The Horses Inside Out Academy and Pole Work for Posture

 

Tonight was the second in a new series of live webinars from Gillian Higgins of Horses Inside Out.

I have been really looking forward to this one especially after how well presented and full of information the last webinar was.

If you missed ‘Understanding the horse’s back’ last month you can find out more at my blog here.

If you did get to see the webinar you will have no doubt felt a little overwhelmed with the amount of content Gillian squeezed into it!

Thank goodness that included in the price of the webinar is a link for 7 days to a recording of the webinar so you can watch it back in your own time, pause and make notes! All for just £10!

Even better is that following the webinar the team at Horses Inside Out came up with a genius idea of making the recordings of the webinar available to everyone as an item to purchase from their website.

Meaning you can ‘own’ the video and watch it back as many times as you like!

Also in the time between the last webinar and this next one The Horses Inside Out Online Academy has been launched and it is one amazing learning hub full of content.

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The Academy includes something for everyone from FREE tutorial videos on really helpful exercises such as:

·        Raised poles in walk

·        Carrot Exercises

·        Tail Exercises

·        Core stability reflexes

·        Pilates exercises for older horses

And more……….

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There are also video lectures available to purchase including:

·        Pilates for Horses

·        The Sacroiliac Ligaments and the Iliopsoas muscle groups

·        Movement from an anatomical perspective

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And, a chance to pre-order Gillian’s latest project – Anatomy in action (soooo excited for this)

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You can also sign up for future webinars here or purchase recordings of previous live ones.

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The title of this evening’s webinar was ‘Poles for posture’ –

I mean, this is perfect for me – I am constantly talking to my clients about how we can improve their horse’s posture, and pole work is a great way to help with this.

I just couldn’t wait to see if Gillian had some extra gems that I could share with my clients………and of course she did!

Topics in this webinar included:

·        General benefits of pole work

·        Principles of posture

·        Equipment

·        Walk pole exercises

·        Trot pole exercises

·        Poles for straightness

·        Poles for lateral work and bending

There was loads of video content in this webinar of horses negotiating poles and having the horse’s painted ‘inside out’ in Gillian’s signature style really helps with the visualisation of how the horse is moving, enabling us to really see how the exercises increase the horse’s rotation, lateral movement and range of motion.

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I love how Gillian put lots of importance on the raising of the base of the neck.

Something I am very passionate about and often discussing with my clients.

Raising the base of the neck and engaging the horse’s Thoracic Sling is so important and key to good posture.

Also how using pole work encourages the horse to naturally lift from the base of the neck, and naturally shape their neck so that their nose is ‘on the vertical’ without pulling the head in. ‘YAY’

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When Gillian began discussing the trot with us, mentioning the increase in stretch and recoil in the soft tissue of the lower limb in relation to the walk she mentioned she may present an entire webinar on this subject – all I can say is YES PLEASE!

In summary the benefits of the pole work exercises Gillian shared with us include:

·        Increase in back movement

·        Good back posture

·        Lowering of the head

·        Raising of the base of the neck

·        Strengthening the core

·        Stimulating the thoracic sling muscles

·        Strengthening limb expression muscles

·        Increasing limb joint movement

·        Stimulating the sacroiliac region

·        Stimulates balance

·        Strengthens lateral stabiliser muscles

·        Develops proprioception / body awareness

With so many benefits I would highly recommend visiting this webinar by purchasing the video in Gillian’s academy.

Her videos demonstrate the ‘how to’ of the exercises as well as the benefits in such an awesome visual way that I could not possibly replicate for you guys.

So if you are one of my clients and I have already prescribed pole work exercises for your horse, there is still so much for you to learn!

If you would like to learn more about Poles for Posture visit Gillian’s website HERE to purchase a recording of the webinar.

I hope you find this blog useful.

Jess | Jessica Limpkin Equine Massage Therapy

 
Horses Inside Out, WebinarsJessica Limpkin