06/25/2026
What is one of my triggers as an equine bodyworker?
Resistance bands
Like any tool, these training aids can be beneficial or detrimental depending on how it is being used. 90% of the time, they are being used incorrectly.
If we are working out and use resistance bands, we are using slow and methodical movement. Maybe while doing lunges or working on our abductors. I haven’t seen one person use them on a treadmill or let’s take that a step farther… use them on a treadmill while pushing our belly out and tipping our head towards the sky. Feel like being experimental? Go run for 60 seconds belly out and head up. Then come back and tell me how you feel and where you are aching.
Whether scrolling Facebook or at barns, I see people with both equibands or pessoas(don’t even get me started on that one) with their horse trotting or loping head up, back hollow, horse sprung out and no idea he even has a caboose. All this is doing is job security for me. Just because your horse has a rubber band on their belly and butt does not mean they are building core, topline, hind end or anything else. They are strengthening dysfunction, developing new compensation patterns and planning the next vet appointment for a preventable injury or injections.
Ok now let’s break it down a bit on biomechanics and muscles.
1. no core, no topline. You cannot build a topline if you don’t have a core. You can’t build a core if the head is in the air.
2. If head is high, the back physically can’t soften and round = no topline =severe back tension
3. Forcing the head down or poll to break with tie downs, side reins or whatever other bandaid out on the market will not give you the promised results you hear about. This will give you forced or false collection.
4. No core, tight back, psoas working double time and pi**ed, diaphragm now restricted because of it, diaphragm can’t do its job so now you potentially have a bleeder if it’s a speed horse. With the tight back and diaphragm we now have an SI/sacrum without correct nutation and counter nutation which now means more hock/stifle/SI injections, suspensory issues, locked lumbars, let’s add in potential kissing spine. Guys we haven’t even gotten to the front end.
Ok let me slow down a bit as I will end up teaching anatomy and biomechanics in one post that will take a year to read. We all want to do what’s best for our horse. We want to strengthen and condition them to be able to perform their best. No one is purposely going out and intentionally trying to break their horse down faster. We are doing the best we can with the knowledge we have. And we don’t know what we don’t know. Can you successfully use a resistance band in your program? Yes. So here are a few words of encouragement and recommendations.
1. we strengthen at a WALK. Can you do things at a trot? Eventually but horses are also working on different things at a trot. Walking with a neutral head set for short amounts of time then slowly increasing the time each week. Then maybe add some ground poles to WALK over.
2. Get rid of the head training aids and bigger bits. They will only cause more problems, bracing and a false sense of collection. If you can’t trot or lope your horse(without the bands) with a soft feel in the face and without the head in the air then your horse isn’t ready.
3. If you are struggling to be able to get your horse soft in the face, elevating their front end, engaging their core/rounding their back and really driving with the hind end, ask for help.
4. If you ask for help… well this is another can of worms for another day but when choosing a trainer/coach, watch them ride their horses. Think of it this way. You want to become a doctor. You don’t just go straight into school for that career. You need your preschool first. Your undergrad. Your foundation. Then you go for your degree. When teaching a horse correct movement/biomechanics and muscle development… that’s preschool and undergrad. Different trainers do different things. Some undergrad and some career. I can honestly count on one hand the undergrad trainers in a 100 mile radius I would ever let touch my horse. This is not a dig at trainers and it’s not because they are bad people or bad intentions. They don’t know what they don’t know and are doing the best they can. We all are.
Ok, rant over. Good morning and happy Thursday!!
Wildfire Integrative Bodyworks, LLC
