Introducing Your Horse to Lateral Work

it with the right rhythm. Any time you are practicing and you notice the horses rhythm falter immediately leave the exercise you are doing and restore his gaits.
Trotting is your Friend
To build strength in the horses gymnastic muscles lateral movements are best performed at the trot. Riders can choose to sit or post the trot. Some studies have shown in fact that the horse is able to reach further laterally with his strides when the rider sits lighter by posting the trot. Each horse differs however and the rider should rise or sit based on how the horse is able to best maintain balance and rhythm throughout the exercise.
Lateral Work as Physiotherapy 
For horses not in a program of building gymnastic strength but instead needing physical therapy to repair dysfunctional movement or poor body mechanics lateral exercises can be curative. Used in this capacity the exercises are best performed at a walk with the horse in a horizontal body posture relative to the ground rather than markedly uphill. Using this posture and slower paces takes the workload away from gymnastic muscles and ensures the horse stimulates his postural muscles.
Lateral exercises performed in a relaxed state like this trigger several responses that reflexively lead to improvements in the horses way of moving. They can form part of a rehab program restore mobility and help resolve asymmetrical or imbalanced muscular development.
Some of the most obvious responses generated are better coordination and proprioception. By recruiting the deep inner structures needed to stabilize the spine and joints during sideways movement the horse stimulates these richly innervated areas that become dormant when poor posture or movements habituate. In this way we can think of these tools as waking up parts of his nervous system.
Of note the lumbar multifidi muscles are recruited allowing the horse to