I walk into my local tack shop and see the new latest gadget to help improve my horse’s topline and fitness. I ask a million questions and watch the Youtube tutorial videos – walk out of the shop a happy equestrian knowing that I am going to help to improve my horse. It has been a long week, so I stop on the way home for some crisps and chocolate – maybe think about getting a Chinese takeaway (I will ALWAYS go for Chinese over a chipper but that’s a whole other article!!) and the cycle repeats itself the following week. My jodhpurs start feeling a little tighter and my legs don’t reach down to the stirrups as they used to. At 5’2 with a 16.3 horse, this isn’t ideal. I am slightly out of breath after each ride and I’m finding each one a little harder. So what do I do next!?

Panic – I think not! I sit down to come up with a plan. I hate gyms, they intimidate me and I don’t want people to see me huffing and sweating all over them! I take up walking, online yoga and pilates courses and buy myself a set of weights. I cut out the crisps and chocolate but keep the odd takeaway – life is for living right?? All this takes time and effort and, as we all know, life is a balancing act to try and fit it all in. 

We are all a work in progress but what effect can our fitness level have on our horses? Our physical fitness will eventually affect our balance, flexibility and strength. According to the BHS “All riders need to be flexible, balanced and have good core strength and stamina to be able to sit in the correct position and support themselves on the horse. A horse rider needs to be physically fit to do their job well. A tired rider becomes an unbalanced rider. As you tire, your ability to maintain your posture and balance in the saddle is decreased, along with your reaction rates, which means your horse must constantly adjust his movement and balance to compensate.

Balance is vital in riding any horse or pony – however, if we become tired and fatigued this can have a huge impact on how we ride. We can become overly reliant on our reins and our hands can become heavy on our horse’s mouth causing all manner of other problems. 

“Horses move with longer strides and more freedom in their backs after their riders complete core strength training”, says researcher Alexandra Hampson. That’s because core fitness helps riders sit more symmetrically in the saddle, reducing uneven pressure on the horse’s back.  

So what can we do to help improve our fitness and general balance on our beloved neddies? If, like me, you are not comfortable heading to a gym there are many, many options instead. If you want to specifically target your exercise for riding, look for activities that will improve your cardiovascular fitness, core strength, flexibility, suppleness, and balance. Always start slowly and build up the amount of exercise you do. Doing too much too quickly can cause strains and injury. Treat yourself as you would treat your horse – slow and steady wins the race.

There are numerous professionals who can specifically help horse riders to improve their strength in a way to help them with their riding. We will all have certain strengths from general yard work – however, riding is very different. Each rider will need a specific set of exercises to build up strength in the areas of biomechanical weakness. Prescribed exercises are given to you after an evaluation from a professional and tailored to your goals and biomechanical needs. 

Biomechanics seems to be the buzzword at the moment but what exactly is it? The term rider biomechanics describes how the rider uses their body during riding and how their posture affects the horse and its way of moving. There are some fantastic instructors who will give lessons using biomechanics for both you are your horse. So much of this comes back to how fit we are on our horses. Mary Wanless, an internationally renowned dressage coach and rider biomechanics specialist shared in Horse and Hound – The way in which you position your limbs, how stable you are and how you are able to influence your horse is done through the biomechanics of your body. The more strong and stable, yet supple you are in your body, (i.e where the rider has good biomechanics), the more they can positively influence their horse.

So maybe tonight I won’t have that big a takeaway and maybe try and get a few more steps in – all for the sake of the horse!