Dynamic Equine Therapy

BETWEEN THE STRIDES | 07

THE NECK DOES MORE THAN CARRY THE HEAD. 🐴

The neck is a remarkably active part of the horse’s movement system.

It helps position the head, influences balance, and coordinates with the trunk as the horse moves.

Its muscles are doing far more than simply holding the head up.

The cervical muscles help control the position and movement of the neck and head, while also interacting with the muscles of the shoulder and thoracic region.

That relationship matters.

A change in neck position changes the way the horse distributes weight and organises its body. At the same time, what is happening through the back, shoulder and hindquarters influences how the neck can move and stabilise.

It works both ways.

And the neck is not only about movement.

It is involved in how the horse sees its environment, maintains balance, expresses itself and responds to the rider’s aids.

For the rider, this can make the neck surprisingly informative.

A horse that feels soft and mobile through the neck can give you a very different feeling from one that feels fixed, braced or reluctant to bend.

Sometimes the difference is obvious.

Sometimes it is simply that the contact feels different, the balance changes, or one rein feels unlike the other.

And that is where the idea of a connected horse becomes useful.

The neck cannot be separated from the rest of the movement system.

It interacts with the hindquarters, back and core, shoulder, limbs and hooves throughout every stride.

A neck that can move, stabilise and adapt gives the rest of the body more options.

Because good movement isn’t about holding one part in the right place.

It is about the whole horse being able to coordinate.

Between the Strides
Little things worth noticing.

Dynamic Equine Therapy
Understand • Activate • Strengthen.

BETWEEN THE STRIDES | 06

POWER IS ONLY THE BEGINNING. 🐴

We often think of the hindquarters as the horse’s engine.

And for good reason. The hindlimbs are capable of producing substantial force and are a major source of propulsion.

But producing power is only the beginning.

That power has to be loaded, organised and transferred through the body to become useful movement.

Think about a horse moving freely.

The hindlimb meets the ground and accepts load.

The joints flex and extend.

The muscles generate force.

That force is then transferred through the limb and trunk as the horse moves its centre of mass.

All of this happens through a remarkably coordinated sequence.

When the system is working well, you don’t see a series of separate movements.

You see one horse moving.

The hindquarters create force, but they also have to control and direct it.

And the rest of the body has to be able to receive and respond to that force.

The back and core help stabilise the trunk.

The forelimbs manage the forces arriving at the front of the body.

The neck contributes to balance and orientation.

And the hooves are where the whole system meets the ground.

This is why thinking about the hindquarters as simply an “engine” doesn’t quite tell the whole story.

An engine produces power.
The horse has to organise that power into movement.

And that is where the whole-body system becomes so fascinating.

Efficient movement isn’t just about how much force a horse can produce.
It is about how well the whole body can organise and use it.

Between the Strides
Little things worth noticing.

Dynamic Equine Therapy
Understand • Activate • Strengthen.

BETWEEN THE STRIDES | 05

A STRONG BACK ISN’T A RIGID BACK. 🐴

When we think about a horse’s back, it’s easy to picture it as a bridge between the front and hindquarters.

But the back isn’t simply there to connect the two.

It has to move, adapt and stabilise at the same time.

The thoracolumbar spine is capable of flexion and extension, lateral bending and rotation, and these movements are part of normal locomotion.

So a functional back isn’t a motionless one.

It is constantly making small adjustments as the horse changes gait, speed, direction and limb loading.

This is where the back and core become particularly interesting.

The muscles surrounding the spine and abdomen help control and stabilise the trunk, providing a foundation from which the limbs can move and forces can be transferred through the body.

But stability doesn’t mean stiffness.

Too little control and the trunk may struggle to stabilise movement.
Too much restriction and the horse loses the ability to adapt.

And you can often see the difference in the movement.

The back may lose some of its natural swing.

The horse may become less able to bend through the body.

A turn that once looked effortless may become harder to organise.

Or the limbs may begin to move differently as the horse finds another way to manage the task.

This is why looking at the back in isolation can be misleading.

