09/02/2026
A firm favourite exercise that I love giving my clients! Simple yet so effective 🤩🤩
The Wither Rock is a gentle and effective mobilising exercise for the whole body.
It is good for stimulating the core muscles, particularly the thoracic sling, strengthening the forelimb lateral stabiliser muscles that support the limbs when turning and moving sideways.
With your horse standing square.
💠 Stand facing the left shoulder, with your shoulders parallel to the horse’s spine.
💠 Do a personal postural check, ensure you have no tension in your shoulders or arms and take a couple of deep breaths.
💠 Place both hands cupping the top of the withers and take a moment to allow the horse to get used to your touch.
💠 Imagine the movement first and build up slowly from there.
💠 Gently push the withers away from you by about 1cm initially then allow the withers to return to the neutral position before pulling them back towards you by about 1cm then release again.
💠 Repeat this swaying movement in a natural rhythm. The side-to-side movement of the withers should be continuous and flowing. Don’t try to hold his weight in one position.
💠 Gradually increase the amount of sideways movement but only as the horse relaxes into the movement.
Build up from 20 sways remembering to repeat the same number of push-pull cycles from each side.
👀 As you are doing this exercise watch your horse, he may try to communicate that he wants more or when he would like you to stop.
Comment Rock and we'll give you access to our tutorial video on the Wither Rock
