24/03/2026
The horse’s back - what we’re missing.
The horse’s back is always the focus - it’s where we sit, where we expect strength and where issues tend to show up.
But in reality, the back is rarely the starting point.
Most of the horses I see aren’t struggling because their back is weak. They’re struggling because they don’t have the posture, balance, or coordination to use it properly in the first place - and this is where things start to go wrong.
🔸 If the front end isn’t lifting and supporting the thoracic sling
🔸 If the ribcage isn’t stabilised
🔸 If the hind end isn’t stepping under and carrying
➡️ Then the back has no choice but to compensate.
So instead of:
✅ Lifting
✅ Swinging
✅ Supporting
You get:
❌ Tension
❌ Bracing
❌ Dropping through the spine
❌ Reduced movement
And over time that becomes ‘normal’, but it’s not normal and this is why so many ‘back issues’ don’t fully resolve.
Because you can:
🐴 Massage it
🐴 Treat it
🐴 Strengthen it
But if the underlying movement hasn’t change, the same patterns will keep coming back.
The spine doesn’t work in isolation, it reflects what’s happening in the rest of the body.
So we can’t just focus on ‘topline’ or ‘core strength’ and expect it to hold.
If the horse is still moving in poor balance, you’re just building strength on top of dysfunction.
When we instead look at the whole picture: front end, ribcage, hind end, and how they all work together, that’s when things start to change.
That’s when the back can:
✅ Lift
✅ Move more freely
✅ Develop true strength
✅ Carry with less tension
- and that’s usually the missing piece.
