Tag Archives: pilates for horse riders

Snack Size

I’ve been trying to add more strength training into my routine, however my body generally feels better if i do some cardio most days - x trainer, spin class, swim etc which means it’s hard to add in without over training.

Instead I’ve been doing snack size resistance workouts alongside my cardio.

I pick one 1 Upper Body exercise and 1 Lower Body exercise, or a couple of core exercises; then in a spare 5 or 10 minutes between clients I’ll do 10 of each aiming to do this 3 or 4 times across the day. 

This means I can fit in the equivalent of one big workout across the week without the overtraining feeling.

Perhaps you could use this to add in a workout across your day. I use weights but only because I have them nearby, you could do without my weights or using whatever you have to hand.

Some suggested pairings to get you started, but do whatever works with the space you’re in at the time.

Squat - Shoulder Press

Press Up - Forward Lunge

Plank Twist- V Sit

Side Lunge - Plank up down

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.

Breaking down the basics

I’ve been doing a bit more horse training lately. Mainly groundwork or basics under saddle with both my own ponies and a friends. I am by no means an expert on training horses but I tend to approach physical schooling problems with horses in the same way I approach training people.

How are the absolute basics or movement patterns? With my clients that’s how stable are they on single legs, can they isolate their shoulder blades, do they rotate left and right equally and can they Hip hinge and Squat.

The Squat is one I’ve seen lots of riders struggle with. The squat is much more technical than it appears. It requires stability from the hips, knees and ankles and good control of the torso. 

This is why I break it down to into regressions depending on peoples’ ability. 

If someone struggles with control of their torso or finds Squats painful on their knees I start with Gym Ball Squats.

If it all goes wrong in the mechanics of the up and down (lacks stability) I use Bench squats. Just using the familiar motion of standing up and down like you would many times per day makes it easier to focus on the bits that need extra work.

Using plates under the heels can help people reach depth whilst they work on ankle mobility.

Once we’ve got a solid base we can do regular bodyweight squats. 

Then we can add weight with a Kettlebell/Dumbbell or a Barbell on the back or the front. 

After that it’s add more weight or add instability such as bands, wobble boards etc.

The point isn’t necessarily to get to the end point. 

We don’t all school our horses to get to Grand Prix, we school them to be the best athletes that can be. 

That’s how you should approach your own training. It’s doesn’t have to be about becoming an all out gym bunny or weight lifter, it’s just about making your body the best that it can be.

 

Lessons from Wimbledon

I’ve been watching some of the tennis this week and in between matches they have been showing cameras behind the scenes where players are warming up. The nerd in me found this bit way more interesting than the matches!

The players aren’t hitting balls and just playing tennis to warm up, they were doing a series of activation exercises clearly all specific to them. Things like fast banks rotations or arm pull overs designed to prepare the muscles for what they’re about to do on the court.

It got me thinking whether if you went behind the scenes before a Dressage competition or on Cross Country day would we see the same thing? 

Probably not. I’m sure you may find the odd rider doing a few stretches or activation exercises, but the majority will be getting straight on and focusing on warming their horse up. 

Of course if anyone ever says the horse does all the work you’ll strongly disagree-“have you ever tried to get half a ton of animal to follow instructions?” Riding requires you to do a lot of things with your body. So why don’t you prepare it for that before you get on?

So, what sort of things should you do to prepare your body for riding?

Think Seat - Activating your hips and glutes with some Crab Squats and Side Lunges

Rein Contact-Open your chest with some T Arm rotations then activate your back and shoulders with some scapular retractions or dumb waiters. 

Then add anything else that may be personal issues to your body such as opening up one side or stretching out a calf

 

Hands and Seat……at the same time

When we ride we ask for both stability and mobility from our bodies.

We want stable hips, middle and shoulders. Yet we want softness from our ankles, knees, elbows and hands.

For me the biggest challenge is maintaining stability in the rest of my body whilst keeping it in my shoulders and keeping my hand and elbows soft.

I can do it if I’m just focusing on that area but not if I’m trying to use the other bits too. It’s so much to think about!

So I have to train it to get better.

In my regular training things like Deadlifts where I have to use my lower body to lift the weight whilst keeping my middle stable, my shoulders retracted whilst my arms stay relaxed.

Kettlebell swings which require the power to come from the hips, the torso remains stable and helps control the movement whilst the arms remain soft.

I also like to do some more rider specific exercises.

Rising Trot Squat -trying to get soft elbows and still hands.

I also like Split Squats with the arms going forward and back with the lift and lower of the squat.

Something I’ve also been trying out is sitting trot on a gym ball again trying to get soft elbows to absorb the movement but still hands for the contact.

