Improve Health With Cross-Training for Horses

Understanding Cross Training for Horses

• Most of the equine cross-training articles living on the internet reference dressage. Either the dressage horse needs to exit the sand lot, or the other disciplines need to do some time chasing letters around. That’s all fine and dandy, but think of changing the training routine from common exercises in your discipline to new exercises from a borrowed discipline.

Definition and Importance of Cross-Training in Equine Disciplines

• When you incorporate different exercises borrowed from other disciplines, you allow your horse to expand their brains and promote fitness that balances their musculature, improves coordination, increases cardiovascular fitness, and helps their mental health by preventing burnout.

• Most importantly, varying your training routine doesn’t fully support the “wear and tear” injuries that repetitive activities create. Injuries and arthritis can happen, but imagine if your horse did the same movements, like half-pass, running barrels, or jumping to the point of diminishing returns. Mix up the training to help keep wear and tear away.

How Cross-Training Differs from Traditional Horse Training

• Traditional training usually involves smaller exercises that support the primary discipline and progress as the levels and challenges increase.

• For example, jumpers start at cross rails, move up to the lower jumps, then gradually progress to the big stuff. Endurance horses work toward shorter rides before the big 100-mile rides. Dressage riders work on shoulder-in forever to begin the half pass and pirouettes. In each case, the building exercises are components of the upper levels.

• In cross training for horses, the building exercises have little to do with moving up any level. You’ll never jump a course that involves rocky terrain or batting a soccer ball with a broom. But training those things helps you get there.

Sometimes seeing new things is what everyone needs. 

Key Components of an Effective Cross-Training Program

• One of the primary benefits of mixing up the training routine is the opportunity to change your horse’s body.

Physical Conditioning and Its Benefits

• You can learn much about your horse when you ask them to engage their bodies differently. How do they feel walking up or down hills? Going over cavelletti? Making tight turns? Working on the buckle? Not using training aids like martingales, draw reins, or bits?

• When your discipline is the only discipline, the primary muscles become stronger at the expense of other muscles. Injuries and repetitive use trauma are more likely to involve these primary muscles. Start riding your horse holistically!

Mental Exercises to Enhance a Horse’s Cognitive Abilities

• The most significant benefit of cross-training happens in the brain for both horse and rider. The result can be increased trust, more confidence, and more fun.

• Many nervous horses or riders have had their world reduced because of spooking and the fear of spooking. One common technique to overcome this is to take away possible spooks by only riding in one area of the farm, at a certain time of day, or only when there’s a buddy around. The world narrows, and adventures outside of this bubble will only grow in their shock value.

• Cross-training systematically teaches horse and rider to see, walk around, explore, and discover new things. Don’t throw the world at them all at once. Work up to it! Walk back to the barn after leaving the arena instead of dismounting first. Pretty soon, you’ll be hacking all over the property.

Incorporating Variety: The Role of Different Exercises

• Your horse’s current discipline and what interests them give you an idea of what new exercises would be helpful. There are two ways to pick some new adventures.

• Think about their body parts supported by their discipline, and do exercises unrelated to your discipline that support these parts. For example, reiners use muscles to collect and sit. Hill work and cavalletti support this.

• You can also focus on the tense and underused muscles and movements and work to support those. For example, a dressage horse with a tight back and neck benefits from loose rein hacking and trail rides.

Working on skills at home can help you at the horse show. 

Various Exercises Strengthen Your Horse

• How do you decide what new things to try with your horse? Think about their body and sore muscles, their brain and how they react to new situations, and something you think both of you will enjoy. Then start experimenting!

Explore New Disciplines

• There are as many equestrian sports as horse breeds, leaving you with endless options. Some great, popular cross-training disciplines include:

Dressage

• In French, dressage means training, and that’s all it is. You don’t have to train your western cow horse to Prix St. Georges, but you could teach them to work simple patterns with straightness and accuracy. The basics of dressage include responsiveness to the aids, straightness, transitions, maneuverability of the shoulders, and using the hind end. All disciplines have that.

Cavelletti and gymnastics

• These simple poles teach horses to lift their legs, use their backs, coordinate their brains and bodies, and improve balance in straight and bending lines. Poles are also handy for teaching lead changes.

Hill work

• Walking, trotting, and cantering up and down hills teach balance and coordination while improving topline strength. Hills are also a great way to build up to trail riding on terrain with different surfaces, potential for spooks, and lots of new things to see.

