What Exercises to strengthen horses abdominal muscles...

[Hanson]

My lovely mare torn her outer abdominal muscle at the beginning of the year and on vetinary advice has been on field rest ever since.

She is moving much more freely now, even had a 'ballerina' stretch of her back legs this morning when going out to the field.

I'm due to take her back to the vets in a couple of weeks for another scan to make sure all has healed and get the go ahead from the vet to start riding her again.

I will do lots of in-hand walking, increasing the hill work very slowly and thought some pole work would be good before we even think about putting a saddle on and her carrying me.

Any other thought and suggestions to strengthen this area? Need to make it interesting as she is an intelligent mare who enjoys her work, although can be a bit of a handful when fresh!

 

[tallyho!]

Pole work is good - try Ingrid Klimke's book on cavaletti.

I like working in-hand and on the lunge but needs to be done correctly or else there is no gymnastic merit. Try classical in-hand e.g. Phillipe Karl or La Gueriniere methods.

 

[Hanson]

Thanks I'll look them up.

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

long reining and also le trec come to mind, both things are things both of you can improve on.

 

[gunnergundog]

Stimulate the xiphoid process and get her to do back lifts, but ONLY when the vet has given you the go-ahead. Do the same using the pelvic reflex points and also back her up up a hill.

 

[Goldenstar]

You might look at the equi core system you will find it on a google search .

 

[Micropony]

Will the vet not recommend a rehab programme, or refer you to a physio who can help you with her recovery?

 

[Hanson]

Thank you for your suggestions, will be doing some Googling! Just looking for some inspiration- I'm sure my vet will give good general advice anyway, I've very lucky to have a superb vetinary practice who are very thorough and have a wealth of experienced staff.

Just excited I suppose to be nearing the point of getting her back into work. I think she is as bored of doing nothing as I am! So it's nice to start planning.

 

[Micky]

Carrot stretches can help too and a nice alternative for the end of day, plenty of diagrams on the internet, each side, between front legs and stretch head/neck forwards too..

 

[MCTM]

I use the equicore system on my mare who has kissing spines. Certainly in the early days I felt a big difference - I used it when lunging and riding too. Now she's strong in her core I don't use it so much but I do still use it. It's possible to rig something up yourself using resistance bands but I find it much easier to use the kit as it's set up to the correct tension. My physio also has a set which she lends to clients as it's certainly not cheap!