29/05/2026
⚠️ ‘There’s no benefit to stretching horses.’ Let’s talk about that… 👀 ⚠️
I saw a post recently from someone saying they don’t incorporate passive stretching into any of their routines for a number of reasons.
The main points were:
• horses don’t perform them to a high enough quality
• there’s no real benefit to the horse
• horses stretch themselves naturally anyway
• owners should never be encouraged to do them
And honestly?
I think this is where it’s really important that we separate personal opinion from what current evidence is actually suggesting.
Because, whether we personally choose to prescribe certain exercises or not, rehabilitation and therapy should continue evolving alongside scientific research wherever possible.
Now, does that mean every stretch is appropriate for every horse?
Absolutely not.
Does it mean owners should be yanking limbs around without guidance?
Also absolutely not - I have seen this done on livery yards and me no likey.
But - saying stretching or dynamic mobilisation exercises provide “no benefit” simply isn’t supported by the current body of evidence.
In fact, some of the most widely cited equine rehabilitation studies have demonstrated measurable physiological changes associated with dynamic mobilisation and stretching based exercises.
Research by Stubbs et al. showed that regular dynamic mobilisation exercises increased the cross-sectional area and symmetry of the multifidus muscle - which is one of the horse’s key deep spinal stabilisers.
Subsequent studies have continued to support improvements in:
• spinal stability
• posture
• muscle activation
• trunk control
• flexibility
• coordination
• stride parameters
• overall back health following appropriately prescribed mobilisation exercises.
More recent work published in 2025 found that dynamic mobilisation exercises improved movement activity, stride symmetry and coordination, whilst supporting spinal function and musculoskeletal health.
We also know that horses with back pain commonly demonstrate dysfunction and atrophy within stabilising musculature such as multifidus, meaning targeted exercises can play an important role within rehabilitation programmes.
And regarding: “horses stretch themselves naturally.”
Yes, they do, well done.
Horses also walk naturally.
Yet, we still utilise carefully controlled rehabilitation exercises because dosage, direction, repetition and intent matter.
A horse craning its neck laterally scratching its shoulder in the field occasionally is not necessarily the same thing as a structured, progressive exercise programme designed to influence postural control, spinal stability and muscular recruitment.
The same logic applies throughout rehabilitation.
Now, where I do think caution is important:
Not every owner should be blindly performing exercises they’ve seen on social media.
Quality matters.
Technique matters.
Timing matters.
The individual horse matters.
Poorly performed exercises are unlikely to provide the same benefit as correctly prescribed ones, obviously, and some may be inappropriate depending on pathology, pain, strength levels or stage of rehabilitation.
Do I stretch every clients horse I treat? No. See reasons above.
However, that’s a very different topic from simply claiming they have no value at all.
Personally, I think the equine industry should be moving more towards evidence informed conversations, not further away from them.
If we have a growing body of research demonstrating positive effects on spinal musculature, posture, movement quality and trunk stability, then we should be paying attention to that.
Science should never be ignored simply because it doesn’t align with personal preference.
As always: the goal isn’t to collect exercises for the sake of it, and if all you’ve done is a short therapy course focussing on this, you should be broadening your horizons and expanding your wheelhouse, of course.
The goal is to understand WHY we are using them, WHEN they are appropriate, and WHICH horse is standing in front of us. 🖤
📚 References:
• Stubbs et al. (2011) Dynamic mobilisation exercises increase cross-sectional area and symmetry of m. multifidus.
• Lucas et al. (2022) Dynamic mobilisation exercises and multifidus development.
• Saitua et al. (2025) Dynamic Mobilization Exercises Improve Activity and Stride Parameters.
• Tabor (2015) Effects of dynamic mobilisation exercises on equine multifidus and thoracic profile.