Varying footing

• One of the best things to do for your horse is to train them on different footing. Using the same arena footing always makes going to a show shocking on their legs. But treat a new surface appropriately, and don’t ask your horse to do fast things on softer or harder footing. Footing too soft will strain muscles and soft tissue, while hard footing is concussive and can damage the hoof. A trot or canter on different surfaces is safer and beneficial with conditioning.

Non-riding activities as cross-training for horses

• You can still introduce your horse to the world out of the saddle. These exercises are fantastic for days when it’s too hot or too cold to ride.

Lunging and long-lining

• It’s always a plus to have a horse responsive to vocal cues. Lungeing and long lining allow you to strengthen the relationship between verbal cues and desired behaviors as long as you keep them consistent.

• You’ve created brain mush if you use “stop” on the lunge line and “ho” in the tack. Similarly, if you use “ho” on the lunge to halt but “ho” in the saddle to downward transition, that’s a training error on your part and won’t help you in an emergency.

How many verbal commands does your horse know? 

Clicker training

• Positive reinforcement is the kindest way to work with horses. Eliminating flooding, punishments, and “moving their feet” to make a point will never be as rewarding, healthy, and kind as positive reinforcement horse training.

• Many fantastic books explain this in detail, but “clicker training” teaches your horse simple actions that build up into a new way to communicate, like touch, back up, move away, etc. Over time, you can use simple cues to build up to larger experiences, like loading, overcoming fears, and more, both in and out of the saddle.

Treadmills and hot walkers

• Does your horse need rehab, lots of walking on consistent and safe ground, or more daily steps to promote x,yz, or z? Treads and hot walkers may help you. They can be dull and sometimes dangerous, but for the most part, they can assist your horse when used fairly.

Bodywork, chiropractic therapy, and equine massage

• Having professionals do body work on your horse can holistically help their bodies feel better. And, these therapies are non-invasive and give you feedback on how they feel. When you discover what aches and pains they have, you can react accordingly and tailor your training plan to accommodate this feedback.

How to Track Your Horse’s Fitness

• One reason to vary your horse’s training is to boost their fitness. And it’s easy to track! You need a starting point, their vital signs, and an ending point when their vital signs return to normal.

Know their baseline vitals – temp, pulse, respirations

• Before tracking anything, know your horse’s baseline measurements at rest. They may vary slightly from the morning to the evening. You’ll need to know:

Temperature – this is generally between 99.5° and 101.5° F.

Pulse (Heart Rate) – typically 24 to 40 beats per minute, although most horses are between 32 and 36.

Respiratory rate – horses usually take 8 to 12 breaths per minute.

For more on taking vital signs, read this masterpiece.

Some apps and wearable devices (for horse and human) can track vitals for you. 

Check for soreness and stiffness before you ride

• Grooming before exercise allows you to check for sore muscles. Do you notice a reaction as you squish and press on the major muscles? What about when you feel the tendons around the lower legs?

• You may see your horse flinch, step away, swing or posture toward you, snap their teeth, swish their tail, or otherwise give you a sign of discomfort.

• You may notice any stiffness as you ask them to walk to the grooming area or if you ask them to turn around. Notice if their hoof tracks are longer or shorter than usual. Short steps may indicate soreness or stiffness.

Monitor vitals after exercise

• When your horse finishes exercising with effort, take their vitals every 5 minutes until you see them return to normal. This time period is your fitness indicator. As horses increase fitness, the recovery time decreases.

• Try to compare apples to apples when you are tracking fitness. Recovery time after a hack won’t be the same as riding gallop sets as an eventer would. Perhaps you only track recovery time after harder work.

• Also, allow for differences in weather, especially humidity, as this makes evaporative cooling from sweat difficult. The best way to track fitness is to collect data and look for trends over time, like weeks and months.

Protecting Your Horse While Cross-Training

• Using the best tack and protection for your horse is ideal, especially if you are introducing your horse to new things.

Appropriate tack

• You don’t need a western saddle to run barrels, although it’s highly suggested! And you don’t need an English saddle to work cavelletti, although it can help you.

• The most important things to consider are how your horse moves in their tack, how safe you are in that tack, and how you can protect their legs and hooves as you try new things.

• Consider how your English discipline horse would be about the rear cinch of a Western saddle. You may need to acclimate your horse to this before you turn your dressage horse into a working cow horse. The same goes for you – how well can you acclimate to new tack before you tackle exercises from a new discipline?

