional movement.

  • Awareness: Horses are good at compensating with altered movement patterns after an injury or due to pain. An important step in rebalancing the body is to make your horse aware of his own body and abilities.

    • Here, you can see an example of using resistance bands to find both strength and mobility for horse and human

  • Balance: Most horses have asymmetries in their body. It is important to strengthen and stretch muscles evenly on both sides, front to back and top to bottom. The goal is a balance between muscle and mobility.

  • Efficiency: Quality movement with as little effort as possible is the ultimate goal in Pilates and, in my opinion, riding.

  • Alignment: As with balance, its important to strive toward symmetrical muscles and straight/ even movement. Does your horse drift off the centerline? Do his feet track directly in line with his front feet? Proper stretching is essential for good alignment.

  • Coordination: The ability to move two or more body parts in a controlled and balanced way.

  • Stamina: Maintaining strength or movement for a sustained amount of time. This must be built up slowly and thoughtfully.

  • Lengthening: This can be thought of as either the lengthening of muscles, or the lengthening of gaits. Not only must the horse’s muscles be stretched and lengthened as they are strengthened in order to maintain mobility, but we also ask our horse to lengthen their stride which requires the harnessing of energy to create a “springy” and powerful movement.

  • Harmony: Horse and rider must work together to achieve the best possible movement. Your horse should respond quickly and smoothly to your aids without fighting or resisting. With balance often comes harmony.

    • The Pilates for Horses book is out now. Learn more and order your copy here.

    Stretches

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    Incentive Stretches

    These stretches utilize a treat or “incentive” to get your horse to stretch on their own.

    Supported Static Hold Stretches

    In these stretches, you must support the weight of your horse’s limb or body part as you pull it gently into a stretch.

    Dynamic Mobilization Stretches

    Dynamic stretches increase range of motion through supported movement of your horse’s body.

    Creating a Plan

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    Before starting a new program you should assess your horse’s current physical state and what your goals are in order to have a clear plan. Taking photographs before, during and after implementing a new routine will help inform your progress.

    Getting your horse to stand square for conformation shots can be a pain, but this is an important tool for finding weaknesses or compensations as well as tracking progress. You’ll want to take front, back, side and “bird’s eye” shots.

    Make sure your tack is fitted properly to your horse. A shimmable pad is often used by fitters to help prop up a part of the saddle while you work on building those muscles. If the saddle is unbalanced, the rider is most likely unbalanced, which causes compensatory movement patterns within the horse.

    Make sure you are aware of your own imbalances and work toward fixing them out of the saddle. It is unfair to ask your horse to move properly without working on yourself as well.

    Watch your horse at liberty. Is he moving freely? Does he look tense or stiff anywhere? Assess your horse’s body condition score and general demeanor.

    Have a baseline understanding of your horses cardiovascular fitness and nutrition levels.

    Have a specific goal in mind. All disciplines can benefit from using the USDF pyramid as a framework for what you should be working on.