Equine Stretching

A Guide for Horseowners

Hello!

Thank you for agreeing to the conditions of access to this guide. I hope the information offered here will be of great benefit to you and your horse.

I have taken pains to make this basic stretching guide as comprehensive as possible. Please read everything thoroughly. Depending on your level of experience, much of what you read may seem obvious, however please resist the urge to skim through as important points may be overlooked.

Thank you.

I would also like to remind everyone that this type of interaction with horses is deeply enjoyable and should never be seen as a chore.

It is a joy to show a horse that we care, that we respect him and that we can show him something new and fun. It is not only about increasing performance, although it has this benefit too, but primarily should be undertaken as a gift to our horse, an expression of thanks and care for all that he is and all he does for us. It is with this intent in our hearts, that we obtain the absolute best out of stretching.

Primum Non Nocere - The first thing is do no harm. 

Sascha Day

Careful and properly applied equine stretching can provide a multitude of benefits for the health and wellbeing of your Horse.

Emphasis with these stretches is always on CORRECT technique.

Please read the instructions completely and in their entirety and follow exactly. To apply any of the techniques here without familiarizing yourself with the guidelines is both unethical and dangerous.

Benefits of Stretching Your Horse:

• 1. Improves suppleness 
• 2. Encourages flexibility
• 3. Lengthens stride  
• 4. Stimulates circulation 
• 5. Rids body of waste
• 6. Helps improve muscle tone
• 7. Can deepen bond and trust between horse and human

Stretching can quickly alert you to any problems, pain, illness or injury in your horse. As part of a routine, stretching your horse can potentially prevent serious injury by alerting you to changes in your horses flexibility or showing areas of excessive tension.

Very Important Points To Remember - PLEASE TAKE NOTE

1. NEVER STRETCH A COLD HORSE 

Lead or gently ride your horse for at least 5 minutes to warm his body up. You may need to increase the warm up session to 10 minutes on a cold day. Horses that enjoy a natural lifestyle, who are not shod or stabled will need less warming up. Horses who are stabled, yarded or shod will need longer, slower warming up sessions.

Please do not lunge your horse! - this only puts terrible strain on your horses joints and muscles and should never be used as part of any caring exercise regime - opt instead to hand walk your horse in as many straight lines as possible, always being respectful through turns and bends and allow horse to place his head in a comfortable frame and position of his own choosing.

Never be tempted to stretch a cold horse just to save time - save your horse a possible injury instead and leave stretching to when you have more time for a proper warm up and when you can both enjoy the routine.

2. USE YOUR VERY BEST MANNERS

Equine stretching should only ever be done with the utmost of respect for the horse, his body, his limitations and effort should be made to understand the horse's perspective.

Some horses will take stretching or massage very personally until you show them that there is no pain or force in what you are doing. In fact, it is these very sensitive and reactive horses that often benefit the most from stretching so you should ensure that they always understand and can trust you. 

Go slow, be extra polite and remember that LESS IS MORE.

Stretching is a time for relaxing and mutual communication - NOT FOR DISCIPLINING YOUR HORSE.

Listen and pay attention at all times to what your horse is "saying" and if you see resistance - stop immediately. There is always a good reason why a horse resists stretching - it is your responsibility to understand what it is. Very often resistance indicates one of two things: the horse has excessive tightness and pain, or the horse has little trust in your relationship. Both situations are your responsibility. Remember that the horse is always right and it is your job to recognize what he needs and how to help him.

During stretches, ALWAYS give your horse the benefit of the doubt and never assume he is being "naughty". Ever.

3. NEVER USE FORCE - DO NOT PULL

Always move slowly and gently throughout a stretch.

As the horse relaxes, try to think of taking up the slack, rather than pulling. Watch your horse for any sign of pain and if you see it STOP IMMEDIATELY. 

4. TAKE YOUR TIME AND USE CORRECT TECHNIQUE

If you don't have the time to do it correctly, then don't do it.  

Damage can be done to supporting structures, ligaments and tendons by rushed incorrect technique. Go for Quality, Not Quantity. Horses who are young or underdeveloped or those recovering from injury or abuse are at particular risk of overstretching.

Horse bodies are not human bodies.

