Rounding reflexes, the sternal lift, the belly lift, the pectoral lift – there are many names for them, but how can you ask your horse to lift its back? When is this appropriate, and when isn’t it appropriate?
Lifting the horse’s back – Sternal lifts and rounding reflexes.
Methods to lift the horse’s back by stimulating reflexes and muscle contraction are often recommended as part of managing the health of your horse’s spine or as part of a therapeutic treatment plan. When aiming to lift and round the back in the saddle region, these exercises are called sternal lifts, pectoral lifts, and belly lifts, or known as exercises to engage the thoracic sling. The movement is achieved by applying pressure underneath the horse’s chest, roughly between the girth region and travelling back to the tummy muscles.
The second method to lift the horse’s back is by using the rounding reflex, also known as pelvic tucks or croup reflexes. In this exercise, the sacral portion of the hamstring muscle biceps femoris is facilitated, which causes the pelvis to rotate, which then lifts the lumbar spine, and hopefully, this lift travels forward into the thoracic region.
The aim is to ‘switch on’ the muscles or, in physio speak, ‘facilitate the muscles to contract and shorten. When these muscles contract, the effect is to create spinal flexion, and when the spine flexes, the back raises up.
When the back rises up, the spaces between the spinous processes will increase, and that is the main functional outcome you are looking for when doing these exercises. Therefore, there are several reasons why these exercises are recommended. One example would be in a horse that has had back pain treated, and these exercises are used to restore range of motion. A second suggestion is to use these exercises prior to placing the saddle on the horse and riding, so used as a form of preparation for the horse’s capacity to manage the rider on their back.
It is important to consider not only the amount of movement – the quantity – but also the quality of the movement and the response of the horse as you do them. There should be a smooth lift with no juddering or catching type movement, and once lifted, the horse should be able to maintain that briefly then, as you remove the pressure, the back relaxes to a lower position. Interestingly, but at this stage, an anecdotal observation, the horses often don’t go back down to the original starting position but stay in a slightly lifted posture.
An important point to consider is that if the horse currently has back pain, it may be holding its posture in a fixed position or in a hollowed extended position and may resist this movement as it might create more pain. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the horse in front of you to decide whether the sternal lift exercises are appropriate. Some horses do not tolerate your hands in the position underneath them, and if this is the case, they are likely to react either by changing their facial expression, moving their head around to you or lifting their leg and if provoked further, this may result in a bite or a kick. This could be a pain reaction from the spine, it could be a skin sensitivity issue, or in some cases, it has anecdotally been related to a reaction due to gastric ulcers. If there is any level of negative response from your horse, proceeding with these types of exercises is not advised because they will be counterproductive. Whilst these exercises can be useful for a wide variety of horses, please do check with the professionals working with your horse before starting them. Examples of when not to do them would be in the period immediately following kissing spine or colic surgery.
Summary
In summary, sternal lifts and rounding reflexes are useful exercises if selected for achieving movement in a horse that can achieve a pain-free movement. Care must be taken to ensure that you are not provoking an aversive response, but when done well can be really successful at positively impacting posture.
