Neck Stretches for your Horse
[a new technique]
To keep your horse healthy you must may attention to lateral bending [lateral flexion or side bending ] of the neck. Often times owners use carrot stretches to help this activity. The more you can isolate your horses neck muscles during a stretch the more effective it will become. The following stretches can also be used to strengthen your horse. Horses often cheat during a carrot stretch by rotating the head and you will lose some of the efficiency of the stretch. All of these stretches that you see in this article are from Hillary Clayton DVM in her book titled “Activate Your Horse’s Core.”
The first activity is for stretching the neck muscles:
• Stand at the shoulder facing away from the horse.
• Entice the chin toward the lower girth area so the horse’s neck curves gently around your body . Use long carrots and try to have the horse hold position for 3 to 5 seconds. Repeat 3 to 5 times.
• Put your free hand against the outside of the neck to feel those muscles stretching.
• If your horse moves their body to cheat, but them in a corner or along a wall so they cannot turn their entire body.
Stretch your horse’s neck and mid back muscles:
• Same as above neck stretch but this time stand behind the shoulder facing away from your horse.
• This time bring your horse’s chin to the lower flank toward the hock
• Hold for the same amount of time as you did for the neck stretch