Boots and bell boots

• Leg protection and bell boots are not required for riding, and they have many pros and cons. The most obvious “pro” is that they protect a horse’s legs (or hooves in the case of bell boots) from injury. Booting up as you and your horse try new things is always a good idea.

• Be mindful of the new exercises or terrain you’ll encounter. Don’t use polo wraps if you will be walking through water or brush, and don’t use open-front boots if your horse is new to poles.

The entire point of caring for and riding horses is to have fun. Is there a better way than cross-training for horses? Probably not.

Examples of Easy Exercises

Try these on for size: 

Pole Work – Set up 4-6 poles on the ground at even distances and walk/trot over them to improve coordination and rhythm.

Cavaletti Work – Use raised poles (start low) to encourage proper hoof lifting and engage core muscles

Gentle Hill Work – Walking up and down gentle slopes to build hindquarter and topline strength

Arena Figure Eights – Ride in figure-eight patterns at various gaits to improve flexibility and balance

Backing Up – Practice backing your horse in straight lines and gentle curves to strengthen hindquarters.

Side-passing – Move laterally along a fence or wall to improve lateral flexibility

Turn on the Forehand – Pivot the hindquarters around the front legs to increase the hindquarter’s mobility.

Turn on the Haunches – Pivot the front end around the hind legs to improve shoulder mobility.

Transitions – Practice smooth transitions between gaits (walk-trot-walk) to improve responsiveness.

Serpentines – Ride in S-shaped patterns to develop flexibility and balance.

Ground Poles on Curves – Set poles in fan shapes to navigate on curved lines.

Trail Riding – Natural terrain variations provide excellent cross-training opportunities.

Arena Trail Obstacles – Set up simple obstacles like tarps, bridges, or cones in your arena.

Lunging Over Poles – Work your horse on a lunge line over ground poles.

Walk-Halt Transitions – Practice crisp, balanced stops from walking to build hindquarter engagement.

Stretching Exercises – Encourage your horse to stretch their neck down and forward while riding.

Long and Low Work – Ride with longer reins, allowing your horse to stretch while maintaining contact.

Change of Directions – Practice frequent changes of direction at various gaits.

Walk Pirouettes – Very slow, small circles where the hind legs step around in place while the front legs walk a circle.

Water Wading – Walking through knee-deep water creates natural resistance that strengthens muscles without high impact. Start with shallow water and gradually increase depth as your horse becomes comfortable.

Forest Trail Navigation – Riding through wooded areas with natural obstacles like fallen logs, varying terrain, and narrow paths improves balance, coordination, and confidence.

Beach Work – If accessible, riding on sand provides excellent resistance training. Walking on loose sand develops muscles differently than on firm ground.

Snow Training – Walking through fresh snow (6-12 inches deep) provides resistance similar to water but with different proprioceptive challenges.

Varied Terrain Hacking – Intentionally seeking out routes with a mix of uphill, downhill, and flat sections in a single ride to work different muscle groups.

Stream Crossings – Finding safe, shallow streams to cross repeatedly helps build confidence, while the varied footing and water resistance creates strength.

Bareback Walking – Remove the saddle for walking sessions to improve your balance and core strength.

Field Work – Walking, trotting, and cantering across open fields in large figures (big circles, wide serpentines) without the constraints of arena walls.

Natural Embankment Work – Finding natural slopes and riding diagonally across them (side-hilling) to engage different muscles for balance.

Notice the little banks that require some thoughtful hoof placement – a great training opportunity!

Key Highlights

• Cross-training helps with physical shape and mental skills that are key to a horse’s fitness and mood.

• This method mixes different riding styles, offering diverse workouts that boost strength, endurance, and flexibility.

• Fun activities add mental challenges, which lower stress and help the horse learn.

• Training options like stretching, obstacle courses, and trail riding work on both body and mind.

• A good equine training program focuses on the individual horse’s needs and changes with time.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the optimal frequency for cross-training sessions?

Like any fitness plan, new riding exercises should be introduced slowly and allowed to increase as long as your horse remains happy, willing, and not sore afterward. You could also sprinkle in play on regular training days, like cooling out on the trail or trotting hills before dressage work.

How can cross-training prevent injuries in horses?

When horses experience new sights, sounds, footing, and training exercises, their brains gain confidence, and their bodies gain strength and coordination. Both are excellent ways to prevent injuries and have fun in the saddle.

Videos