equestrian fitness

You get what you asked for

I’ve been doing more ridden coaching recently and a pattern I’ve noticed is many problems are solved when the rider is more clear about what they want.

A Horse’s lack of energy very often matches the riders lack of energy. Said rider may be flapping their legs etc but the actual energy emanating from the rider is a bit lacklustre. Add a bit more oomph to the rider and you get a bit more oomph from the horse!

The same goes for the more lively horse. If the rider can lower their own energy they will find it easier to contain their horse’s energy.

Then there’s the specifics. When you’re asking for forward with your seat and legs yet you’re hands are ever so slightly pulling back. If you’re pulling back just the tiniest bit that’s a stop/slow down signal to your horse. If he’s an “energy conserver” you’ll be struggling for forward; if he’s a bit of a hot head you’ll get what comes out as a tantrum-he’s confused!

You give an aid, you move a leg then a hand……. did you mean to give two separate aids? Or did you mean to give a hand and leg aid as one aid? Those things will get you different outcomes.

If you give a leg aid and lift a seat bone, you’ve shifted your weight, did you mean to do that?

There are multiple ways your body can shift when you what you think you’re doing or asking for become something else. So it’s really important that you as the rider can take responsibility and be really clear about your intentions to your horse.

If you don’t get what you wanted, ask yourself if you definitely asked for that or if maybe you were a little unclear.

This is why as riders it’s super important to work on your body awareness. Being able to recognise your own patterns and notice when things move a little off kilter is the key to refining your aids and being clear with your horse.

I do this in lots of different ways with my clients, from Gym Ball work to exercises involving bands, different planes of movement and often just really focusing on the basics.

How do you train your body awareness?

Tipping Forward?

When I asked riders what their biggest riding bad habit was, tipping forward was a common answer.

It’s a big one because there can be lot’s of reasons we do this.

Nerves. When we are scared or nervous our body tries to feel safe by returning to the foetal position; hence it tries to curl up.

Expecting bad behaviour-rearing for example. There may be some nerves linked to this too, but not necessarily. There are plenty of fearless riders who spend a lot of time riding flighty horses so they naturally sit a little hunched in a sort of defensive position.

Lack of stability. This can be two fold. If you lack strength through the middle it’s going to be difficult to sit up on a horse. Also, if you lack stability in your hips/pelvis again like the nerves your body tries to retreat to a position of safety-leaning forward.

Firstly, let’s deal with a quick checklist of how to set yourself up to sit up straight.

Have your seat bones pointing directly down as if plugging into the saddle.
Check your pelvis is level.
Imagine you have 4 corners of your pelvis and slot the 4 corners of your rib cage directly on top.
Float your head directly on top.

If you struggle with nerves and it causes you to tip forward, focusing on your breathing can both help to calm you down and help you to uncurl.

Breathe in, fill your belly so it pushes out, breathe out, push the air out and draw your abdominals in. This deep belly breathing activates your diaphragm. This both calms you down and creates stability in your core at the same time-cool huh!

If you tip forward because you lack stability……..well I think you know the answer! You’re going to have to get stronger! Creating stability in your seat and middle requires strengthening your Glutes, your Hip flexors and your Abdominals and Lower back.

If you’re a gym bunny that could mean adding Deadlifts and/or Front Squats to your routine.
Not a Gym Bunny? A Pilates class that includes Squats, Bridges all the hip work plus the regular core stuff you get with Pilates. Little hint-my online programme has all of this….. https://www.equestrianfitness.co.uk/online-classes/

If you want some more in depth help, myself and Veterinary Physio Steph Morgan are running our April Challenge in which I’m focusing on helping you deal with your tipping forward problems alongside Steph providing structured strength and conditioning for your horse. She is adding in a focus of different training strategies that would be helpful for different breeds and types of horses. If that sounds like something you’d be interested in head over to our Facebook page for full details. https://www.facebook.com/110251518143961/posts/149872854181827/?d=n

Mastering your Body

As part of my work with clients I often help them understand what things are supposed to feel like when riding.

For example; the idea of your rein contact coming from your shoulder girdle and abdominals, or what your body needs to do to absorb the movement of a horse underneath you.

It can be hard to explain this whilst on a moving animal, particularly when it can be something that talented riders do instinctively. It takes a huge amount of body awareness to understand what the body is supposed to be doing whilst riding, which muscles are activating, which bits are lengthening and how you can make those things work better together.

Without blowing my own trumpet, that’s what I do. It’s my job to understand, analyse and explain all of those things to riders like you in a way you can easily grasp and then hopefully recreate that feeling when you’re riding.

Once you are aware of how your body can move or manipulate what’s going underneath you, suddenly things start to click into place; the impossible becomes possible.

