by Sarah Williams

Created on: July 30, 2008   Last Updated: June 25, 2009

Every effective training routine has three essential parts, the "warm-up", the "work-out" and the "cool-down". It is important to understand and plan for each of these three key areas in order to keep your favorite equine friend happy and healthy.

I have been a horse trainer for over 15 years, and I insist upon teaching all novice riders about their mounts in a "ground-up" approach, which includes an emphasis on how to properly care for their horses in all situations. The first thing that you, as a rider, must understand before coming up with a proper "cool-down" strategy is the physical characteristics of your horse. If you are riding a lean, well-muscled, and well-conditioned Arabian, that horse will have a much easier time cooling down after a work-out than a slightly overweight, thicker muscled Quarter Horse. Just like a person, if a horse has lean muscle and is used to heavy "aerobic" exercise he will find it easier to regulate his breathing and body temperature.

A typical ride usually lasts between an hour to an hour and half, and as a general rule, 20 to 30 minutes of that time are spent in the "warm-up" and "cool-down" modes. Depending upon the physical characteristics of your horse, as mentioned above, and the type of work-out that you have had, a good "cool-down" typically lasts for 10 to 15 minutes. In its most basic form, the "cool-down" should involve reducing your horse's body temperature, heart rate and rate of breathing, so the best way to do this is to walk your horse out. Again, as with us humans, after a long run it's best for our bodies to slow down, but not to stop completely. Additionally, one of the key factors that many people seem to overlook when it comes to cooling down is the importance of "stretching" your horse's muscles.

Start by allowing your horse to have a nice, loose rein, this will not only signal to him that it is time to relax, but will also allow him to stretch his neck muscles. Take one lap around the arena each direction at a walk. Next, take the reins in two hands and guide your horse in a medium sized circle, forcing him to turn his head far enough in to the circle so that you can clearly see his nose. Spiral downward from this point until you are doing a very tight circle and your horse is reaching his head as far back toward your inside leg (the leg closest to the inside of the circle) as possible; repeat the other direction. This will help release any tightness through your horse's neck, shoulders and spine. I like

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>