24/04/2023
This!!!🙌
🐴When a horse is exercised infrequently (1-3x pw), their muscles do not hypertrophy (get bigger/stronger) and cardiovascular system does not adapt to harder work.
🐴 research has shown horses need to exercise 4x pw for the above to happen.
🐴 a more efficient CV system means the horses heart can pump out more blood, oxygen & nutrients to muscles per beat, meaning a fit horses heart will work less than an unfit horses heart during the same activity intensity.
You might be thinking..why is this totally relevant to my horses muscles & physio🤔...
Well:
When you take a horse for a long hack x2 pw (for example) the cv system is not given chance to adapt and neither are muscles, but due to lack of fitness, your horse may reach a far higher Heart rate during canter, than a horse deemed to be in 'hard work' multiple times pw.
🐴This means your horse is likely to get more lactic acid build up , than a fit horse doing the same activity.
🐴lactic acid build up makes tight , sore, dysfunctional muscles.
🐴 this occurring causes compensatory patterns meaning horses movement adapts to offload structures, meaning other structures have to work harder to compensate.
🐴 this then significantly increases the risk of injury.
Its similar to us doing no exercise all week then going for 1 long run or even just a long walk at the weekend.. the next day would not be fun! 😬
🐴This is something I have seen a lot in children's ponies that are exercised less frequently but at relatively high intensities for their fitness levels when they do go out, as well as leisure horses in a similar situation.
Physio is not just for competition horses and reducing compensatory patterns through physio and prehab can save you from vet bills and spending more money in the long term🐴
Remember every horse is different & a weak, less muscled horse will get sore muscles more quickly than a strong well developed horse.
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