{"id":7104,"date":"2017-05-02T11:33:19","date_gmt":"2017-05-02T10:33:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/?p=7104"},"modified":"2021-07-07T16:18:19","modified_gmt":"2021-07-07T15:18:19","slug":"dressage-exercises-horses-muscles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/en\/dressage-exercises-horses-muscles\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Dressage Exercises to Build your Horse&#8217;s Muscles"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI wanted to work on Dio\u2019s muscles today but I can\u2019t be bothered to set up ground poles.\u201d \u201cYou know there\u2019s more to life than ground poles!!! Flatting and dressage are great for building muscles!\u201d Ok, we have used ground poles a lot in the exercises we showed you so far. But this time we\u2019re doing it without any equipment! I\u2019m giving you 4 dressage exercises to build muscles. Hang on and prepare Dio because his muscles are going to burn <\/span><\/i><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#x1f525;<\/span><\/i><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<div id=\"toc_container\" class=\"no_bullets\"><p class=\"toc_title\">Table des mati&egrave;res<\/p><ul class=\"toc_list\"><li><a href=\"#Lateral-work-is-a-great-muscle-building-tool-for-horses\">Lateral work is a great muscle building tool for horses<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#Exercise-1-8211-Shoulder-in-half-pass-shoulder-in-half-pass\">Exercise #1 &#8211; Shoulder-in, half-pass, shoulder-in, half-pass\u2026<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#Exercise-2-8211-Turns-across-the-arena-with-halt-reinback-and-half-turn-on-the-quarters\">Exercise #2 &#8211; Turns across the arena with halt, reinback and half-turn on the quarters<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#Transitions-also-help-build-your-horses-muscles\">Transitions also help build your horse\u2019s muscles!<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#Exercise-3-8211-Close-trot-canter-transitions\">Exercise #3 &#8211; Close trot-canter transitions<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#Exercise-4-8211-Halt-8211-Extended-trot-transitions\">Exercise #4 &#8211; Halt &#8211; Extended trot transitions<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n<h2><span id=\"Lateral-work-is-a-great-muscle-building-tool-for-horses\"><b>Lateral work is a great muscle building tool for horses<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yes, I can already see some of you jumping riders scowl when you read \u201clateral work\u201d but you can\u2019t underestimate these exercises on a musculation point of view. Indeed, they are an amazing way to build your horse&#8217;s muscles.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A little refresher first and some definitions: <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><b>Adduction<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is when the leg gets closer to the middle of the body, so when the leg gets closer to the other leg<\/span><\/li><li><b>Abduction&nbsp;<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is the opposite, when the leg gets away from the middle of the body, so when it gets further away from the other leg<\/span><\/b><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image wp-image-593\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"399\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/DSC0325-2-e1522224828603-1024x399.jpg\" alt=\"exercice musculation sur le plat dressage cheval \" class=\"wp-image-593\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/DSC0325-2-e1522224828603-1024x399.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/DSC0325-2-e1522224828603-300x117.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/DSC0325-2-e1522224828603-768x300.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/DSC0325-2-e1522224828603-604x236.jpg 604w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>\u00a9Nathalie Hupin &#8211; Equisense<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this case, lateral work will:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Make&nbsp;<strong>the adductor et abductor muscles work,&nbsp;<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">which means all the muscles moving the shoulders and the hips<\/span><\/li><li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mobilise<\/span><b>&nbsp;the protraction muscles,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> which means the muscles allowing the legs to stretch forward<\/span><\/li><li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mobilise <\/span><b>the propulsion muscles<\/b><\/li><li><strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Is going to cause an important trunk rotation which makes <\/span>the chest cavity muscles work<\/strong> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">when they try to oppose this movement<\/span><\/li><li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">will make the <strong>entire neck lateral flexion<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/span><b>muscles work <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">those trying to oppose it on the outside<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&nbsp;[1]<\/span><\/b><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>&#x1f4da; Learn more:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/en\/5-exercises-muscle-reinforcement\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">5 exercices for muscle reinforcement<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I won\u2019t go into too much details but to put it shortly,&nbsp;<\/span>every lateral work exercises will help build your horse&#8217;s muscles.<\/strong> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s kind of like body-building!! And it makes your horse gain in rachis suppleness so it\u2019s great.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2><span id=\"Exercise-1-8211-Shoulder-in-half-pass-shoulder-in-half-pass\"><strong>Exercise #1 &#8211; Shoulder-in, half-pass, shoulder-in, half-pass\u2026<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This exercise consists in doing, in a diagonal line, 3 shoulder-in strides then 3 half-pass strides then shoulder-in then half-pass.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"969\" height=\"555\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/exercice1.png\" alt=\"half pass shoulder in\" class=\"wp-image-7105\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/exercice1.png 969w, https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/exercice1-300x172.png 300w, https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/exercice1-768x440.png 768w, https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/exercice1-471x270.png 471w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 969px) 100vw, 969px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>This exercise is <strong>really helpful to start learning the half-passes<\/strong> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">because it prevents the horse from leading with its quarters. It also allows the rider to correct the bend during the half-pass<\/span>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">From a muscle and biomechanical point of view it\u2019s really interesting. Indeed, <strong>the shoulder-in and the half-pass on the same side are opposed and complementary<\/strong>. If we take the example of the right hind leg on a right half-pass, the abductors will pull the hind leg out and forward. Once the leg touches the grounds, it will pull the rest of the body thanks to the adductor muscles. For the shoulder-in, it\u2019s the opposite: the hind leg will first make an adduction (in and forward) and when it touches the ground push the horse\u2019s body in abduction.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Doing these exercises one after the other is then extremely taxing physically. And it will help the horse gain in responsiveness to your legs.