11/24/2025
That "Training Issue" Isn't a Training Issue—It's a GUT Issue 🔄
Here's what nobody tells you: when the enteric nervous system is chronically stressed, it doesn't just affect digestion. It affects EVERYTHING.
The body isn't a collection of separate parts that work independently. It's an interconnected web—this is the concept of TENSEGRITY—where tension and compression are distributed throughout the entire structure.
Your horse's gut is suspended within this web, connected to virtually everything else through fascia, ligaments, nerves, and blood vessels.
When the gut is dysfunctional, the ENTIRE system compensates.
Let me show you how deep this goes:
🔐 THE LOCKED-DOWN CORE:
When your horse experiences gut discomfort—whether from gas, bloating, ulcer pain, or cramping—their body does what yours does: it BRACES.
The abdominal muscles contract protectively, creating a "splinting" pattern around the uncomfortable area. This is involuntary and unconscious. The body is trying to guard against pain.
But here's the problem: those same abdominal muscles are CRITICAL for:
• Carrying a rider's weight
• Maintaining balance
• Engaging the hindquarters
• Achieving collection
• Supporting the back
• Coordinating movement
When they're bracing protectively, they CAN'T function athletically.
So you're asking for engagement, for collection, for the horse to "use their core"—but their core is already busy protecting their gut.
That's not disobedience. That's not laziness. That's pain management.
The horse physically CANNOT do what you're asking while simultaneously guarding against internal discomfort.
And the longer this pattern continues, the more it becomes habitual. The muscles learn to brace by default. Even when the acute pain is gone, the protective pattern remains.
This is why you can have a horse with treated ulcers who STILL can't engage properly. The gut might be healed, but the movement pattern is now ingrained.
🫁 RESTRICTED BREATHING & THE VICIOUS CYCLE:
The diaphragm—your horse's primary breathing muscle—doesn't work in isolation. It shares fascial connections with virtually every organ in the abdomen.
When sphincters throughout the digestive system constrict (which happens during sympathetic activation), it creates tension that directly restricts diaphragm movement.
Particularly, the gastroesophageal sphincter (between esophagus and stomach) sits right at the diaphragm. When it's constricted, it literally limits how far the diaphragm can descend.
Limited diaphragm movement = shallow breathing.
And here's where the vicious cycle kicks in:
Shallow breathing SIGNALS to the nervous system that there's a threat. The body interprets shallow breathing as a stress response, which INCREASES sympathetic activation, which FURTHER restricts the gut and diaphragm.
You end up in a feedback loop: Gut stress → restricted diaphragm → shallow breathing → more stress → more gut restriction → more limited breathing...
This is why some horses never truly relax under saddle. They're stuck in this cycle.
And all the "breathing exercises" in the world won't fix it if the root cause is gut-driven diaphragm restriction.
🦴 SPINAL TENSION & POSTURAL COMPENSATION:
Here's something most people don't know: your horse's digestive organs are ATTACHED to their spine.
The mesentery (the membrane that supports the intestines) connects to the lumbar spine and sacrum. The stomach and liver have ligamentous attachments. The colon is suspended by fascial connections to the spine and pelvis.
When the gut is:
• Bloated with gas
• Inflamed
• Cramping
• Full of stagnant food..it creates TENSION on these attachments. This tension PULLS on the spine, the pelvis, and the surrounding fascia.
The horse's body compensates with postural changes:
• A slightly hollow back (to reduce tension on ventral attachments)
• Tucked pelvis (to create more space for uncomfortable gut)
• Raised head (to reduce pressure on the diaphragm and stomach)
• Shortened stride (to minimize movement of uncomfortable organs)
• One-sided stiffness (if gas or discomfort is asymmetrical)
You see these as "training issues": "He won't round his back" "She won't engage her hind end" "He's always stiff to the left" "She won't stretch into contact"
But the ROOT CAUSE is the gut pulling on the structures through fascial connections.
You can work on straightness, collection, and engagement all you want. But if the gut is pulling the spine into a compensatory pattern, you're fighting against the body's protective mechanism.
This becomes chronic over time. The fascia adapts to the tension, the muscles learn the compensation pattern, and even when the gut improves, the postural habit remains.
This is why bodywork sometimes provides only temporary relief. You release the fascia, the horse feels better for a few days, then the pattern returns. Because the GUT is still creating the tension that's pulling everything out of alignment.
🧠 NEUROTRANSMITTERS, MOOD & BEHAVIOR:
Remember how I said the gut produces 90% of the body's serotonin?
Serotonin isn't just about "happiness." In horses, it affects:
• Mood and emotional regulation
• Pain perception (low serotonin = increased pain sensitivity)
• Gut motility itself (it's a feedback loop)
• Social behavior
• Stress response
When the enteric nervous system is chronically disrupted, serotonin production becomes dysregulated.
The result?