Do not ever think if it feels good for you to stretch a certain way then it will feel good for the horse. Not so. In fact, it has been my experience that horses prefer and respond far better to a gentler and more controlled stretch than a too intense one. Always allow the horse to dictate the speed, duration and intensity of a stretch. Become excellent at knowing your horse's needs and wishes.

5. NEVER STRETCH WHEN...

• A horse is weightbearing lame.
• A horse who has had an injury less than seven days.
• A horse has experienced recent illness or has not been diagnosed or seen by a vet.
• A horse is under 24 months of age.
• A horse has had any recent severe psychological abuse or strain.
• A mare is in her last 4 months of pregnancy.
• And finally, never stretch a horse by using treats, bribes or carrots! Using food to make a horse stretch is very dangerous and does little to uphold the philosophy of stretching - which is to encourage awareness of the horse's own body - not focus on food. By using food, you can cause your horse to easily overstretch and damage himself. This is a big no-no!

6.   TIMING A STRETCH

When fluent at the techniques, you can start to focus on the timing of a stretch. Do not worry about giving too much attention to timing right away - you will need to focus more on correct technique. In the beginning, keep your stretches short and flowing, using slow and rythmic movements.

When proficient, the general rule of thumb of a full stretch is one DEEP (human) breath from start of stretch to finish. Begin the stretch on the in-breath - count slowly - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4... hold for a pause at the peak of the stretch ...the release the stretch back to start position on the out-breath - count - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 = approximately 8-10 seconds for a complete stretch. Later you can start to time the stretch with your horse's breathing - this is the absolute best stretching technique and you may find if all things are right, your horse will naturally breath in rythym to stretching without any effort from you at all.

7. NEVER TIE A HORSE FOR STRETCHES

If your horse finds it too confronting to stand still for stretching without being tied, you can use the help of another person. Please ensure your helper is someone whom your horse likes and trusts. A helper should be passive and not interfere or fiddle with your horse during stretching.

Alternatively, lay the lead rope over the back or neck of your horse in a relaxed way, or over your arm, within easy reach should you need to hold it quickly for any reason. Whatever you choose, make sure you and your horse's safety is the priority.

The Basic Sequence

by Sascha Day EBW (cert 1997)

Shoulder and Foreleg Stretch

Always stretch both sides of the horse in one region, before moving on to the next area.

(Refer to photo 1)   

Gently ask your horse to pick up the foreleg to be stretched. Hold the hoof as if you are going to clean it; wait a moment and allow your horse to square up behind or adjust his weight if he needs to.

Support the leg with both hands; one hand cradling under the knee and the other supporting the hoof. Start by relaxing the limb; slowly rotate the carpus ("knee") in SMALL circles no bigger than a saucer. Imagine you are drawing circles above the ground with the knee. Repeat the circles in both directions. With this movement you will see the scapula move, relaxing and loosening the tissues around it. Keep the hoof lower than the knee. Use a slow rythym and gentleness to relax the tissues of the shoulder.

(Refer to photo 2)

When your horse is relaxed within his shoulder (you will know because your circles will feel more fluid with no feeling of resistance) - commence the first part of the shoulder stretch by bringing the knee forward of the body.

Both hands should be behind the knee holding and supporting it. The knee should be no higher than shown in the photo.

Remember to think of taking up the slack rather than pulling. You may feel the horse "give" and you may feel a kind of release through the shoulder. It is important to keep the leg you are stretching in a straight line with the same side hind leg. A quick check of your position will reveal if you are deviating the leg to either side of this imaginary line. At it's worst, any deviation could hurt your horse and at best have no valuable effect at all on the area you wish to stretch.

Extending the Shoulder Stretch

(Refer to photo 3)

Extending the shoulder stretch to include triceps and part of the back muscle (forward attachment of longissimus dorsi).

Keep your hand (your right hand if you are following the photos) behind the knee - step back with your left foot so that you are facing your horse, your right hand continues to hold and support the knee - your left hand slides under the fetlock and guides the hoof forward. It is difficult to see because of the angle of the photo, but the front leg is in an exact line with the hind leg. Kodak has tilted his head slightly to the outside to emphasize the stretch (clever boy!)

The fetlock is stretched forward of the knee, the knee is supported at all times by the right hand and the knee is always slightly flexed (bent) to prevent any hyperextension.

I suggest you rest your left elbow on your left knee (see photo) during the stretch to prevent injury to your own back.