Off horse training is about mastering and understanding your own body. If you can understand and control which bits of your to activate to create stability alongside which bits to release to create mobility you can fully use your body to communicate with your horse.

If you want some help mastering your own body let me know!

Restore Equilibrium

As riders it’s inevitable that we are going to fall off at some point. Even if you don’t sustain any noticeable injuries, it doesn’t mean it hasn’t affected you.

If you did suffer an injury, what did you do about it before getting back on your horse.

Even if you didn’t fall off it’s possible a bucking episode or a shoving over by your horse can still injure you- ‘I’ve had plenty of whiplash from bucking and long reining incidents.

But what do we do as follow up……? Nothing!

Yet if your horse takes so much as an off step you probably phone the Physio, maybe get him a massage. If your horse does get injured, you have experts on the case and a full return to work rehabilitation programme.

If you get injured? A hot bath and some ibuprofen…….and if it’s really serious maybe a couple of weeks on light duties too.

Yet, I see so many riders with multiple areas of tension, dysfunctional movement patterns and a whole heap of pain issues all related to a full fax roll of incidents they’ve had throughout the years. At every stage they did nothing to restore equilibrium in their bodies, which means it never got truly restored to its original function. Add onto this the next injury and the next injury and we’ve got a body full of unresolved issues.

If you want to be the best rider you can be for your horse, it’s time to start unravelling those issues and restore equilibrium.

We can do that with movement. We can release fascia with resistance stretching, we can restore function through body weight movement patterns, and we can build future robustness with weights.

It takes time, patience and hard work but that’s everything with horses, isn’t it?

You wouldn’t let your horse be the lame, wonky half of the partnership, so don’t let it be you either!

Teensy bit of space left for dedicated Equestrians to work with me 121 in person or via Zoom. If you’re ready to restore Equilibrium in your body let me know!

Finding Your Flow

An important part of both exercise and riding is the ability to fully focus on what you’re doing.

When riding our performance can be hugely improved by being fully present in what we’re doing, how our horse is feeling and reacting and in turn responding to that.

The same goes for exercise. If you can focus on the muscles and your movement pattern throughout this will give you better results both physically and mentally.

An Athlete would call this Flow State.

The ability to be fully immersed in what you are doing, having your body follow your horse and to be as one with your horse-Flow State.

However, I think for most of us it’s more of a mental battle than that. Whilst we think we are in the zone, our brain is probably sifting through various thoughts; maybe your work day, what else you have to get done that day etc.

I can tell what mental state someone is in during their exercise session by how they are moving.

If your brain isn’t in the game during your workout your balance will likely be off. If someone’s struggling to perform stable movements often it can be a as much a brain problem as a muscular problem.

How do you get your head in the game then and find your flow state?

You can work on your mental stillness and focus in various different ways. For some people it’s Meditation, for other’s it’s Yoga or maybe it’s music, running whatever.

A great way to test it before you get on is to stand on one leg and just stay still. Too easy? Now try it with your eyes shut! Struggling? Focus on a spot in front in front of you that isn’t moving. This focuses your brain on the object and creates the stillness you’re after.

How do you find your Flow?

Jumping Position

This week I’ve been looking at Jumping Positions and the Biomechanics of a good one. There’s been some serious “nit picking with Nicola” going on over Youtube, viewing some serious top level competitors -but there’s always something that could be improved!

I believe that the same rules apply in jumping as in flat work in that you should be in your own self carriage.

Generally horses carry 60% of their weight on the front end and 40% on the hind end. That’s quite a bit of force through the front end. When jumping those forces are increased further still.

In order for the horse to do his job to the best of his ability it’s up to you as the rider to manage your own body weight to enable him to manage his.

If you are leaning forward, using your reins or the horse's neck for balance, that is extra weight he has to lift up over the fence and then has to manage on landing.

In order to allow him to do his job the best he can you need to be over his centre of gravity. That is the middle of the saddle as you would be for flatwork. The only difference is that you will be lifted out of the saddle in a Jumping position.

As for supporting your own weight there seems to be a pattern of people being told to have their weight in their feet. Which I think is actually more of an interpretation issue than it being incorrect. I find that as soon as people are told to have weight in their feet they push their feet down; which pops them up and locks the joints in the ankles, knees and hips preventing force absorption. This makes the position tense and also not that stable. Also, if you had all your weight in your feet what happens when you lose your stirrup? We’ve seen plenty of top riders complete a round with one stirrup; which means they didn’t have all of their weight in their feet did they?

I think it’s more that there should be a positive connection to your feet, in that there is weight in the ball of your foot, your ankle is able to absorb movement so it draws down rather than being pushed down.

The majority of your weight will be in your thighs and your bum. These are the big muscles of your body so it makes sense to use them for stability and endurance.

