Watching Badminton last weekend I’m sure you’ll agree those riders are proper fit athletes. 

So many of them when interviewed about how they prepared mentioned their own fitness regime. This ranged from running, Pilates to PT sessions. 

Along with great endurance those riders that did well across country had something else in common-true independent hands. Demonstrated by the ability to stay upright and keep riding even when they had zero rein contact and the front end of the horse wasn’t where it was supposed to be! I also thought on some occasions it was the difference between a scrape through and kick on or a horse and rider fall. 

This comes down to more than what we’d term “core stability” which is often thought of as the abdominals. 

Independent hands require a strong back and shoulders which then work with the abdominals to create a really stable torso. This means the arms aren’t responsible for upper body stability. They can hold the reins, give aids and direction but if those reins are taken away it doesn’t take your stability with it.

So if you don’t already think about adding in some back and shoulder work into your rider fitness. 

I like to start with the basics of switching on the back and shoulder muscles with Pilates staple Dumb Waiters. This helps you find those muscles and then you can progress to moving the arm’s forward in a rein position or out to the sides, focusing on maintaining that muscular connection to the back. 

More of a Gym Bunny? Exercises like Lat Pull Downs and Bent over Row will strengthen your back muscles;  it’s really important that you connect to those muscles of your posterior chain as you work them to avoid over using your arms. 

Then when you ride, connect into those back and shoulder muscles and feel your arm’s work lighter yet the rest of you feel more stable. Testing it by throwing away your reins whilst cantering downhill optional…….