movement retraining
What is movement retraining?
"It's recognizing the difference between posture and conformation, seeing whats possible, and knowing how to change it."
Who benefits from it?
Movement retraining can benefit any horse by improving static and dynamic posture, stability, balance, and suppleness.
Many horses develop dysfunctional movement patterns because they never establish the strength, coordination, and balance needed to support themselves correctly both vertically and horizontally. As a result, they may struggle to properly align and stabilize their spine during movement.
When a horse lacks good postural alignment and balance, excess stress is placed on the soft tissues and skeletal system, often leading to body soreness and compensation patterns over time.
How Functional Anatomy, Mental State & Emotional Health Relate
Movement retraining begins with understanding the many factors that influence equine posture. A horse’s posture is not the same as its conformation. While conformation is the structural blueprint the horse is born with, posture is adaptable and shaped over time by how the horse organizes and uses its body.
To influence posture successfully, it’s essential to understand functional anatomy and how the body works as an interconnected system. Muscles create movement by shortening and pulling; they do not push. A muscle can only lengthen in response to an opposing force, whether through the action of its antagonist muscle or the pull of gravity. But in order to fully lengthen and allow movement, it must also be able to relax.
By recognizing how muscles are positioned, how restrictions within muscle lines and fascia affect movement, how limb dominance creates compensation, and how the horse’s mental and emotional state influences posture, movement can begin to be shaped and changed. This creates the opportunity for the horse to become the best version of itself.
When you understand how the horse is organized and where movement may be limited, you begin to recognize patterns of tightness, imbalance, and restriction, and you begin to see what is possible. With the right approach, you can influence those patterns, support healthier movement, and help create a horse that is comfortable, supple, balanced, and strong.
FUNCTIONAL ANATOMY
TENSION LEAVING THE BODY
CHANGING A 4-BEAT CANTER INTO 3-BEAT
How to Join My Program
In-Person Movement Retraining
1. Local Training – I will travel to work with your horse if you’re within the Central Florida/Orlando area.
2. Onsite Training – Send your horse to me and they will receive 1:1 training 5 days per week plus bodywork as needed. 60 day minimum.
3. Clinics – Limited availability as schedule allows for 2-3 day clinics . My "Equine Posture and Movement Training Masterclass" is a good supplement in between visits.
Online Movement Retraining Course
Through my online curriculum, Equine Posture and Movement Training, I share my philosophy and approach to retraining, giving you the knowledge and tools to recognize movement restrictions, understand your horse’s posture, and support meaningful change from anywhere.
The premium version of the course also includes personal coaching sessions and bonus resources, so we can work together on your horse's specific needs.
Get instant access to the program that has been successful for so many of horses!
Case Study:
Kissing Spine Treatment
One of my clients had a four-year-old horse with a severe case of kissing spine. He had undergone surgery to shave bone off nine of his spinous processes. Even after the owner followed the rehab protocol prescribed by the surgeon, and several trainers attempted to start him under saddle, the horse still would not tolerate anything on his back. By the time he was six years old, he had been deemed unrideable and was retired.
I decided to take him on as a movement retraining project. After four months of working with him, he was able to willingly and successfully return to work under saddle at the walk, trot, and canter.
Following the success of that first kissing spine case, I continued working with many complex movement retraining cases. Through the insight gained from those horses, my movement training system has continued to evolve. What took me four months with that first horse now takes far less time. To date, I have yet to come across a horse with kissing spine that has not been able to return to work.
Retraining movement takes time, and the newly developed movement patterns must continue to be maintained as the horse develops over the years ahead. It is not a one-and-done process. This is what led me to develop my movement training system. To empower owners, riders, and trainers to continue the work themselves, understand why their horses move and behave the way they do, recognize what may be driving those movement patterns, and learn how to influence change.
PRIOR TO MOVEMENT RETRAINING
Collapsed between shoulders and jammed up Cervicothoracic Junction. Hollowness/extension of back. Extension of Lumbosacral Joint. Grounded movement. Short stride. Base narrow/tightrope stance and movement. Stabby/toe first landing. Tucked tail carriage.
AFTER 1 MONTH OF MOVEMENT RETRAINING
Improved posture with supported trunk and neck telescoping gesture. Increased stride length. Supple and improved muscle development of topline. Better core engagement. Flexion of Lumbosacral Joint. Improved tail carriage.