How does your horse rest?
Slow, postural work should be the basis for a balanced horse, but faster gaits have their benefits too.
A resting posture that does not require much muscular effort and keeps the spine in a neutral position.
Most often, we talk about posture in the context of training – how the horse is using his body to carry the rider. But, it's not just the posture that the horse has during work that matters. How the horse uses his body when he rests is important too and can tell you a lot about what is going on in his body.
Horses are blessed with something called the stay apparatus. It's an ingenious mechanism that enables them to rest standing up with very little muscular effort. There's a front end stay apparatus and a hind end one and if both are functioning well, a resting posture is very economical. A healthy horse's resting posture will be one which uses very little active muscular effort. His neck will be relaxed, as the horse is relying on the nuchal ligament to carry the load of the head. This means the lower neck muscles will be relaxed and the head will be around the height of the hip joint – sometimes a bit higher, sometimes a bit lower. The cannon bones of his legs will be perpendicular to the ground. The bones stacked one on top of the other enable stability and reduce muscular effort. When the cannon bones are perpendicular to the ground, the horse is standing (more or less) squared. With the feet forming the corners of a rectangle and the head relaxed and supported by the nuchal ligament, the horse is truly resting and his spine is in a healthy, neutral position.
But often, we see a different picture. A horse that appears relaxed and might even appear to be dozing off, might have his head significantly higher. In this posture his lower neck muscles appear to be working, even though the horse is standing still. The head isn't carried by the nuchal ligament anymore, but by muscles and fascia. Often, the cannon bones will not be perpendicular to the ground – the horse might stand camped under in front or behind (or both!). When the legs stop being perpendicular to the ground and the bones are not neatly stacked up, the muscles have to work harder to maintain balance. In the hind legs it's the hamstrings that will be carrying the extra load and in front it will be the pectorals, biceps and lower neck muscles.
A horse resting with the head high. This requires more muscular work, as the nuchal ligament is not really doing its job.
A horse standing like this is not actually resting – his muscles have to work to maintain balance. But the body is smart. Why waste precious energy for muscular effort, when a few fascial adhesions can make the job easier? To reduce muscular effort, soft tissues stick together, creating a sort of cast, making this less-than-economic posture easier. Unfortunately, the downside is that the body has sacrificed mobility for more stability. When the horse moves, his range of motion – and his capacity to assume a healthy posture under the rider – will be reduced. There are many reasons why resting posture becomes unhealthy. It can be poor hoof balance, back pain, lower limb pain, a weak thoracic sling, issues around the pelvis ... you name it. So, next time you are at the barn (any barn, really), pay attention to how the horses are resting. Try to see how they are using their bodies and try to imagine whether or not their posture is helpful or unhelpful.