Half Squat position whilst doing a banded row encourages me to stabilise my body and retract my shoulder blades. To make it harder I do the Squat so I’m moving up and down sort of like a rising trot whilst still trying to keep the movement coming from my shoulders keeping my arms soft.

I’m still way off being good at this so please excuse the video-these are my best efforts for now! Hopefully with practice I’ll be able to report back in a few months with some better ones!

https://youtu.be/e4D-QolatGw

Core……Set Training

In proper medical anatomical terms the “Core” isn’t really a thing. However it is a term that most riders recognise as a thing, and if you ask them where it is they will usually point at their abdominals. 

If that’s you, you’re not wrong! The abdominals are very much a part of what we would call the core. However it also emcompasses other muscles around the waist and back too. So really the core is a wrap around of muscles kind of like……..a Corset! Ponders whether that’s where the term came from?

That is why just doing a bunch of sit ups won’t fully strengthen your “Core.” You’ve got to Strengthen the sides and back too! 

Then to have it fit to ride you want it pliable, able to move , absorb force without becoming stiff and able to maintain stability whilst the limbs move independently of it. 

This is why with my Weight lifting clients rarely do any traditional looking Core training. We do full body exercises such as the Barbell Squat and Deadlift which require stability of the torso whilst moving limbs under a load. 

When we do “Core” work without equipment such as in my Classes or Online Programme we will mostly do them with movement of the torso or the limb; or sometimes both. 

Here’s some examples of my core stability training whilst moving limbs. Bird dogs -regular and lifted, Deadbugs - Regular and Double.Mountain Climber Straight and Across, Side Plank Lift and Leg Lift.

 

Why Yoga?

Why is Yoga beneficial for riders?

Yoga is great for :

Switching your brain off, unwinding and relaxing. Let’s be honest horses can be stressful. Add into that work, families etc and it can sometimes all be a bit overwhelming. Taking some time to switch off can be hugely beneficial to your mental well being and resilience. 

It can teach you to focus on both stillness and precise movement of your body. Being able to switch off and fully focus is a huge asset to your riding and Yoga is a great way of practicing that whilst tuning in to how your body reacts to signals from your brain and different movement patterns. If you can fine tune this off horse it will be a whole lot easier on horse. 

You learn to recognise your own movement patterns and asymmetries and can work to improve them. If you don’t know what your body is doing when you ride you have no way of correcting it. If you don’t know your left is different from your right you won’t take steps to improve it. Recognising these things in Yoga means your both feeling and addressing them ready to put into practice when you ride. 

Yoga combines mobility, flexibility and stability. Which are all required not only to be a good rider but also to help prevent injuries and make you feel good day to day. 

I utilise Yoga with my 121 clients, in my classes and we do a weekly yoga session in my online programme. 

 

Pain in the Back?

Back pain and related issues such as hip pain and sciatica are something I see a lot in the riders I work with. It’s something I’ve studied, dealt with in my own body and something I have worked with many clients on-riders and non riders alike.

It’s a complex issue and can be multi factorial so I’m not going say I have all the answers for you. All of my clients have been different in their journeys. Some are non specific back pain clients who just need some guidance and hand holding finding what works for them , some are hoping to avoid surgery and some are post surgery. 

What I find super interesting is the attitudes around back pain with riders. Often someone will still be riding, maybe mucking out etc….but they’re worried an hours supervised exercise with a professional is going to harm them? I can assure you I’d have to go seriously out of my way to actually do that if you’re already managing all that! 

Of course you might have some muscle soreness afterwards but that’s completely normal after any exercise, ask a high level athlete if they get sore after training sessions despite being super fit and they’ll say “heck yeh”. Often part of my job is just reassuring people that discomfort, pain etc is normal and in most cases not a sign of extensive damage. 

Anyway back to the helpful stuff. 

Any Dr worth his certs will tell you that exercise can help manage back pain. However where you start with exercise is the really important bit. As is trial and error. 

Strengthening the muscles around the hips (glutes etc…) and the muscles of the back (you’ll have probably included the rest of the body by doing this so you will have balance) can help but it’s important you start small and focus on good form. This could be Pilates or it could be more traditional resistance training-I tend to do a hybrid with my clients depending on their needs.

For some people Yoga really helps -it’s how I started my fitness journey from back pain so I’m definitely a believer in it’s magic. 

With Yoga I think the physical is as important as the mental, as your emotional state can have an influence on your pain levels and I think Yoga can be a great tool for this. For me and some of my clients doing a flow style yoga switches off the brain, calms the mind and therefore brings with it some relief in pain levels. 

As I said back pain can be multi factorial so you’ve looked at exercise, then your mental well-being so now let’s look at how your day to day movement patterns look.

