What is passive physiotherapy?
Posture is not only the result of training, but how the horse spends his free time too. By manipulating his living environment, we can facilitate good posture even when we are not working with the horse.
Ground poles are a great way to boost proprioception.
When we think about our own posture, we think about being slumped behind a computer, or how we sit crooked in the car or how we're hunched over when eating. We rarely think about our posture when running, doing Pilates or on a hike. Isn't it funny that with horses it's the other way around? We think about their posture mostly when they're working. We don't really think twice what position they're eating in or how they look when strolling around the pasture.
Posture is a dynamic feature and it changes with the demands placed on the body. It reflects how we use our bodies and it changes to accommodate function. So, if we spend 8 hours behind a computer and one hour at the yoga studio, our posture will more likely reflect the time spent behind the computer. The yoga helps, but it's not a miracle cure for bad posture. If we want to making lasting changes, the best way is to change our environment to facilitate a healthier posture. This might mean placing the screen higher up, to eye level, getting a standing desk or taking frequent stretching breaks.
We can do the same thing for our horses. We can change their environment to facilitate better posture. This is often called passive physiotherapy and it is a wonderful tool to enable better muscular development and maintain soundness. A basic feature is as simple as placing food and water at different ends of their living space. That way they eat a little, then take a stroll, then eat a little, and take another stroll. If we then place some obstacles in between feeders, like ground poles or maybe a log, we are introducing some light exercise to the mix as well. Or maybe we can change the footing, add some round stones. This way we are challenging their proprioceptive systems as well as strengthening the hooves. If we have access to inclines, we can incorporate those into the system as too.
If you have access to inclines, they can be a great addition, as long as we make sure they don’t become too slippery when wet.
Now before you go out and place logs and obstacles all over the place, keep in mind that too much of a good thing can be bad. So, make sure the changes you make are not too demanding on the horse. Ideally, set it up so the horse has a choice of taking a shorter route with obstacles, or the longer one without. I would also recommend implementing changes slowly, so the horse has time to get used to it. Observe the horse after every change you make. Is the change actually facilitating good posture or is it not working as intended? Make sure you are not inadvertently creating poor movement patterns.
This is some of the stuff we can do with the space, but the real gold nugget lies in manipulating feeding positions. A horse will walk over from one end of the living space to the other every now and then, but he will spend most of his time eating. So, if we change the feeding stations to facilitate good posture, we can make a positive change in how the horse stands and uses his body for up to 18 hours a day. That can make a huge difference in general posture! We will discuss this idea further next week.