• Increased anxiety or nervousness
• Heightened sensitivity to pain
• "Mareish" behavior (hormone-like mood changes)
• Reactive or explosive responses
• Difficulty relaxing or settling
• Changes in social dynamics with other horses
We often attribute these behavioral changes to:
• Personality
• Training holes
• Hormone issues
• "Just how they are"
But the root cause might be GUT-DRIVEN neurotransmitter disruption.
That mare who's "always crabby" might have chronic gut discomfort affecting her serotonin levels.
That gelding who's "spooky and tense" might be experiencing gut-driven anxiety.
That horse who "never really settles" might be stuck in the shallow breathing/gut restriction cycle.
🛡️ IMMUNE SYSTEM COMPROMISE:
70% of your horse's immune system lives in the gut lining.
When the enteric nervous system is stressed and gut function is disrupted:
• The gut barrier becomes compromised ("leaky gut")
• Inflammation increases throughout the digestive tract
• Immune cells become overactive or dysregulated
• The body's ability to fight infection decreases
• Systemic inflammation increases
This manifests as:
• Increased susceptibility to illness
• Allergies or allergic-type reactions
• Skin issues (inflammation coming from within)
• Poor wound healing
• Chronic low-grade inflammation throughout the body
• Arthritis or joint issues (inflammation-driven)
You might be managing these issues with medications, supplements, or special feeds—but if the ROOT CAUSE is gut-driven immune dysfunction, you're only treating symptoms.
💪 NUTRIENT ABSORPTION & TISSUE QUALITY:
When gut motility is constantly disrupted:
• Food doesn't spend the right amount of time in each section of the digestive tract
• Too fast = nutrients don't get absorbed
• Too slow = fermentation becomes imbalanced
• Enzyme release is poorly timed
• The gut lining becomes less efficient at absorption
Even if you're feeding an EXCELLENT diet with quality hay, balanced concentrate, and appropriate supplements—if the gut can't properly digest and absorb it, it doesn't matter.
Poor nutrient absorption affects:
• Hoof quality (weak walls, white line disease, slow growth)
• Coat condition (dull, rough, slow to shed)
• Muscle development (poor topline despite proper work)
• Tissue repair (slow healing, chronic soreness)
• Energy levels (chronic fatigue, unwillingness to work)
• Body condition (hard keeper, loses weight easily)
How many times have we said "I feed great quality feed and they still look terrible"?
Check. The. Gut.
If the enteric nervous system isn't functioning properly, all that expensive feed might be passing through largely undigested.
🚫 SPECIFIC MOVEMENT ISSUES (Let's Get Really Practical):
Based on everything above, here are SPECIFIC movement issues that can be gut-driven:
"Won't go forward" → Moving hurts when the gut is uncomfortable. Every stride jostles bloated or painful organs.
"Can't collect" → Collection requires core engagement, but the core is bracing protectively around the gut.
"Hollow through the back" → Postural compensation to reduce tension on fascial attachments from bloated organs.
"Resistant to bending/lateral work" → Bending compresses one side of the abdomen. If there's gas or discomfort, this hurts.
"Won't engage hindquarters" → Hind end engagement requires pelvic flexibility and core stability, both compromised by gut-driven tension.
"Girthy or cinchy" → The girth area sits right over the stomach and the attachments of the diaphragm. Gut discomfort makes this pressure intolerable.
"Short stride" → Minimizing movement of uncomfortable organs.
"Inconsistent contact" → The horse is alternating between seeking relief (stretching) and bracing (resistance) as gut discomfort fluctuates.
"Tail wringing" → Tension in the pelvic floor and discomfort in the hindgut.
"Pins ears during work" → Chronic discomfort creating general irritability.
THE CRITICAL REALIZATION:
All of these issues can be training-related, sure. But they can ALSO be gut-driven.
And if the root cause is the gut, no amount of training will fix them. In fact, pushing through these issues with more intensive training will only make the gut dysfunction WORSE, creating an even more entrenched cycle.
This is TENSEGRITY in action. Everything connects.
The gut doesn't exist in isolation. It's wired into the nervous system, suspended by fascia, attached to the spine, influencing neurotransmitter production, controlling immune function, and determining how well every cell in the body gets fed.
When we ignore gut health, we're not just creating digestive issues—we're undermining the entire foundation of our horse's wellbeing and athletic function.
WHAT TO DO:
Start connecting the dots. When you see movement issues, behavioral changes, or training plateaus, ASK YOURSELF:
"Could this be gut-related?"
Before you change training methods, before you adjust tack, before you attribute it to personality—check the gut.
Look for signs of gut dysfunction:
• Changes in manure (consistency, frequency, smell)
• Changes in appetite or eating patterns
• Behavioral changes (especially increased anxiety or irritability)
• Physical tension that won't release with bodywork
• Performance issues that don't respond to training
• Chronic "mystery" soreness
• Reactions to girthing or mounting
• Difficulty maintaining weight or condition
Address the GUT FIRST. Then see what training issues remain. You might be surprised to find that many of them resolve on their own.
If this completely changed how you're thinking about your horse's issues, SHARE THIS.
Comment below: What issue are you dealing with that might actually be gut-related? Let's start a conversation! 👇
