Well, it has been a bit of a crazy week hasn’t it. 

I hope whatever situation you are in with work, finances etc. You are doing ok. I know for many of us our horses are a major part of our mental health so if your yard is on lock down meaning you can’t visit then honestly I can’t even imagine how you are holding it together right now-but it’s not forever and if anything Equestrians are tough so we can totally do this.

I’m definitely considering myself very lucky this week as I’ve been able to train most of my clients via FaceTime or Zoom, and classes have been held in a private Facebook group and on Zoom-so we can have a natter like we usually do. So, it’s pretty much been business as usual. However that did mean I had to completely change all my pre-planned sessions so if you have noticed I’ve been quiet on my regular social media I’m sorry this is what I’ve been up to.

Anyway whether you can get to the yard or not I’m sure you’re finding you have a little more free time. How are you spending it? 

I’m hoping to spend some time this weekend planning some more interesting groundwork sessions for my 3 ponies. 2 are in rehab and the other is my driving pony so all my work is in hand, lungeing and long reining and I could do with some inspiration.

What are you up to?

Maybe whether you are riding or not during this you could spend a little time working on your own fitness, symmetry and movement patterns. Especially if you’re spending more time sitting. 

With that in mind, and based on the fact I had little time for anything other than trying to keep the show on the road here’s 3 workouts that I have previously only released in a private group.

There’s a Yoga flow, a strength workout and a stretch session.

Hopefully these will help to keep you entertained over the next few days and stop you seizing up at home!

https://youtu.be/tlUsCCiMv1Y

https://youtu.be/abSG6NdGqfQ

https://youtu.be/YlGZfmfUWgs

Let me know what you think!

We are living in an unprecedented absolutely mad time, bringing a huge amount of uncertainty with it.

I’m not going to go too much doom and gloom as we’ve got the news for that, instead I want to look at some ideas to keep us busy whilst we are more confined than usual.

Firstly from what I understand you will still be able to go to the yard (because horses don’t feed or muck out themselves!) so why not use the opportunity to spend a little more time on grooming, maybe do some groundwork.

With competitions cancelled why not do some online dressage or showing? Or perhaps pay your instructor to give you feedback and things to work on from a video of you riding. 

Listen to some horsey podcasts. I really like 

• Equiratings
• Buck off Banter
• Horse Hour
• The horse podcast
• Heels down happy hour
• The pony podcast

Or read some training books.

I’m currently reading Carl Hesters Real Life Dressage. It is really easy to read and full of useful nuggets for training horses whether you are riding dressage or not. 

I also really enjoyed Mary Wanless Ride with your mind and Rider Biomechanics.

Spend some time at home working on your own fitness, 

Set up your phone to see yourself ride in 3 gaits on both reins then watch it back to see whether you notice any asymmetry. You can then look at ways to improve those asymmetrys off horse whilst your at home.

Work on your general riding fitness. You can do some great workouts from your living room, I find Yoga and Pilates helpful for riders as it increases both mobility and stability as well as improving body awareness-which goes a long way to improving any problems you do have on horse. 

Or for more general fitness but with an emphasis on riding, work on your glutes and hips for your seat, your shoulders for rein contact and obviously your core.

What are you planning to do to help pass the time in any lock down?

Are there any topics you’d like me to cover to help get you through?

I was reading an article in Horse & Hound titled William fox-Pitt masterclass. 

In the article William discusses how he structures his flat work sessions into 3 10 minute slots comprising of:

• Warm up
• Suppling
• Movements & Discipline 

Which got me thinking about how I structure my Equestrian Fitness Classes.

Usually they go like this: 

• Warm up-Yoga Flow
• Suppling-Pilates based exercises 
• Movements & Discipline-Rider specific exercises perhaps breathing or alignment work.

Then every 4th week we have a stretch week.

Then I thought maybe the system would be useful to structure other workouts.

For example gym strength sessions could be:

Warm up-general movements, opening hips and shoulders, activation of muscles about to be worked.

Heavy lifts-The big compound movements such as Squats, Deadlifts, Pressing etc.

Accessory work-Single leg work, Core and Smaller muscle upper body work.

Or perhaps:

Warm up-General movement patterns, gentle raising of the heart rate. 

Cardio-Run, Cycle, Row etc

Core work -Plank variations, rotation work etc.

What do you think? Does this sound like a workable system to you?

Let me know if you find this helpful!

Rein contact symmetry is a massive thing. It can affect your horse's straightness, how well you apply aids and also how well he is able to come into a contact.

A good rein contact comes from stable shoulders and back,if the shoulders aren’t stable the biceps, chest and forearms will brace to hold the rein which will create tension. Soft hands come from stable shoulders.

Of course it doesn’t just stop there…..we want them to be as equally stable as possible-no good having a great right hand and a flappy left one!

Working on your shoulder stability off horse is a great idea.

 In the gym things like Single arm rows either kneeling on a bench or standing using the cable are great. It is important to slow the move me down and really feel the shoulder and back working rather than letting the biceps do the work.

Kettlebell or Dumbell Windmills are a great shoulder stabiliser, as are bottom up kettle bell press-they’re tricky too!

At home with a band, or in the gym with a cable, single arm dumbwaiters are great for learning to take the arm away without losing the stability.

Sometimes I like to do these exercises in a half squat stance or standing on a wobble board, sat on a gym ball etc. The reason I like to add something else Is that I find I can concentrate on my shoulders on their own but add in a horse and it falls to pieces; so I need to learn to control my shoulders whilst using other muscles.