Please note: I have seen people stretching their horses by grabbing the leg at the fetlock and pulling forward. When this is done in a saddled horse, the reason is said to be to pull skin out from behind the girth. Occasionally this manoveure is called a "farrier's stretch".

Please do not ever do this to your horse. Under any circumstances.

This rough and unsupportive treatment of the knee can cause hyperextension, pain and injury to your horse. The better way to pull skin out from behind the girth is to simply raise the knee as done is shoulder stretch (see photo 2). Always support the knee during a forward stretch.

When you have completed the extended shoulder/tricep stretch, return to the previous phase of the stretch for a moment, and then gently place the foot back on the ground - NEVER drop the foot. Repeat the same stretching procedure for the other shoulder.

We always stretch one entire region of a horse, on both sides before proceeding to another topographical area.

Hip, Thigh, Stifle and Hamstring Stretch

Start by gently asking your horse to give you his hind leg. It is very important at this point to keep the hind hooves close to the ground when lifting the leg for stretching and when doing your relaxing circles.

Do your small circles, slowly, in each both directions. As always, allow your horse to dictate when it is time to proceed with the stretch (when you feel the circles are smooth and fluid).

(Refer to photo 4)

When your horse is relaxed, gently and slowly, bring the hoof underneath the belly towards the heel of the same side front hoof and in line with it. KEEP THE HOOF CLOSE TO THE GROUND. This can be a very difficult stretch for many horses initially, most ridden horses have very tight hamstrings withdangerously high levels of tension particularly seen in horses made to jump.

GENTLY return hoof to the ground. Take a moment before proceeding to the stifle stretch.

Please note: Do not attempt the stifle stretch if your horse has had ANY stifle problems, locking etc.

Only do the hamstring stretch for these horses and then return hoof to ground.

To proceed to the stifle stretch, you may continue in a fluid motion after the completion of the hamstring stretch or you can replace hoof to the starting position on the ground and commence by picking the hoof up from the ground again. Remember to keep the hoof low with either of these options.

If you are following through from the hamstring stretch, keep the hoof raised and hold it, supported with your left hand and with your right hand tilt the toe slightly- this protects you, should the horse suddenly want to put his foot to the ground (your fingers cannot be caught beneath). Awareness is the key here.

Bring the hoof back to the starting position without lowering it to the ground. Carefully turn to face the same direction as your horse and slowly and carefully walk backward to stretch his limb out behind his body.

To extend the stretch,  gently apply pressure to the hock (see Photo 5) as this will straighten the leg and point the toe.

Repeat the hamstring and stifle stretch (if applicable) on the other side.

Final note: as with all things to with horses, Patience, Trust and Understanding is the key. If your horse is repeatedly having trouble doing a stretch or is reacting fearfully, be sure to honestly assess whether or not he understands what you are asking. It may be that you are going to fast for the development of your relationship, or if you are sure that he understands what you are asking, then any resistant or fearful behaviour could well be an indication of a problem within the area you are stretching and you should have it checked by a Vet, Equine Chiropractor or other SUITABLY QUALIFIED equine practitioner.

Please do these stretches in an environment that is safe, calm and familiar for your horse.

With time and practice, stretching will become very easy and extremely enjoyable for you and your horse. Provided you use no force and your intent is always one of compassion, your horse will quickly know what to expect from a stretching session and will look forward to it. It can become a pleasurable and bonding part of your routine.

Please email me if you have any questions about your horse, the stretches or any query relating to equine body work and massage. I am always happy to be of assistance in helping any horse have a better, healthier and happier life.

Sascha Day EBW

The horse in the photos - the photos in this guide were taken with my special friend Kodak, who was retired from the racetrack about 2 months prior.

At first, he was very dubious of any handling where he was asked to "give" a limb. In his own time, he understood that he was in no danger of being forcably treated and was always free to say no.

This new found freedom, gave Kodak a lot of confidence. If he was not in the "mood" for stretching on one day he would indicate so and I would drop the idea of it for the day. I believe the horse is always right. I knew there was a good reason for him not want to "play" stretches and most of it for him was psychological - after years of racing and brutality, it seemed that he needed very much to learn it was ok to express himself without fear of punishment.

It is now almost 2 years later and Kodak and I do stretching at liberty. For a horse like him, this aspect of his physical rehabilitation has been invaluable.