This morning I had to push myself to train my horses again.

It's cold, very cold, and the horses are "lively" and "awake" shall we say.
The cold makes them run a little faster and they are well awake.

Now that it's so cold, I'm even more satisfied with my training method than I already am otherwise. In fact, I spend one-fifth of my time training my horse by working alongside him, from the ground.

Also, my way of training horses is always appropriate, especially for warming up my horse. But in winter, it has another advantage.

With gymnastic work, you warm up your horse's muscles gradually by doing gymnastic exercises. You can train your horse at all levels without him sweating.

And an advantage for you: you walk next to your horse instead of sitting on him, which keeps you warm. This is the case for me and I can feel it immediately because my feet stay warm.

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How exactly does Postural Gymnastics, Straightness Training work?

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🔹 Postural Gymnastics consists of a series of gymnastic exercises for the horse in which it learns to stretch, tighten and relax its muscles.

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🔹The horse will learn to move its center of gravity further back and develop the ability to carry more with its hindquarters to free the weak front legs.

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🔹 The exercises in Postural Gymnastics keep the horse agile, supple, strong and muscled so that it can carry the rider more easily.

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🔹Postural Gymnastics makes the horse symmetrical in body and limbs. It also develops the horse's balance and distributes the weight evenly on all four legs.

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🔹By straightening the horse, we allow it to carry the rider correctly.

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🔹 In addition, well thought-through gymnastic exercises keep the horse fit for riding into old age.

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“The essence of these exercises is to contract and stretch the muscles. By doing this alternately, the muscles are trained and gain more control"

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Many older horses, horses with kissing spines, with hollow backs or recovering from an injury, as well as perfectly healthy horses, do better if they are kept working to keep their trunk, top-line and hindquarters strong and maintain correct posture.

There are tons of exercises from the ground that can be done to maintain agility and flexibility, in case your horse can't be ridden.
In addition to better muscle control, over time you also teach your horse to perform an exercise more correctly.

In fact, control and improved movement go hand in hand. By doing a repetition very often over a long period of time, the body improves in a movement. This means that it is looking for the most efficient way to perform the movement.
Repetition is the mother of all skills.

After a few months, when you and your horse have created new habits, you will see that the horse performs a more fluid movement. All exercises suddenly seem much easier because the body knows how to control the muscles, has more balance and has found a more efficient path of movement.

When we help our horse to improve its physical condition, the mental and emotional state automatically develops.

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Anyone of any age, in any circumstance, can learn this, and any horse, of any breed, from the age of 3, can be rebalanced in body, mind and soul.

I love this work, I have been able to guide so many horses to be in better shape, literally and figuratively.

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I believe that horse training should start with Postural Gymnastics.

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And now, in winter, with this cold, I am double happy with my work.

And you, how do you get your horse to warm up with this cold? Do you get cold feet? I am curious about your method or routine.

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