27/08/2026
Riders spend a lot of time thinking about strength, fitness, and soundness. But there is another part of athletic performance that is just as important: whether the horse knows where its body is in space.
“Proprioception is an awareness of where the body is in space,” Dr. Julie Vargas, founder of Limestone Equine Performance Medicine in Lexington, Kentucky, explained on The Plaidchat.
It affects everything from balance to how high a horse picks up a leg over a pole or fence. And when proprioception is weakened by injury, neurologic disease, or deconditioning, rebuilding it can become an important part of rehabilitation.
Vargas offered a simple human example. Stand on a firm surface, close your eyes, and see whether you can maintain your posture without swaying. Without vision to help you orient yourself, your body has to rely on its own internal sense of position. That is proprioception.
For a horse, the concept is similar.
The horse has to know where each limb is without looking at it. That awareness helps the horse negotiate poles, fences, uneven ground, and changes in terrain. “How does the horse know how high to pick up his legs as he passes over a pole or a fence?” Vargas asked.
If that body awareness is impaired, the signs can become more obvious. Vargas said poor proprioception can contribute to tripping or stumbling. It becomes especially important when a horse has experienced neurologic deficits or has changed the way it moves.
During recovery, sometimes the horse needs to relearn a movement pattern. Vargas explained that sensory input can be used to encourage a limb to move differently. “Even just a bell boot could act like that sensory input to change the movement,” she said.
📎 Continue reading this article at https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2026/08/26/what-is-proprioception-and-why-does-your-horse-need-it/
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