Jump folks – did you know??…….. Landing requires intense effort by the scapula muscles to ‘lock’ the scapula girdle and arm. Your horse can have painful contractions after comps in triceps, deltoids and the supra-and-infraspinatus.
A great help to reducing injuries in jumping is to prepare your horse through combination of massage and stretching into your normal warm up routine, and to massage and review your horses muscles post competition.
Stretching helps to bring the proprioceptors in tendons and ligaments into a state of ‘readiness’.
Ideal prep would involve a 10 min massage on both shoulders night before, and the morning of the event. Front leg stretches on ground, and a ridden routine involving drawing horses nose downward and lateral motions opposite to the trunk movement at all 3 gaits, will help to develop freedom in the back, neck, lateral muscles.
This kind of prep can help reduce chance of injuries, and pain for your horse post event.
