Why exercise is important to horses 🐴

What is ESSENTIAL exercise for a horse? - Horses require daily exercise because they are essentially grazing athletes. This does not mean that you have to ride them every day (or even at all) but you do need to provide the right environment so that they can move enough to stay healthy, or, provide structured exercise (or both).

Providing actual exercise (or exercise opportunities) is a very important part of caring for a horse. It is not acceptable to keep horses confined in small spaces without providing lots of opportunities for movement.

Lack of movement leads to obesity problems which in turn leads to issues such as Laminitis - a dangerous condition of the hooves.

It can also lead to stereotypic behaviour problems as a horse is 'hard wired' to move and will attempt to do so even when prevented from doing so (hence 'box walking', 'weaving', etc.).

Why do horses need to move so much?

Horses rely on movement to keep their circulation working properly (both blood and lymphatic fluid circulation). Every step a horse takes helps to keep their circulation working by ‘pumping’ blood and lymphatic fluid back up the legs.

The hoof of the horse has evolved to expand and absorb the downward pressure of the horse (as the hoof touches the ground) and contract to push fluids back up again as the hoof leaves the ground.

This is the reason that horses that do notmove enough tend to develop ‘filled legs’ which is where the lower legs fill with fluid due to the horse standing still for too long. This fluid usually disappears once the horse is exercised. However, it can become a chronic condition in horses that are over-confined long term.

Horses that are confined without the right kind of exercise opportunities will also suffer mentally. The Covid Pandemic (and its subsequent lockdowns) has really brought it home to people just what it feels like to have their freedoms restricted. Even some people who previously thought that confining horses to stables etc. was acceptable have now started to empathise more with horses in this situation.

Horses that are kept in small yards or stables should either be turned out daily onto pasture (preferably with other horses) or into a larger area (again preferably with other horses). Being with other horses increases their movement. The best way to maximise movement is to turn horses out to graze with other horses. They will then walk steadily for several hours. This is the most ideal form of basic exercise for a horse (more on this later).