to become excessively sticky and thick, limiting tissue glide. On the contrary, exercises that stimulate proprioceptive adaptations like ground poles, varied surfaces, and alternating forces of effort help improve fascia (see What Is Proprioception? on p. 71). This translates to balance and stability in the body. Therapists call this optimum state a system-wide engagement of the nervous and muscular systems.
Why Ground Poles?
Schooling horses over ground poles, whether in hand or from the saddle, which we’ll do in many exercises in this book, can cure numerous gait irregularities or movement compromised by tension, crookedness, and weak muscle patterns. Because they require the horse to take designated stride lengths in sequence, they install good clear rhythm in all gaits. As the horse traverses over poles, he learns to push equally from both hind legs, correcting imbalances in the effort of his hind limbs. Pole work contributes to straightness and symmetry through his core and mobilizes the spinal joints.
The postural adjustments needed for crossing poles recruit the horse’s interconnected abdominal muscle group, thoracic sling, and gluteal chain. Schooling different arrangements of poles helps re-pattern existing habits within each gait, and leads to the creation of new signals from the nervous system.
• As a general rule, walking over raised poles improves core stability, joint flexion, and intervertebral joint spacing. It assists horses recovering from sacroiliac pain, back injury, or disrupted muscle use from stiffness. Walking over poles contributes to the horse’s looseness and range of motion.
• Trotting over poles plays more of a strengthening role. It develops strength in the larger back muscles that effect limb movement plus utilization of quadriceps, pelvic stability, and stronger spinal stabilizing muscles. As these muscles are recruited, it can lead to a release of stored tension from the extensor muscle chain, which is a common culprit of horses that tend to be chronically hollow in their toplines.
• Cantering over poles tones the thoracic sling, loosens the shoulders as the body rocks between forehand and hindquarters, and lifts the back. It can greatly improve flexion and extension of the back, which allows it to lift and carry the rider better. It is believed to deliver the most mobilization of the lumbosacral joint, which enables the horse to engage his hind limbs.
Setting up ground poles can seem like an arduous task, which leads many riders to avoid it, but with some creativity, it does not need to be. First of all, to promote your own consistency using poles, I recommend buying six to eight poles that are easy to move around and set up. This way you are far more likely to use them. If you try instead to use heavy or excessively long poles, you are far less likely to use them regularly. Unless you jump on a regular basis, I suggest using something else besides jump poles. You do not need anything fancy, but just something that is easy enough to use that you will do so consistently.
fit tip
When soft tissue is healing, the new tissue needs to be educated on its job. The overall process of getting a soft-tissue injury successfully back to competition involves 25 percent treatment and 75 percent rehabilitation process.
One of my favorite options is to use 4-inch by 4-inch redwood or cedar posts that are flat on one side—easily found in the landscape section of your local hardware store. I like them because they are sturdy but lightweight. They lie flat without rolling around and are easy to set up. In my travels, I have seen riders using other types of lightweight poles or creative variations.
To summarize: do not forego ground pole work because you think you might not have the ideal supplies. Look around and use what you have handy.
EXERCISE 1: Raised Pole Fan with Alternating Strides
| PURPOSE: | Increases symmetry, stride awareness, and body control. |
Switch between the extensor and flexor muscle chains with the footwork required in this pole arrangement for increased symmetry body-wide. It targets the thoracic sling, stifle muscles, and pelvic stability. It is not uncommon for horses to trip or bang the poles the first time through this routine until they make the proprioceptive improvements to go through cleanly. This deceptively difficult exercise does wonders for the horse’s stride awareness and control.
1 With the inside edge of the poles raised to a height of 12–16 inches, set up four to six poles in a fan shape as shown. Space the raised inside ends of the poles approximately 1 foot apart; set the wider ends 4½ feet apart.
2 Begin by riding around the narrow end of poles at the walk. Ask your horse to take just a single step between each pole (fig. 1.3 A).1.3 A: Sara tests Diamante’s coordination and balance by asking him to bend tightly through his body and step carefully between the raised ends of poles.
3 Maintain a clear bend to the inside by applying light pressure with your inside leg.
4 Circle around to cross the poles again, but now move over to the wider end of the pole fan (fig. 1.3 B). 1.3 B: Sara then rides a slightly larger circle that crosses the outer edge of poles, asking Diamante to extend his stride in the wider spaces.
5 Ask for two steps between each set of poles while maintaining inside bend. Really ask your horse to extend his strides as you cross this end of the poles.
6 Circle around again, but now go back to the raised, narrow end, and be sure to get just a single step between each pole.
7 Continue circling over the poles, alternating which end you cross over and the number of steps between each pole as described above.
This exercise should feel like taking the horse back and forth from a finely controlled collected walk to a big extended walk. It will highlight any instability in his pelvis, though, so do not be surprised if he struggles with the footwork.
EXERCISE 2: Serpentine Across a Ditch
| PURPOSE: | Counters leaning or bulging to one side. |
When a horse has developed more strength in—or favors use of—one front limb, it causes him to travel crookedly. This comes about by one of his shoulder blades developing tighter soft-tissue connection with his torso. Because of this, he will commonly be seen or felt leaning to one side or “bulging” one direction with his shoulders or rib cage when in motion.
A helpful technique to partially remedy this is to stimulate his shoulder-girdle muscles with varying effort and coordination. Constantly changing slopes and surfaces help prevent him from traveling habitually with the forelimbs.
1 Find a ditch or canal that slopes downward approximately 5–10 feet, and then rises up the other side. Be sure the banks of this ditch are stable enough to ride on and not crumbly or dangerous.
2 Begin by standing in the swale, with the horse’s body parallel to the banks or sides (fig. 1.4 A).1.4 A: Some horses, especially those ridden primarily inside arenas, can be a little nervous about the changes of terrain in a ditch. Here, I start by asking Star to stand quietly in the ditch before we begin moving around.
3 Now proceed to ride a shallow serpentine that keeps crossing the ditch (figs. 1.4 B & C). 1.4 B & C: Star has to engage her stabilizing muscles as
