Muscle Treats™ And The Importance Of Stretching | Equine Science Matters™

Many of us take care to warm up and stretch before we exercise, then cool down and stretch again after exercise, and it can be just as beneficial for our horses as well.  

Muscles are comprised of multiple “bundles” which are made up of muscle fibres. To create movement, muscles must work in pairs, with one shortening (contracting - agonists) and the other lengthening (relaxing - antagonists). Pairs of skeletal muscles, attached to the bones via tendons, then work in groups to pull on the horse’s bones to create movement at the joints. When a particular muscle is either overused or underused, it can create stiffness and soreness, leading to poor performance and possible injury.  

Stretching helps realign these bundles of fibres, encourages movement of fluid and nutrients into and out of the muscles, improves blood circulation, smooths out the fascia that surrounds each muscle, and supports better joint lubrication. Therefore, using stretches can help to avoid stiffness, improve the joints' range of motion and increase flexibility whilst maintaining healthy muscles, tendons and ligaments. 

Exercise and training cause repeated, often very strong, muscle contractions. Muscle use in this way creates tiny micro-tears in the muscle fibres. While this sounds scary, it is the stimulus for the muscle fibres to adapt, change and become fitter and stronger, so it is actually very positive. However, over time, it can cause muscles to become tighter as well as stronger, leading to feelings of stiffness and soreness in much the same way our own muscles can feel uncomfortable the day after a gym workout, or stacking a big delivery of hay bales! 
 

While the exercise itself is the stimulus for adaptation within the muscle, the correct protein building blocks, amino acids, need to be provided through the diet to allow that adaptation to take place. Certain amino acids seem to be more important for this process, and can even trigger a stronger adaptation to the initial exercise stimulus (through upregulating the mTORc1 pathway, for anyone interested in the underlying science). One amino acid in particular is leucine. However, just feeding more leucine isn’t always practical, palatable, or fully utilised once absorbed. Once leucine has been absorbed, it is metabolised to β-Hydroxy β-Methylbutyrate (HMB), so a little biological hack to help maximally support muscle building and repair is to provide HMB in the diet to bypass the necessity of creating it from leucine.  

When it comes to building a horse’s strength and fitness, muscles aren’t the only structures we need to think about. Joints, tendons and ligaments all come under more strain when we increase a horse’s workload, and stretching is a great way to look after these tissues as well as the muscles themselves.  

Your horse’s physiotherapist will be able to advise you on the most appropriate stretching exercises for your horse and their specific needs. There are, however, a few things to consider before performing the stretches: 

•  Ensure that stretches are carried out correctly with the right techniques 

•  Only begin stretching when the horse has been warmed up sufficiently beforehand 

•  Carry out stretches in a safe place 

•  Never force a stretch and keep an eye out for any signs of discomfort, which may indicate an injury 

You should never force your horse to stretch; however, some may require a little bit of extra encouragement for stretches, making treats the perfect incentive!