Muscle Chains, Topline and Core Strength In Horses - Find out more........
One of the things I find myself discussing many times a day with my clients is ‘Top line’ and developing ‘Core strength & stability’ 💪🏻
Over time I have been constantly evolving the way I explain to clients what I am seeing and feeling in their horse and what we would hope to be able to achieve with their horse in order to create a horse with a healthy posture both statically and in motion 🐎
I want to make the information easy to understand and visualise and also easy for the owner to assess and notice changes happening in their horses so they can see how all their hard work and following my advice is paying off!
Most people focus on the ‘Topline’ of the horse. Search my blog posts for more on ‘Topline’
However more recently I have taken to discussing ‘Muscle Chains’ with owners as I think it helps to explain things more clearly 🤓
There are many muscle chains in the horse (or in any body). Each muscle in the body is connected to one or more other muscles by connective tissue known as Fascia.
Therefore, if one muscle in the body is compromised (tight, tense, over-used, damaged, atrophied) other muscles in the chain will also be affected 😫
The two muscle chains I mainly discuss with clients, at least to start with are:
▪️The Extensor Muscle Chain
▪️The Flexor Muscle Chain
I like to use images from Gillian Higgins of Horses Inside Out to help illustrate these chains and have included them here.
🔺The muscles commonly referred to as the ‘Topline’ are the ‘Extensor Chain’ of muscles.
🔻The muscles we commonly referred to as the ‘Belly’ muscles are part of the ‘Flexor Chain’ of muscles.
I see LOTS of horses that are tight in the lower back.
In fact I am often referred to as ‘The Back Lady’ 🙈
One of the reasons that lots of horses are tight in the lower back is that they are tight through the Extensor Chain of muscles.
Tension in this chain not only causes the back to go into extension, but because of the ‘chain reaction’ also causes the head to lift and the hamstrings (down the back of the hind legs) to be tight meaning the horse leaves their back legs out behind them, often drags their toes and struggles to step under behind (sound familiar.....?)
❗️In this case the Extensor Chain is too short.
In this same horse the Flexor chain of muscles is then also compromised, the abdominal (belly) muscles often hang low and the underside of the neck is overdeveloped.
❗️In this case the Flexor Chain is too long.
Our goal in this horse should be to lengthen the Extensor Chain and Shorten the Flexor Chain.
I find this is one of the most common issues with horses I see day to day.
But the good news is there is TONS of stuff we can do to get these muscle chains working as they should and for your horse to feel more comfortable, move with healthier biomechanics and feel like a much nicer horse to ride too 👍🏻
An effective therapy plan would involve regular assessments and treatments interspersed with prescribed stable based, in-hand and ridden exercise depending on the individual horse. And this can apply to pretty much any horse, whatever your goals are with them.
I am on a mission to help your horses be the best versions of themselves they can be, so that you can enjoy them for longer! ♥️
I hope you find this post useful 🙂