Cooling down your horse after riding is one of those horsemanship practices that should be ingrained in the mind of every rider. It’s the kind of thing we must have been taught at some early stage, but feels like a piece of wisdom that’s been planted in the brain since time immemorial.
As a cornerstone of the equestrian community’s collective mental handbook, it stands to reason that cooling down your horse properly is something never to be skipped. But have you ever really drilled down into the mechanics of a cool down, and considered what makes those 5–10 minutes of walk at the end of your session so vital?
Stretch, chill and relax
“Cooling your horse down helps reduce both heart and respiratory rates,” says chartered physiotherapist Rachel Greetham, who is a member of both ACPAT and RAMP. “It also helps reduce the core temperature and the temperature within the muscles, promoting the removal of metabolic waste, things like lactic acid. If lactic acid isn’t removed, it can cause muscle soreness and pain. Muscles recover better with lactic acid removed, so by cooling down properly you’re helping improve your horse’s performance for the next day.”
Rachel, who’s been the British team’s dressage and showjumping specialist physiotherapist since 2017, adds that an effective cool down keeps your horse supple.
“When we ride we make the muscles work hard. This makes the muscles contract and shorten. By the time you get off, you want them to have lengthened again. Stretching down and over the back in the cool down helps achieve this, and maintains and improves flexibility. It also encourages the muscles to relax and soften, helping prevent injury.”
Good, better, rest
Rachel says the length of your horse’s cool down is dictated by how hard he’s worked.
“You’re looking to reach the point where the respiratory rate has reduced to normal and there’s an obvious relaxation and softening in the body. There’s a mental aspect to it as well, you’re looking for him to have really switched off from work. You can see evidence of this attitude by looking at his ears, for example. Are they relaxed, or is there evidence of tension?”
According to Rachel, cooling down your horse after riding isn’t effectively achieved by simply walking large.
“Do some circles and changes of direction. Add in some serpentines to ask your horse to bend around the inside leg in a long, low outline. That way you’re getting that stretch over the topline and lateral suppleness to lengthen contracted muscles.”
Cooling down your horse after riding doesn’t have to end when you dismount.
“When you get off you can continue the cool down routine with limb or spinal stretches in accordance with your physio’s advice. Performing these stretches after exercise is much more effective than on cold muscles and helps reduce delayed onset of muscle soreness.”
Going to extremes
An effective cool down might involve additional steps in extreme temperatures.
“In colder months, you might want to put on an exercise sheet when you’re cooling down so the muscles don’t get too cold,” advises Rachel.
“In summer, washing off with cold water is often necessary to cool your horse’s body temperature. Using cold water facilitates a temperature exchange whereby you draw heat from the muscles. The colder the water, the more heat you draw out – there’s been plenty of research done into this now and we don’t scrape it off anymore, but leave it on the horse to cool him better.”
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