In a Jumping position your hips hinge back, so it’s not a rounding of the shoulders, it’s a stable core, flat back hip hinge like you would in a Deadlift off horse-starting to make sense why we might do them now isn’t it? It’s this hip hinge that keeps you over the centre of the horse. If you leaned forward like I think many of us seem to have been taught, you’ve sent your bodyweight forward onto the front of the horse. Now he’s got to lift himself up at the front and you! Then when he lands there’s his own body weight multiplied in force, and now yours all coming down in his front legs. Then of course if he trips on landing you were already partially out the front door so you’ve less chance of staying on!

So your hands will go forward to allow his neck out, but the rest of you is still central over the saddle, supporting your own bodyweight on the take off right through to the landing.

The ability to absorb that force through your body and still be supporting yourself to land pretty much in the same position ready to ride onto the next fence requires your body to be very stable and be supple enough to absorb that force without having to collapse.

I actually train force absorption with my riders, we do jumps off a box straight into jump position, we use med balls for throwing and catching, band work to train against resistance.

As mentioned we also train the hip hinge so it’s a natural position for their bodies to adopt and they understand how to be strong there.

Training off horse is of course about being a better rider in general, but if the jumping position is anything to go by, the ability to support your own bodyweight can go a huge way (I’m not saying you're heavy!) in taking additional strain from the front of the horse; and I’m sure for most of us it really is just about being the best that we can be for our horse.

Getting in shape for the season.

Eventing Season is imminent, and for the non Eventers; Camps and general more horse activity season is also imminent.

Are you excited? Or are you now in a flap because neither you or your horse is fit enough?

It’s ok, you’ve got time to get your act together!

Time to make a plan.

Speak with your horse’s physio and your instructor to make a plan for your horse’s fitness.

As for your fitness I guess it depends on what your plans are this summer.

If you are Eventing I’m sure you want to ride at your best, do you and your horse justice finishing your round strong. Most importantly you want to be fit enough to keep riding for the whole round, this is not just for performance reasons but also for safety reasons.

If you’re attending weekend camps with multiple lessons per day I’m sure you’d like to be able to ride your best throughout so you get the most enjoyment - and improvement out of them.

These things are going to take muscular endurance, cardio fitness along with the every day riding requirements of stability and mobility.

This sounds way more complicated than it is.

Realistically this can be done in 3-4 workouts per week and they don’t need to be hours long or have you drowning in a pool of sweat, wanting to vomit-unless that’s what you’re into.

You just need to focus on the basics.

For Cardio, keep it simple. 20-30 minutes of running, cycling, swimming, dancing whatever you’re most likely to actually stick to. Or you could do shorter HIIT sessions.

Then add in a resistance workout either bodyweight or with whatever weights you have available. If you’re new to exercise and want something bespoke I suggest you have a coach who specialises in riders help you……I’m one of those!

If you want something lower budget - I’m aware how expensive this whole horse thing is I’m right in there with you; then my Online Programme will cover all you need to get Riding fit for Eventing or whatever else you’re doing and it’s tiny money!

What are you getting up early for?

I was reading an interview in Horse & Hound with Annabelle Pidgley-The girl who now owns Charlotte Dujardins horse Pumpkin.

Now, it cannot be disputed that Annabelle has the financing and horse power to help her achieve great things in her Dressage career; Pretty sure she’s going to be in the top rankings one day.

However there is something else she needs and indeed does have that cannot be bought - Hard Graft.

In this interview Annabelle says that to fit riding around school work she gets up at 4am to ride two horses before 7am so that when she comes home she can do her homework or have lessons with her trainers. Just let that sink in……………4am!! That’s a girl prepared to make things happen.

I see this pattern in lot’s of my clients. They get up early, manage their time well and fit in horses, fitness and often children around demanding careers too. So it certainly isn’t a lack of other things to do on their side!

If you ask them, they’ll tell you it’s hard work; but if you want something enough you’ll make it happen.

The thing is, I get it. Getting up early (I get up at 5am most days) working to a military schedule to fit it all in and ending the day late and very tired can seem a bit much, however I see people who don’t get up super early or finish late to fit in riding or training and they still feel tired and are also unfulfilled because they aren’t achieving any of their goals.

Which one do you think is generally happier? Obviously, it’s the one’s who get up early and get stuff done working towards their goals!

You see if you really want something and you take steps to make it happen, the sense of achievement and doing the thing you love is what keeps you going.

If you have goals in life it’s up to you to make them happen.

You can say that other people have less to do, less demanding jobs etc but in my experience with my clients they don’t have less to do they just fit more in. They are prepared to sacrifice watching the latest drama series, or the weekend lie in because they know achieving what they set out to will make them happy.

