What Is The Core?

Getting to the heart of the problem

The core in a horse is just as important as it is in humans. However, relative to most gym trainers out there, we as horse trainers spend comparatively little time working on our horse’s core. Unfortunately, this often leads to our horse moving incorrectly and using unhealthy movement patterns to compensate for the weakness in these ‘core’ areas.

Interestingly, in the horse, the core is not just made up of the ‘abdominal’ muscles, as many of us seem to think. In fact, the core is made up of all the structures that provide support to the horse’s frame, from the poll right down to the end of the tail. Here you will see that the muscles of the neck, trunk, pelvis and thoracic sling are all crucial structures that must be targeted through core training.

BONY STRUCTURES

The core of the horse is built around the vertebral column, which consists of seven cervical vertebrae, 18 thoracic vertebrae, six lumbar vertebrae, five sacral vertebrae and about 20 caudal vertebrae, that make up the tail. In the thoracic region, the ribs and sternum are also considered part of the structures that make up the bony part of the core, and these structures move with the vertebral column. Similarly, the pelvis (with its associated hip joints), which is attached to the sacrum at the sacroiliac joint, is another bony structure of the core.

CORE MOVEMENTS