On horse I find trying to focus on keeping your elbows equal helps to maintain an equal amount of contact in each arm.

Also “closing your back armpit “ switches on the back muscles to further stabilise the shoulder area. 

Try these out and let me know if you can feel the difference.

Nicola x

Last week we looked at moving the Pelvis and seat bones in symmetry. 

If we lack control in this area it can either present itself as stiffness or as “crazy hip” I.e excessive movement. 

Both of these things can be due to a lack of stability. Sometimes when we lack stability the body locks up and decreases movement, and sometimes…..well you get crazy hip! Either way working to increase stability in the hips individually can really help to improve your ability to control the seat bones.

As we want to continue to spot and therefore improve on any weakness left to right it can be really useful to add single leg/hip training into your routine.

Single leg work will highlight whether you are more stable on your left or right (you will most likely spot a correlation with your riding) and training it on its own stops it from using the other side for help. 

Here a couple of single leg exercises starting with no equipment and you can add weights/equipment to if you want to progress them. 

Single Leg Bridge.

From a regular bridge position lift one leg in the air and continue to keep the tail bone tucked under, pushing with the glutes to lift the bridge up and down. To make this harder you could put your standing leg on a gym ball or hold a weight on your stomach.

Single leg Deadlift.

Hinging at the hip, the aim is to create a horizontal straight line with the lifted leg and your torso. The core remains tight and as much as possible keep your hips level. You can make this harder by standing on a wobble board/wobble cushion or by holding a weight in your hands. 

Nicola x

You know when you can do something on one rein and not the other? Maybe it’s circles, leg yields or canter transitions, whatever it is it’s really frustrating isn’t it?

This is why symmetry is so important, in both your horse and you.Of course no one is 100% symmetrical but being as close as you can will be of huge benefit.

Where do you start though on trying to make your aids symmetrical? 

Try this really simple exercise (I said simple not easy….) both off horse either sitting on a chair or on a gym ball , then try it again on your horse at walk, then at sitting trot…,

Firstly locate your seat bones. If you need to,  sit on your hands to locate them. They should be pointing straight down. Now, imagine there are two buttons in front of your knees. Slide one seat bone forward to push the button with your knee. Then change sides.

As you start to do this, notice what the rest of your pelvis and perhaps the rest of your body does? Do you twist or tip more one way than the other? Does one hip lift as you move it? Maybe one side is just a bit “stickier” than the other? 

See if you can really focus on that and make them more equal in their movement. 

If you are struggling try some of these things to see if they help.

• Try focusing on an out breath out as you slide your “sticky” hip forward.
• Make the movement’s smaller if you have one “crazy” hip, or if you tip or tilt.
• Focus on just the pressure if you lift or drop a hip as it moves. Aim to have equal pressure on your seat bones.

If you master this at walk, try it in sitting trot and then use the same focus to try out your tricky transition and see if it helps……..

Often I hear riders say they don’t need to go to the gym as yard work and riding keeps them fit. 

However I listened to a podcast the other day with Alice Oppenheimer. She said she rides up to 10 horses per day plus goes to a Pilates class one night, trains with a trainer a couple of times per week, goes to the gym and currently runs 3 times per week (she’s training for a marathon). I was exhausted just thinking about this! Charlotte Dujardin has a similar routine, as do many event riders. 

So, if the professionals are riding all day and still feel like getting stronger off horse benefits their riding, surely riding once perhaps twice per day isn’t cutting it in the fitness stakes for the rest of us? Admittedly it makes you fitter than the average couch potatoe but as riding is a sport and as I’m sure you know we don’t just sit there whilst the horse does everything. That makes us both the athletes in this partnership.

I imagine Athlete number 1-your horse has a carefully managed nutrition and exercise plan….. he probably gets physio too……

He’s only one half of the equation! It sounds harsh but if you aren’t giving yourself the same care and attention you aren’t keeping up your end of the deal. Athlete 2 is letting the team down. If you expect him to give his best then surely he can expect the same from you?

Now I get that unlike the pro’s lots of you aren’t aiming for the Olympics and although you love riding you’ve got other stuff going on so the 100% dedication may be a big ask, but what about giving it an extra 50%? Say training 2-3 times per week off horse for at least 30 minutes. I reckon your half of the partnership could improve quite a bit with that, and Athlete 1 would be really happy to up their game a bit if Athlete 2 is fit enough to keep up!

Last week we talked about getting our muscles firing from head to toe and using weight lifting to achieve that. However whilst I think that the majority of riders would benefit from getting stronger I don’t believe that lifting weights is the only way to improve movement patterning. If only strength were required most top level riders would look like strongmen surely?

 So let’s look at some exercises that don’t necessarily require weights-although they could all have weights added if you prefer that style of training.

The Turkish Get Up!

Basically from lying down with one hand in the air holding a weight you proceed to kneeling then standing and then do the movement in reverse. The added weight encourages you to stabilise your shoulder and of course the act of getting up to standing requires hip stability so that’s head to toe stability sorted.

You don’t need any particular weight just a bottle of water will do. 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8t95Awoo0_E

Bird Dogs-in a 4 point kneeling position with a strong core and flat back throughout take opposite arm and leg away.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3C-jPBsdyj0

Dead bug-like a lying version of Bird Dogs, keep your back flat and abs pulled in, take opposite arm and leg away.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2JI-gzNzeI8