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>&#x1f4da; Learn more:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/en\/exercises-control\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">4 dressage exercises to gain in control and precision<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2><span id=\"Exercise-2-8211-Turns-across-the-arena-with-halt-reinback-and-half-turn-on-the-quarters\"><strong>Exercise #2 &#8211; Turns across the arena with halt, reinback and half-turn on the quarters<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This dressage exercise is the ideal exercise to approach collection. Once again, it\u2019s extensive on a muscle standpoint. I do this exercise often and let me tell you: <strong>it turns any horse to a compact ball of nerves<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The principle is simple: at walk, walk across the arena width. A few steps after the middle line stop, reinback a few steps and start again while you keep the tension on the rein. Do a small half circle with the quarters in at the end of the side, and start again.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"969\" height=\"555\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/exercice2.png\" alt=\"halt reinback half turn\" class=\"wp-image-7121\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/exercice2.png 969w, https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/exercice2-300x172.png 300w, https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/exercice2-768x440.png 768w, https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/exercice2-471x270.png 471w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 969px) 100vw, 969px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As I already mentioned in the&nbsp;<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/en\/muscles-back\/\">back muscles article<\/a>,&nbsp;<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>reinbacks are a perfect exercise to work on abdominals and the lumbo-sacral joint suppleness<\/strong>. It prepares the horse for collected work by flexing the entire hind chain.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2><span id=\"Transitions-also-help-build-your-horses-muscles\"><b>Transitions also help build your horse\u2019s muscles!<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Inter-gait transitions really help to build your horse&#8217;s muscles when they are done correctly. Indeed, they induce work for the abdominal and the gluteal muscles, and the chest muscles which help keep the forehand light! <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2><span id=\"Exercise-3-8211-Close-trot-canter-transitions\"><strong>Exercise #3 &#8211; Close trot-canter transitions<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Efficient exercise if your horse is kind of asleep. It will also help the rider learn aid discretion<\/span>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s easy to understand. On a circle, alternate a canter phase then 5 trot strides. This canter phase starts at 10 strides, and diminishes as you go. The goal is to only have one canter stride!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"969\" height=\"555\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/exercice3.png\" alt=\"close trot canter transition\" class=\"wp-image-7124\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/exercice3.png 969w, https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/exercice3-300x172.png 300w, https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/exercice3-768x440.png 768w, https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/exercice3-471x270.png 471w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 969px) 100vw, 969px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Here&#8217;s a video to show you:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"\u27bf Exercise with quick transitions \u27bf\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gJQeNufo46c?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If need be, don\u2019t hesitate to start over a few times before decreasing the number of canter strides. You\u2019ll see, when you manage to do only one stride, you\u2019ll feel invincible!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can also try the \u201cwalk-canter\u201d and \u201cwalk-trot\u201d variations which are pretty good as well.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2><span id=\"Exercise-4-8211-Halt-8211-Extended-trot-transitions\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Exercise #4 &#8211; Halt &#8211; Extended trot transitions<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Last exercise to work on propulsion with the gluteal and abdominal muscles (so the back muscles).<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It simply consists in going directly at extended trot from halt. You can also add a few reinback strides beforehand and you get a plyometric exercise.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"969\" height=\"555\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/exercice4.png\" alt=\"halt extended trot\" class=\"wp-image-7128\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/exercice4.png 969w, https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/exercice4-300x172.png 300w, https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/exercice4-768x440.png 768w, https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/exercice4-471x270.png 471w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 969px) 100vw, 969px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here you go, you have some ideas for exercises you can try in order to turn your horse into a true body-builder!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"page\" title=\"Page 9\">\n<div class=\"section\">\n<div class=\"layoutArea\">\n<div class=\"column\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By the way, did you know you can find all of these exercises on the Equisense mobile App so you always have ideas of exercises to do? Download it for iOS or Android, it\u2019s free <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#x1f917;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1292\" height=\"740\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/APP_3-EN.png\" alt=\"Equisense App\" class=\"wp-image-6500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/APP_3-EN.png 1292w, https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/APP_3-EN-300x172.png 300w, https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/APP_3-EN-768x440.png 768w, https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/APP_3-EN-1024x587.png 1024w, https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/APP_3-EN-471x270.png 471w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1292px) 100vw, 1292px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">See you soon for another article,<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Camille Saute,<br>R&amp;D Leader at Equisense<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h6><b>Bibliography<\/b><\/h6>\n\n\n\n<h6><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">[1]<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Denoix, J.-M. (2014). Biom\u00e9canique et gymnastique du cheval. Paris, France: Vigot.<\/span><\/h6>\n\n\n\n<h6>Cover photo: \u00a9Nathalie Hupin &#8211; Equisense<\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cI wanted to work on Dio\u2019s muscles today but I can\u2019t be bothered to set&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/en\/dressage-exercises-horses-muscles\/\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":7131,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[6180],"tags":[6604,6173,31],"yst_prominent_words":[7108,6634,6633,6630,6644,6641,6645,6642,6632,6629,6643,6640,6631,6628],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7104"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7104"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29927,"href":"https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7104\/revisions\/29927"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7104"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.equisense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=7104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}