A change in the way the hindquarters generate force, the shoulder moves, or the neck balances the body can all alter what we see through the middle.

And the reverse is true too.

A back that cannot comfortably stabilise and move can change how the rest of the horse organises itself.

The back is not a rigid bridge between two ends of the horse.

It is an active part of the movement system, constantly balancing stability with mobility.

And perhaps that is the more useful way to think about strength:

Not the ability to hold still.
The ability to stay controlled while moving.

A strong back isn’t a rigid back.
It’s a back that can stabilise without losing movement.

Between the Strides
Little things worth noticing.

Dynamic Equine Therapy
Understand • Activate • Strengthen.

BETWEEN THE STRIDES | 04

THE SHOULDER HAS TO MOVE AND SUPPORT AT THE SAME TIME. 🐴

Think about the horse’s shoulder for a moment.

Unlike our own shoulder, the horse’s forelimb isn’t connected to the trunk by a conventional bony joint.

Instead, the scapula is supported against the ribcage by a network of muscles and connective tissues known as the thoracic sling.

And this is what makes the shoulder so interesting.

It needs to be mobile enough to move freely, while also helping to support the horse’s trunk as it moves.

The muscles involved each have different jobs.

The serratus ventralis helps suspend the trunk from the forelimbs and contributes to movement and stabilisation of the scapula.

The trapezius and rhomboideus help position, elevate and move the scapula, contributing to the movement of the forelimb.

And the pectoral muscles help control the position and movement of the forelimb, including drawing the limb towards the body.

But they don’t work as individual pieces.

They are constantly responding to the movement and load of the whole horse.

And that includes what we put on the horse.

The girth lies across the pectoral region, while the saddle sits over structures involved in scapular movement and trunk support.

The saddle and the horse influence each other.

Changes in how the horse carries itself can change how the saddle sits and moves.

And changes in pressure or freedom of movement can influence how the horse uses the structures underneath.

So, as the rider, what might you notice?

A difference in how one scapula moves.

A shorter or less freely swinging forelimb.

Uneven muscle development around the shoulder.

A difference in how the horse loads the front limbs.

Or something that looks subtle from the ground, but feels very different underneath you.

None of these observations tells us exactly why something has changed.

But they give us something worth investigating.

Because the shoulder doesn’t work alone.

It is part of a connected movement system that includes the neck, back and core, hindquarters, limbs and hooves.

The body has to work together.

And that is what makes understanding one part of the horse so much more interesting when we consider the whole.

Between the Strides
Little things worth noticing.

Dynamic Equine Therapy
Understand • Activate • Strengthen.

BETWEEN THE STRIDES | 03

LOOK. WATCH. FEEL. 🐴

We have looked at the horse standing.

We have watched how the whole body creates movement.

Now it’s time for the feel.

Let’s put the saddle on.

The horse you see standing still doesn’t create the same picture as the horse moving freely, and the horse moving freely isn’t necessarily the horse you feel underneath you.

A horse may look relatively comfortable whilst moving freely, yet feel completely different under saddle…

Because the rider doesn’t simply add weight.

The rider becomes part of the moving system.

Add the rider, the saddle and the demands of ridden work, and the horse now has another set of forces to organise around.

The rider.
The tack.
The task.

The rider’s balance and position influence how forces are transmitted through the horse.

The tack creates another point of contact between horse and rider.

And the task asks the horse to organise its body in increasingly specific ways: balance, bend, transitions, lateral work, collection, jumping or simply maintaining rhythm and direction.

For a horse that is already compensating for an asymmetry or limitation, those additional demands may make the existing movement strategy much more obvious.

What looked subtle from the ground may suddenly feel very different underneath you.

A change in rhythm.

A difference in contact.

Resistance through a turn.

Difficulty maintaining balance.

A movement that feels harder in one direction than the other.

These sensations don’t automatically tell us what is wrong.

But they are information.

And this is where the rider becomes an important part of the observation process.

Don’t just ask:

“What does my horse feel like?”

Ask:

“What changed when I got on?”

Because the difference between standing, moving freely and moving under saddle can give us another piece of the puzzle.

