I never would have guessed that the area I live in in northern Virginia was horse country. But, man, do I know A LOT of people who own horses or have kids that are competing in the sport! With so many kids taking riding lessons and adults enjoying the ring, it warrants discussion on how the body adapts to riding a horse.
Muscular Adaptations to Horseback Riding
Horseback riders have a pattern of movement. A posture that they repeat over and over again each time they mount the horse. It’s these habitual patterns of movement that become ingrained when we’re kids that become harder to get out of as we age.
Let’s talk about the muscular imbalances that develop with consistent horseback riding. First up, you’re sitting. If you sit at a desk all day and sit in your car during your commute and come home and sit on your horse, and sit to eat dinner and sit to watch TV….holy smokes(!) that’s a lot of sitting. Or think about your kids who sit in school most of the day and ride the bus. Weak glutes and tight hip flexors are a likely result of all that sitting.
When your hip flexors get tight, they can pull your pelvis forward. Many of your inner thigh muscles are also hip flexors. And you use your inner thighs to grip the horse. So there’s a compounding effect from the short hip flexors in seated position and the really strong inner thigh muscles all pulling on the pelvis. If you don’t have strong glutes to prevent the hip flexors from taking over, then you can develop an anterior pelvic tilt.
Anterior pelvic tilt posture can lead to a host of other ailments such as lower back pain, knee pain, overpronation, and plantar fasciitis. So it’s really important to get out of the alignment your body is resting in and reverse those muscular imbalances.
Exercises for Horseback Riders
Strengthening the glutes is super important! And conveniently, I wrote this blog with a bunch of exercises for the glutes. But I will also add a couple more exercises to the list here specifically for you horseback riders.
Side Lying Leg Raise
The Side Lying Leg Raise will target your “outer thigh” muscles which will get weaker as your inner thighs get stronger if you don’t do any strength exercises to prevent that from happening. Two of your outer thigh muscles are glutes anyway: the gluteus medius and the gluteus minimus.
The key with the side-lying leg raise is to lift your leg only as high as shown in the picture below. The goal of the exercise is not to lift your leg as high as possible……it’s to target the muscles on the outside of your hips.
Single Leg Squat
The Single Leg Squat recruits those outer thigh muscles into a functional movement. This exercise will teach the muscles how to stabilize the hips. For novices, anchor a tube (or use a TRX) to provide balance while you’re body is learning the movement. Eventually you can graduate to a hands-free single leg squat also known as a pistol squat.
Hip Flexor Stretch
This exercise is more of a mobility drill for the hip flexors than a stretch. I recommend slowly moving in and out of the stretch 6 times per side. But make sure to keep your tailbone tucked under the whole time.
Core Training
Your core must be able to stabilize your entire upper body while riding the horse. So having a strong and stable core will definitely make you a more efficient rider.
The way you sit tall on top of the horse makes a big difference as to how stable your core is. There are two ways to sit tall:
The Right Way — Getting long through your spine and reaching the top of your head to the sky. In this position your ribs stay down.
The Wrong Way — Getting taller by arching your middle back and flaring your ribs.
The difference between the two methods is not easy to spot especially if you’re wearing bulky clothing. So just something to be aware of and continue practicing until the “right way” becomes ingrained. And it applies to piano players too! I took piano lessons for 10 years as a kid and never knew I was sitting up incorrectly.
While you want your core muscles to be strong enough to stabilize the spine, you need the spine itself to be mobile. If the spine becomes too rigid, then movement quality can suffer off the horse. Here are two mobility exercises I love for moving the spine:
Thoracic Extension Over Roller
It’s extremely important that you don’t arch your lower back as you round over the roller. The idea is that you learn to move your thoracic spine and stabilize your lumbar spine. Keep your chin tucked so you’re not hyper-extending your neck. Lots to be aware of when performing this exercise!
Side-Lying Arm Circles
This exercise does double duty for opening the chest after an intense grip on the reigns and allows the spine to rotate. It feels amazing!
Do all these exercises 2-3 times per week and your body will feel great! Looking for more crunchless core exercises? Check out these 5 Core Training Exercises.
