Tight vs Strong
Painting of “an ideal Quarter Horse”
When you see horses with clearly defined muscles, do you see a strong horse or a problem? I’ll tell you what I see as a bodyworker - a gigantic red flag.
Super defined muscles on a horse are due to tension. Full stop. You shouldn’t be able to see divots and outlines of muscles everywhere.
What should muscles look like - even on a strong horse? Soft and proportionate. You can have a beefcake, but muscles free from tension are smooth and evenly developed along the body. You shouldn’t have super defined dips between muscles or along the cervical spine. You shouldn’t have super overdeveloped muscles in certain areas and not others. A strong horse should have developed, full muscles that remain smooth. You want to see that the horse is “filled out” without seeing definition in the muscle groups. Everything should flow nicely and be proportionate to the conformation of the horse.
While some horses are bred to be conformationally larger in certain areas, the muscling itself should be healthy and proportionate. A horse bred to have a beefy neck shouldn’t be ALL neck muscle and no other muscle. A horse bred to have a large, high hindquarter shouldn’t be ALL hindquarter and no other muscle. There should still be healthy, strong muscling in the smaller areas. The goal is proportionate, smooth muscles without deep grooves or divots of definition. The issue with disproportionate and tight musculature is that it affects everything - movement, posture, and comfort of a horse. It also means that there are fascial restrictions, often leading to unhealthy, tight, or damaged fascia.
Imagine the foundation Quarter Horse - the ones with the big booties and small necks that are absolute UNITS. These horses often have clear definition in the musculature of the hind end and shoulder. This is due to tension, not strength. In many cases, I believe it is simply seen as an indicator of the strength and power of a muscle group or a horse overall, which is why it’s become so widely accepted. We see fit race horses COVERED in tension lines and think “wow, they’re so powerful and athletic!” Wrong-o. They’re tense.
Can two things co-exist; tension and strength? Absolutely. I’m not saying that your tense horse can’t be jacked. However, I AM saying that if your jacked horse is tense, there is an issue. The two can co-exist, but they do NOT have to, and they shouldn’t. What’s the point of having a strong, powerful horse if you can’t utilize the movements they produce in the best way? Tense horses absolutely are not functioning to their full ability. If they are strong and tense, the potential is there, but you can’t quite grasp it.
What can be done about it if you are reading this and seeing your horse’s physique in a different light? Bodywork, adjustments to management, adjustments to training, targeted stretches and mobilizations, easy movement, etc. The best place to start if you notice body tension is with a professional bodyworker - someone with a trained eye and trained hands who can get in there, assess, work with your horse, and give you homework to help you help your horse until the next time.
It’s important to note that one session with a bodyworker will NOT “fix” your horse. You won’t bring them a horse full of tension, imbalance, and muscle definition lines and walk away with a symmetrical, soft, tension free horse. Change takes time, no matter how good your professional is. A key component of this change is also YOU. Your program, management, training, scheduling, will all probably have to be altered in some way while helping your horse along.