So, it’s totally fine if you’ve read this and thought “yeh I’d rather watch the box set and have the lie in” but if you have other responsibilities too you may have to accept you aren’t going to achieve the big horsey goals too.

However if you read this and thought “hell yeah I’m going to make stuff happen” Firstly, you are my kind of people and secondly I’d love to know what you’re going to be getting up early to achieve?

Lifting the Back

One of things we strive for as riders is getting our horse to engage his hind end and lift through his back.

If you’re on his back it’s your job to make this as easy as possible for him.

To allow your horse to lift it’s back you need to be off his back. However it’s not really traditional to ride around standing up in your stirrups for the whole session.

That means your seated position needs to be conducive to him being able to do this with your bum in the saddle.

That is why good alignment with all your joints stacked on top of one another -Shoulder-Hip-Heel (It’s technically ankle bone but it’s not as catchy!)

If you are in more of a chair position, your weight is behind your legs where your bum is and therefore all on your horse's back-gravity is not your friend here as it’s literally pulling your weight down onto your horse's back.

This makes it much harder for him to lift it.

If your joints are neatly stacked, the weight is held more down your thighs and you are supporting your own weight. This gives your horse the freedom to lift his back.

Once you have mastered this you need to be able to support him at the front end, as very often I see the energy be created in the back but then throw the horse forward onto the forehand at the front.

You also need to be able to support him at the front end. So as you’ve encouraged the lift from the back you need to be able to absorb and maintain that in your core through to your hands.

I know this sounds like nonsense but I’ll try my best to explain how this is done!

A stable but breathing core, with relaxed but stable hands.

Your hands need to be up and in front of you with enough stability between them and your torso that you can keep that energy up at the front rather than sending it to the floor-i.e forehand.

If your horse starts to drop his head, don’t be pulled forward with him, stay straight and stable letting him explore the position. If you are stable enough to be there to support him when he get’s there he’ll find the right spot eventually. If you go with him and therefore drop him you’re back on the forehand.

Energy up from behind and forward through his ears!

Yep I’m still talking in mythic riddles i know!

Honestly, it is kind of hard to explain as I think you need to be able to feel it so here’s my tips.

Good Alignment-Stack your Shoulder, Hip and Ankle Bone in a line.
As you work around the arena imagine lifting your horses bum with your bum, like theres a sucker on it. Lift it up!
Then send that energy through your middle into your hands-which is why they need to be up and in front of you, not down by his withers. Send that energy forward!
Keep breathing throughout, this both stabilises you and stops you becoming tense.

The thing with this sort of stuff is it does work -I promise! However you have to have the body control and stability to be able to hold it, if you don’t have the seat or shoulder stability to hold your position it’s going to be much harder.

If that’s what you’re struggling with that’s where you’ll need to start.

Work on stabilising your seat -Glutes, Hips, Legs and Core alongside your Back and Shoulders.

This is what we work on in my 121 Training, my classes and Online Programme, so if you want some help I’m sure I’ve got an option to suit you.

Struggling with the basics?

Often I hear riders say they can’t exercise off horse because they can’t perform the movements; they can’t squat, lunge etc pain free so they avoid it.

The thing is, rider or not you should be able to perform basic movement patterns pain free. They are the foundations of your everyday movement and a key component of being able to keep moving and of course riding well into old age.

Your bodies ability to move through different planes of motion also helps to prevent injuries.

So, it’s vital you work towards performing some basic movement patterns for:

Ease of everyday movements from yard work, to house work, picking up small children etc.
Management or prevention of pain.
Longevity of movement.
Injury prevention

That’s a few good reasons and we haven’t even got to how it will improve your riding.

If a body moves well off horse it is more likely to be in control and absorb force on horse. As well as the aforementioned injury prevention. If riding has created pain issues in your back, knees etc I know already that not riding is not an option so instead of suffering why not do something to help the problem.

I know if this is resonating with you you’re already saying “that’s a great idea but how can I do the off horse exercises if they are painful.”

Say, you can’t Squat, you can try breaking the movement down. Really focus on your positioning of feet and knees then make it a half squat. Or I like to try Bench Squats -sitting on a bench and standing up from there-it’s basically biomechanically correct getting up off the sofa! Or I do Gym Ball or Trx Squats to help you take some weight/pressure away from the knees and encourage you to use your Glutes more.

There’s more options than that if neither of those work for you, I break movement patterns down in various ways in order to bring back movement patterns. The same system can be used for a Lunge, Hip Hinge or Shoulder Activation.

If this is something you want to tackle this year to improve both your overall life performance as well as your riding performance my tips are:

Break the movement down-make it smaller or adapt it.
Strengthen the surrounding muscle groups of painful areas
Don’t give up!

If you’re struggling with movement and pain issues working with a professional can really help you get a strategy to overcome it-points at self as a large hint……..