And if the horse isn’t moving comfortably…

the body has to find another way.

And that’s where we’re going next.

Between the Strides
Little things worth noticing.

Dynamic Equine Therapy
Understand • Activate • Strengthen

BETWEEN THE STRIDES | 02

IT’S NOT WHERE THE FOOT LANDS. IT’S HOW IT GETS THERE. 🐴

When we watch a horse move, our eyes naturally go to the legs.

Is the stride even?
Is he tracking up?
Is there a difference between left and right?

But the foot is only the end of the movement.

Watch the whole horse.

The head and neck.
The shoulders.
The back.
The pelvis.
The hindquarters.

Does the back swing with the movement, or does it look fixed?

Do the shoulders move freely, or does one side move differently?

Does the pelvis stay steady, or does it change from one stride to the next?

Does the rhythm remain consistent through the whole body?

Here’s the important part:

Two horses can place a foot in almost exactly the same place while using very different movement strategies to get it there.

The movement of the limb starts much higher up in the body.

So don’t just watch where the foot lands.

Watch how the horse gets it there.

Look at the rhythm.
Look at the symmetry.
Look at how the different parts of the body move together.

Look at the movement as a whole.

Because sometimes the most useful information isn’t in the final placement of the foot.

It’s in everything that happened before it got there.

Between the Strides
Little things worth noticing.

Dynamic Equine Therapy
Understand • Activate • Strengthen.

BETWEEN THE STRIDES | 01

IS YOUR NORMAL ACTUALLY NORMAL? 🐴

Before we watch a horse move, there is already a lot we can observe.

Look at your horse standing.

Are you seeing relatively even muscle development?
A reasonably straight and level pelvis?
Relaxed muscle tone at rest?
Balanced weight distribution?
A consistent, comfortable stance?

Because here’s the thing:

Something can be familiar without being functional.

A horse may have stood with a rotated pelvis for years. Uneven muscle development may have been there for as long as you can remember.

That doesn’t necessarily make it normal.

It may be a reflection of how that horse has adapted to its body, its environment, or something influencing the way it moves.

So rather than asking:

“Is this normal for my horse?”

Try asking:

“Is this functional for my horse?”

One observation doesn’t tell the whole story. But consistent asymmetries, postural changes and differences in muscle development are worth noticing.

This isn’t about diagnosing your horse from a photograph.

It’s about learning to look critically, so we can start asking the right questions and looking for meaningful answers.

Because sometimes the things we’ve become accustomed to seeing are the very things we need to question.

Familiar doesn’t always mean functional.

And once we start noticing those patterns, we can begin to ask the next question:

What is the rest of the body doing to adapt?

That’s where we’re going next.

Between the Strides
Little things worth noticing.

Dynamic Equine Therapy
Understand • Activate • Strengthen.

BETWEEN THE STRIDES | Little things worth noticing. 🐴

We spend countless hours watching our horses move.

But how often do we stop and really look?

A horse’s posture, way of going, muscle development and little changes in movement can tell us a surprising amount about how they are using their body.

Not everything we notice means there is a problem. And not every change has a single explanation.

But learning to recognise what is normal for your horse can make subtle changes much easier to spot.

Over the coming weeks, we’re going to explore some of the details that often get overlooked:

👁️ LEARN TO LOOK
Learning to observe posture, movement and symmetry.

🔗 THE CONNECTED HORSE
Understanding how the different parts of the body work together.

⚖️ COMPENSATION
Exploring how horses adapt when something isn’t working as efficiently as it could.

💪 MOVEMENT BUILDS STRENGTH
Looking at how purposeful movement can build strength, coordination and better body awareness.

🏇 TRAIN THE HORSE YOU HAVE
Putting it all into the real world, where horses have to train, compete and get on with being horses.

No complicated jargon.

No “one exercise fixes everything.”

Just little pieces of information that might make you look at your horse differently.

And perhaps notice something you hadn’t noticed before.

Watch this space…

Dynamic Equine Therapy
Understand • Activate • Strengthen.

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