A Prescription For Parelli – Partial Disengagement On-Line To Improve Spinal Mobility
As part of my new series “A Prescription For Parelli“ we will discuss games and exercises taught within the Parelli Natural Horsemanship program that can be used to target specific imbalances in the equine body. In this article we will cover partial disengagement as a ground exercise which can help improve both vertical and lateral spinal mobility, strengthen the topline, and increase pelvic flexibility. This article is not meant as a horse training tool or to teach equine massage, nor as a replacement for veterinary care. It’s purpose is strictly to provide you with simple bodywork exercises that can help increase the performance of your horse.
Many horses have a preference for one direction over another, just as people tend to be right or left handed. In many cases it’s more about muscle memory and ingrained habits than anything physical that needs to be “fixed”. With simple repetitive exercises and stretching, most of the issues noted below tend to resolve themselves without further intervention. You can greatly improve your horse’s performance and flexibility and be playing with your horse at the same time. You’ll not only be helping your horse physically, but building your communications skills and developing a better relationship with your horse.
Using the partial disengagement ground exercise can help balance horses that have a tendency to hold their ribs to one direction. This posture can affect things like canter leads, lateral flexion, being straight on the circle, and lateral movements just to name a few. You might even encounter some very subtle things with your horse which can be caused by the way your horse holds its ribs, like short-striding or resistance on the circle game to one direction with no apparent physical cause or an obvious associated lameness. It is also a very good exercise to help develop vertical flexion if you have a horse that carries itself hollow.
In the video segment below, 4-Star Parelli Natural Horsemanship Senior Instructor Christi Rains demonstrates the partial disengagement exercise on-line with her young National Show Horse “Sonny”. Christi has been a Parelli Natural Horsemanship Instructor since 1997 and offers natural horsemanship clinics at her ranch on the Brazos River near Glen Rose, Texas.
Hi,
I'm trying to learn, observe, and use stuff movemens too.
In the video your horse looks very stiff in the poll after the movement. Do you see it too? What should be happening?
Hi Taffy, thank you for your comment. Eventually you will see more relaxation in the horse as they learn the pattern and start loosening up through the spine. The horse in the video is fairly new to the exercise. He is also quite extroverted and you may be seeing some of the brace coming out in the video. He had other ideas in mind for his play session that day. This can be a common theme for horse owners and you just need to be patient and allow them some time to develop the correct muscle memory and become comfortable with the pattern. You’ll see the positive changes over time rather than after just one or two sessions.