How tension in your own body can cause tension in your horse

How often do you stretch? Probably not as much as you should! As a personal trainer, I will be the first one to admit that I too, need to stretch more!

How often have you felt super stiff in the saddle and as a result your horse feels stiff and tense too? Probably a lot!

In today’s society, it is very easy to trap a lot of tension in your body, be it from your 9-5 day job that requires a lot of sitting, anxiety, stress from every day life, busy schedules with kids, I could go on and on. If you don’t intentionally release this tension through stretching and mobility work, all this tenseness can be translated to your horse very easily.

As an anxious person, I have a hard time relaxing my body and my muscles freeze and tense up often, causing my horse to lock up and freeze up, and the end result? Not a good ride.

Think about this.

Next time you ride, try deliberately locking your hips up and clench your calves. How does your horse respond? Probably negatively and he will probably pin his ears back and not be able to move fluidly in a relaxed manner.

If you have a tense or rigid seat and back, your horse may interpret this as a signal to also tense up! If you are anxious, your horse is probably thinking “Oh god, what is there to be anxious about?!” and you both will feed off of each other’s energy.

If you have tight or tense hands, you may inadvertently transmit this tension to the horse through the reins, causing increase pressure on the bit and leading to discomfort to the horse.

If your entire body is tense, it can affect your horse's ability to move freely and respond to cues!

Do you see where I am going with this?

Working on deep breathing exercises and dynamic warmups before rides can significantly help your muscles to relax and decrease your horses tension too! Stretching after rides can also keep your muscles more supple and release the tension in your muscles to prepare you for your next ride!

Try these two stretches after your next ride!

Cobra Stretch

Side to side Childs Pose