Horse riders are very dedicated to their craft. They spend hours working with their horses, building a partnership. They often spend so much time focused on their horse that they neglect themselves. This is something that is painfully obvious when it comes to the treatment of injuries (to riders) or even just how they look after their bodies in general. Sleeping enough, and eating to fuel themselves properly are often very low on the list for equestrians. 

The industry is also very much behind when it comes to how we train for the sport. You won’t like me saying this but, horse riding is just like any other sport, granted not many sports involve athletes putting their trust into a half-tonne animal, but when it comes to training for a sport they can all be broken down into two types of training.

With all sports, they do skills training, as do we when riding. However, the type of training we are falling behind in is strength and conditioning training. 

If you don’t know what strength and conditioning is, it is gym style (but doesn’t have to take place in a gym) training that is done alongside your traditional skills training. The purpose of strength and conditioning work is to keep the athlete as injury free as possible, while also improving their abilities to perform the skills required to take part in their sport.

A common misconception is that this is done by running the legs of an athlete so they are fitter, then going into the gym to lift heavy weights, but this is often not the case. It is often done by using a combination of exercises that mimic what you do in your sport, in order to make you stronger when you are doing these movements while competing.

Another reason for doing this type of training is to improve weaker muscles or increase their range of movement which, in turn, will improve your performance, posture and balance. 

With other sports, this can translate into kicking a ball further, being faster off the mark when sprinting, or being able to jump higher. When it comes to horse riding it can mean: feeling more balanced around corners, your horse being able to understand your aids better, or even lower the risk of injury after a fall.

This type of training won’t just benefit your riding. It will also help you when it comes to working around the yard. If you are stronger and more mobile it will be a lot easier for you to clean stables, carry tack/haybales/buckets or whatever other jobs that you need to do that comes with looking after a horse (or horses).

This is why I decided to run a masterclass on the topic. It’s called “How strength training will improve your riding” and it takes place on Tuesday the 8th of November @ 7.30pm BST on Zoom.

In this masterclass, I’ll share the importance of strength training, and how it will help you when working with horses both in and out of the saddle. But that’s not all, I am doing this masterclass completely FREE as I really want to educate equestrians about strength training. I

It drives me mad to see them struggle with old injuries, or get frustrated that they can’t get their horse to listen to them, and I know that this could make a massive difference for them.

Also, don’t worry if you cannot make the master class, I will be sending out a live replay to everyone who signed up which will be available for 7 days after the live event.

To book your seat at this event follow this link: https://www.subscribepage.com/m0h1k7

And if you’ve any questions at all feel free to drop me a message on social media 

@stronginthesaddle_

Can’t wait to see you there!