Gearing Up for Galloping

Galloping is one of the most therapeutic exercises a horse can do, releasing tension and stiffness in the back and hindquarters.

Skilled riding is often all it takes to improve a horse’s athleticism, performance, and overall well-being. But just as often, even good dressage-based training programs fail to fully root out the habits and patterns that prevent many horses from reaching optimal movement and correctness of their gaits.

Anything from a poorly fitting saddle to inconsistent exercise, an injury, or past postural imbalances can create compromises. These quickly become deeper impediments to a horse’s movement mechanics that persist even with good, regular riding schedules.

The body’s way of taking care of itself during physical imbalances is to put up defenses. These defenses take the form of muscular spasms, adhesions, restricted joint motion, and signals to and from the central nervous system to move differently.

Curing these defenses is not as simple as giving the horse a period of rest, though that can seem like a sensible solution. Putting a horse out in the field for a few months with the hope that everything will clear up rarely fixes the underlying problems.

Therapies like chiropractic care and massage are generally successful in releasing areas of immobility so the horse is able to move optimally. However, they only set the stage; they do not by themselves create healthy movement.

For that, the horse must be taken through exercises that habituate correct new patterns. This is where corrective exercises come in.

Let’s Go Galloping!

Galloping offers one of the most generally therapeutic exercises for a riding horse. It can release tension and stiffness in the horse’s back and hindquarters—sometimes more effectively than bodywork and stretches combined.

The classical masters of dressage often advised riders to take their horses for a brisk canter across the fields regularly because it’s one of the simplest tools to keep a horse tuned up with full, free range of motion.

Misunderstood nowadays as something that only applies to racehorses and eventing horses, galloping often fails to exist within the domain of most arena and recreational riders. And yet it helps cure rhythm irregularity in the gaits, a hollow back, and one-sidedness.

Galloping does not need to be an all-out, white-knuckled affair as some wary riders fear. It just needs to be a brisk version of cantering without holding the horse tightly with the reins.

Compared to other gaits, the galloping horse pushes himself forward with more powerful contractions of his back muscles. These forceful contractions are followed quickly by relaxation of the muscle fibers. The contraction/relaxation cycles prevent tension or stiffening of the horse’s long back muscles, which is often created by other work.

Horses that are able to canter briskly for a period each week, whether out in the field or around an arena, maintain better symmetry in the activation of their hind legs and more freedom through their back.

Start in the Arena

For those who are wary of their horse’s behavior when encouraged to canter quickly, or have other concerns such as the horse tripping, getting fatigued, or not steering very well, I recommend the following exercise.

While your horse will not be receiving the same benefits of a prolonged canter bout, you will lay a good foundation to get there soon. It is intended for the comfy confines of an arena or large enclosed area.

1. Shorten your stirrups by one or two holes. This helps you ride in a lighter seat up off the horse’s back.

2. After a normal warm-up, strike off in a canter.

3. Now come up in a half-seat, lighten the reins, and encourage your horse to move a little faster.

4. Try to travel around 10 miles per hour, not faster or slower. This is not an out-of-control speed, just a brisk effort.

5. Continue around the perimeter of the arena or on a very large circle (no smaller than 40 meters) for 30 seconds.

6. Take a short break by jogging around for 30 seconds.

7. Repeat this four times.

Once horses learn that galloping involves a fair amount of sustained work, it ceases to be thrilling. Horses that are initially excited or reactive about the freedom of galloping learn that it’s just another part of their work week, but you must help them get over that initial hurdle.

Use a watch for this exercise. Many riders don’t know what 30 seconds of galloping feels like, and they are prone to quit after a much shorter time.

Be sure to go at least 30 seconds—or longer—with each canter. This is the time you’ll need for your horse to settle into his strides for the right physiological response.

This excerpt from 55 Corrective Exercises by Jec Ballou is reprinted with permission from Trafalgar Square Books. This reprint originally appeared in the May 2024 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!