Equibands, ankle bands, and other proprioception exercises for the semi-retired

[Renn_aissance]

I am wondering about proprioception exercises as a low-impact way of encouraging correct action in the semi-retired horse. I know that Equibands have some science behind them for core stability, and have used a single ankle band on a horse recovering from a hind end injury who needed to remember he could in fact use that leg. Has anyone here noticed a difference in adding these in, and are there other exercises that can help achieve this goal in a low-impact way?

The candidate: coming-27 horse has left the “gallop sets and jumping” phase of his life behind and is now in the “tai chi and mall walking” phase. He is maintained to be serviceably sound WTC and loping over speedbumps, is semi-retiring both because he was having less fun doing that and because his eyesight is changing, and is enjoying his life of trail rides with a little trot set once a week, a little flatwork session once a week, and the rest being in the woods or out hacking along the road, mostly at walk and trot. The goal of his exercise is functional fitness- maintaining strong, flexible soft tissues to support aging joints. On our side: footing permitting, we do our flatwork out in a sloping field, plus or minus poles/raised rails; and we have lots of hills to walk and trot. I do not ask for the same level of throughness as I would have 10 years ago, but his flatwork does ask that he engage from the hocks through the back. His hobbies include bushwhacking in the woods and power-walking singletrack mountain bike trails.

The specific problems I am looking to help: as you would expect, once I decreased the intensity and duration of his flatwork his core strength has decreased and his topline come down. There’s only so much belly lifts can do. His action is basically correct but his left hock, stifle, and SI are all showing less fitness as symmetrical power in the hind end is harder for him to maintain. In other words, he’s semi-retired, and he likes it but he feels it. His vet feels he should keep going, views his changes in way of going as a fitness issue, and was first to mention the Equibands to develop as an add-in to trail walks. Other ideas welcome.

[Scribbler]

I find that lateral work in hand helps belly and back.

[scislandsprite]

I second this! Lateral work can be taught on the ground in just a halter at the walk so it’s lower intensity and it’s so good for them. You can do pretty much everything from leg yield, shoulder in, haunches in, half pass, & pirouette. Very handy since I can adjust how many steps of each movement I ask for on easier days

[Renn_aissance]

@Scribbler

I find that lateral work in hand helps belly and back.

Yup! Leg-yield is an everyday feature (including on most of his trail walk days.) On flatwork days we do a little shoulder-fore and haunches-fore (proper angles for shoulder-in and haunches-in are a bit of a reach these days) and he retains a brilliant turn on the haunch and walk pirouette. Moving around logs, opening gates, etc. Also great to amp up exercise on the days where the only good footing is back and forth on the road. Leg-yield from one end of the lane to the other!

In his horse show days he was my big eq horse so his flatwork background is solid. I don’t drill flatwork because he’s never found it fun and retirement is mostly about enjoying himself, but it’s an integral part of retaining his suppleness.

[IPEsq]

I really like the Equicore system, and it’s easy to incorporate. I train mine to be able to handle the bands connected over the back if I want to take them off at any time but not actually put them somewhere (or carry them if you are still out walking). So, I can unclip one side while mounted, pull it up, flip over the back, and reconnect to the buckle. They just flap around up there and won’t fall off but are no longer under tension on the belly or hindquarters. So, easy enough to remove if you think necessary, but you can certainly work up to being able to do a full ride in them.

[Pally]

It sounds like you are already doing a lot of really great age-and-stage appropriate work with him, both from the mental and physical standpoint.

I’m not sure if you already use your poles in ways other than the standard “go forward over them”, but if not, this can be great proprioceptive & low impact strength work. Things like going over at angles. Stopping over a pole (then you have the choice of going forward, sideways, or backwards to get off the pole). Working through and around poles.

Also purposely changing the footing is helpful for proprioception. This is different than just working on varied footings (though that’s also important!). Think something like weaving your way across a road or driveway so you’re going grass/gravel/grass. Obstacles like tarps or boards/bridges also fall under this. It sounds like your guy is confident in his footing, but if you may be having eyesight degeneration, it’s worth keeping that up.

In terms of helping his core strength, the out of saddle work is worthwhile. Just remember as you said yourself, he’s ready for tai chi, not 30 minute ab shredder. Grabbing a hoof pick and demanding sets of reflexive belly lifts is likely not a good idea. Rather, play around with your technique to see what kind of smooth, slow (even if not huge) lifts you can get and hold for a bit. You can also do this kind of thing with a pelvic tuck… rather than running your fingers down the butt for a big scooch, try just pressing your knuckles under his point of buttock, taking a lunge position and rocking into him (so you are now the one doing tai chi). He’ll likely rock back against you. [Note: I give this recommendation assuming the 27 year old you’ve had forever is unlikely to kick you for this. Anyone else reading please proceed with common sense].

Standard carrot stretches done correctly are a core stabilization exercise. Just be sure to go slow into them (use a less desirable treat if carrots offer too much enthusiasm) and aim for a nice hold, as this is where the strength part comes in. Be on the look out for “cheats” such as tilting the head or lifting a foot, and back off to a point where he can maintain good form if needed.

I’m also a big fan of gentle leg circles. Keep them small and easy. Leg raises where they hold up a foot with little to no support form you are great for stabilization and strength, especially in the hind end.

[Renn_aissance]

Thanks for this great post!

We of course do carrot stretches, belly lifts, and tail tucks but those have been approached as mobility exercises, not strength, so those slow motion holds will be new to develop.

Great point about changing footing as well. He thinks he is a mountain goat. In some respects I would like him to have a little less confidence in boldly going where no horse has gone before- the first mountain bike trail expedition was entirely his idea as he found a new trail and was going to explore it, regardless of my input, and he was supremely confident in his ability to trot down switchbacks. He was right about that, but I still made him walk. He has always liked exploring and my concern about his vision is that it will make his world grow smaller, when he has always liked to push its borders. Making a practice of changing terrains as opposed to doing it by chance can only help him continue to contextualize what he can see and make inferences about what he can’t.

[IPEsq]

Yes the slow holds will help with strength, especially the nose to ankles carrot stretches. There was a study that measured cross sectional area of the multifidus muscles that found an increase in muscle from just doing those stretches/mobilizations alone—horses were otherwise laid up. Now, they did do a lot of sets/reps for the study but I think it’s still useful in conjunction with other exercises for a horse not on restricted movement.