Exercises for a Better Rider By Tootie Boudreau This article will focus on particular exercises that can help riders to improve many of their physical issues. If performed correctly and done diligently, these exercises will make you a better rider! The majority of the riders who read this publication ride in a western seat, except for those who ride hunter under saddle. The English “hunt seat” is quite different from the Western seat when jumping, but if just riding “under saddle,” the English seat is essentially the same as the Western, minus a much shorter stirrup length. The most common physical problem within the legs of the riders who use both of these seats is tight hip flexors. Hip flexors are what lift your leg up, as in a marching motion if you were standing on the ground. When these muscles are tight, they pull your trunk forward and/or make your leg migrate upwards while you are in the saddle. There are several different ways to stretch these muscles, depending on what positions are most comfortable for you, and how flexible you are in general! I will discuss each stretch in detail, from the most difficult (for those of us who are more flexible) to the easiest (for those of us who are least flexible). Directions will always be given for the right leg in an effort to help you follow along more easily. The first hip flexor stretch is in “half prone” position. The disadvantage of this stretch is that you must be a fairly flexible person to use it. In addition, this stretch requires you to use a surface which is high off of the ground, especially if you are tall. You’ll need to use an elevated treatment table, or a kitchen or dining room table. The advantage of this stretch is that it is the best and most effective stretch available for this muscle group. In order to stretch the right leg, have the left leg down on the ground, perpendicular to the floor, and your body (or at least half of it) face down on the table along with the right leg. Once you are settled on the table, take the left foot which is on the ground and move it even more forward if you can, then take your right hand, and pull your right foot toward your buttock. You should feel a pull in the front of your right thigh. Hold this stretch and any other stretch you ever do for 30 seconds to 2 minutes and repeat each stretch two times. If you don’t hold a stretch for at least 30 seconds, your muscles will ball back up like a quickly stretched rubber band would. I suggest doing your stretches on the left leg first, then the right leg, then repeat left and right again. This way, you have less opportunity to overstretch yourself. Furthermore, don’t ever do any stretches when you are “cold.” Make sure you do some sort of “warm-‐up” first
to get your blood pumping. This can be as simple as doing a brisk walk around your property for a few minutes. Never “bounce” or be “ballistic” while stretching. