And we are off - to five minutes of tack walk

I'm thanking my lucky stars that Remy is such a patient patient (hmm, the joys of the English language). So far so good. Today we are on marker 25 min. handwalk and 5 minutes tack walk. I wasn't sure what I would get under saddle but Remy kept his wits together. Whew! I tried to keep it interesting and walked him over a variety of surfaces.

Definitely no DQ (Dressage Queen). Somehow the casual get up makes me think of pony club

Is there a pony club for 'mature adults'?
Preferably with stiff drinks instead of cupcakes when someone falls off!

Speaking of variety of surfaces - recently quite a few clients have asked about 'proprioception'. I have put a summary together that covers tips for tack walking as well as proprioception exercises.

Here we go - but first the disclaimer: If your horse is on a rehab program or has any issues get approval from your veterinarian before embarking on any exercises.


Proprioception

“Perception or awareness of the position and movement of the body” Proprioception refers to the horse’s awareness of his body’s position and movements, including limb and foot placement. Unconscious proprioception coordinates a horse’s posture and basic locomotion, whereas conscious proprioception facilitates more complex locomotor tasks.


Simple progression of proprioception exercises

1)    Different Surfaces: An easy start is walking the horse on different surfaces, such as grass, sand, dirt roads, asphalt. To keep it interesting for Remy, I added walking over pool floats and yoga mats (stabilized by blocks) in the outdoor arena.

2)    Shifting weight: With the horse standing square lift one limb at a time and hold for 10 seconds. Start with the front limbs then go to the hind limbs. Watch for any compensation changes.

3)    Shifting weight with increased challenge: Increase the difficulty of the above exercise by leaning into the horse, while lifting one of its legs. Lean into the side with the lifted leg and move your weight gradually from side to side to make him work harder to balance.

4)    Poles: A useful technique for restoring the limbs’ range of motion and muscular strength involves using ground poles. Eventually they can be raised as high as eight inches and (later in the rehab program – after cleared by veterinarian) also done in the trot*. Poles stimulate a greater increase in joint flexion. The horse is required to elevate the hooves to ensure clearance whenever poles are present.

*Trot over ground poles placed 4.5 feet apart

Our set up for walk over -repurposed- pool floats and yoga mats