Carrot stretches for horses refer to helping the horse stretch out the neck muscles by bribing the animal with pieces of carrot. Add these stretches to a horse's regular routine with helpful advice from a veterinarian in this video on caring for horses.
Hi, I'm Dr. Joanna Robson, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine with Inspiritus Equine, Incorporated, and I'd like to show you how to do some basic carrot stretches with your horse. Basic horse yoga can be very, very helpful to stretch out their top line and their neck muscles. One of the easiest ways to do that, bribe them with food. So, carrot stretch; take your carrot, break it into edible pieces. Number one safety rule; make sure that your fingers don't get mistaken for a bit of carrot. I'm going to show my horse that I have a treat for him and then I'm going to actually make him work for it, and we'll show you how we do this. I'm going to show him his treat and I'm going to ask him to stretch around towards his hips to work for that piece of carrot. And we'll come around to the other side; ask him to stretch this way, and see how far around he can come. Sometimes, horses will actually self-adjust with these stretches. You'll hear their necks pop. That's okay; it's a good thing. Last piece of carrot; show him where it is and then ask him to stretch down between his front legs where it stretches the top line and engages the abdominal muscles. So, a carrot and stretches; stretching to each hip and down between the legs really does a lot for stretching out your horse's muscles. If you find that they're really stiff at first that's okay. Be very patient and very slow. Eventually, you'll find that with time and with more stretching that they increase their range of motion.
Specialty: Vetrinary Medicine
