Equine Rehabilitation Exercises

Rehabilitation Exercises Following Cervical Spinal Surgery:

Forest
Flexing the neck
Forest
Flexion exercise
Forest
Stretching exercise

Many clients want to know what they can do to rehabilitate their horse. There are many choices but one that is recommended by Dr. Grant is the exercise book by veterinarian Dr. Hillary Clayton and physical therapist Narelle Stubbs. Once you get approval from your veterinarian to increase exercise you can check into the book, "Activate Your Horse's Core". It is full of unmounted exercises designed to increase the horse's dynamic mobility, strength and balance. Dr's Grant and Reed stress that exercise is a very important part of your horse's rehabilitation program.

A 95 minute DVD explains in detail how to perform each exercise and the benefits from doing exercise regularly. The book is laminated so it can be taken to the barn and each page has a separate exercise with an easy to follow explanation accompanied by color photos

The first set of exercises (dynamic mobilizations) are designed to increase the range of motion of the inter-vertebral joints. These exercises also strengthen the horse’s own muscles as they are used to move the joints of the neck and back through their full range of motion.

The second set of exercises (core strengthening exercises) use manual pressure on specific parts of the horse’s body to engage the core muscles that round the back and the sling muscles that are used to elevate the forehand.

The third set of exercises (balancing exercises) activate and strengthen muscles in the hind quarters that stabilize the hip and pelvis during athletic activities.

All of the exercises are useful for improving athletic performance in sport horses. In horses that are rehabilitating from injury or surgery, the exercises help to retain the normal ranges of joint motion and maintain muscle strength during the rehabilitation period.

You can find Activate Your Horse's Core at SPORT HORSE PUBLICATONS or you can find out more information on Dr. Clayton’s research at the College Of Veterinary Medicine at Michigan State University.