You could exercise every day but if you then spent the rest of the day either stationary or in a variety of poor postures and repetitive movement patterns that hour isn’t going to undo that.

 The body likes movement, and being stationary even if you held yourself in a “perfect posture “ sat at a desk all day it wouldn’t negate the need for regular movement. On the flip side if you muck out 10 stables all the same way that’s a constant overuse of one set of muscles so is equally not ideal. 

Ask yourself how much time you spend moving each day. If you’re stationary at your desk most of the day try adding in some stretches to open your chest up, do some left to right rotations and stand up or walk around for periods to break up the sitting. 

If you’re fairly active ask yourself what repetitive patterns you do that may not be helpful and see if you can possibly adapt them. If not,  add in some movement the opposite way to help regain some balance. 

Like I said it’s multi factorial so there’s no one size fits all fix, it’s just looking at the obvious factors like daily movement patterns, physical fitness and mental well-being and finding what works for you in those areas. 

It’s understanding that there may be set backs, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t working or that you should give up.

If you’re struggling then working with a professional like myself or a Sports Physio can give you the confidence you need to make progress. I know you’d make that kind of investment if your horse needed it so give yourself the same treatment and know that in doing so you’re more likely to still be riding your horse for years to come.

 

Ride strong right to the finish

On Sunday I did a workout with a friend that we finished with a short run interspersed with a couple of exercises. 

The aim wasn’t to do it as fast as we could but to do it with enough effort to be tired but be able to maintain form throughout.

We did a ½ mile run then 10 press ups and a 30 second plank, repeated x 3. 

This helps to improve both cardio endurance and muscular endurance. 

This style of training is especially useful if you are an Eventer. During a cross country round you need to be able to maintain your breathing and your stability throughout. 

If you start struggling for breath it will affect your concentration and decision making skills-not helpful when you’re in the thick of it!

If your muscles tire after a short time you won’t be riding well right up to the finish. This affects yours and your horses performance as well as potentially increasing your risk of a fall. 

This is why I emphasise the need to maintain form in this workout. To ride well right to the finish you need the endurance to be strong enough right to the line. Just having the lungs and stubbornness to get you through isn’t enough, you need your muscles to be strong enough to do their job too.

The workout doesn’t have to be complicated or involve equipment-mine didn’t. Just the basic principle of getting your heart rate up then performing some resistance moves with good form, repeated a few times. 

Here’s a couple of other examples using other cardio equipment if you were in the gym or had a skipping rope etc. You could add a slightly longer circuit on the end if you wanted, mix the exercises up and do anything from 3-6 rounds whatever feels right to you. 

Bike-Side Plank-mountain climber

Row 200m -Plank up downs-Side Lunges

Skip 2 minutes-Squat-Press Up

Quantum Woo Woo for Riding

As part of my groundwork with my new Fell pony Gwydion I’ve been doing some breathing exercises. Gwydion has a tendency to hold his breath and then when he can’t contain it anymore he has a little “tantrum”. He’s not being naughty he’s just anxious about the changes that have occurred in his life this past few months. So when I sense him stop breathing I stop and face him then I start to breathe more purposefully. I take a deep breath in for a count of 4 then out for 8, directing that out breath towards his nose. On that out breath he finally releases his breath and starts to calm and breathe again. (Don’t ask me why I started doing this, I just followed my gut instinct at the time!) 

I think breathing is such an underrated part of working with and riding horses. Without this going too woo woo, breathing patterns have the power to change the energy within us and around us (it’s quantum physics stuff if you need the science). 

I can feel the energy between me and Gwyd change when he stops breathing and I imagine it’s the same for him if I do. This creates tension in him which he then has to release in his little display of head flinging that follows. If I stop breathing properly, I get tense and then potentially overreact to a situation I.e. When it gets too much I release the tension with a little tantrum. 

If you’ve ever heard the saying “Your horse is your mirror” I think I’ve just highlighted mine and Gwyd’s similarities right there…….

Whether you’re on the ground or on board the principles stay the same. 

Your breath has the power to change your energy and therefore your body and how it feels and functions. If you don’t breathe deeply and fully whilst riding you will feel tense, your body will not move freely or fluidly and that tension will transfer to your horse. Which means he will feel tense and won’t move freely or fluidly. 

Practice breathing with movement off horse with things like Yoga and Pilates-Weightlifting also has a breathing practice. 

When you’re working your horse either on board or on the ground notice how you breathe. Are you taking full breaths and really using your diaphragm. Is your horse? 

Try the pattern I used above of in for 4 and out for 8 and see if you can feel yourself change and then maybe your horse. 

Also next time your ride or groundwork isn’t going to plan check into your breathing pattern and see if you can make some changes there and then try again. -Let me know what happens…….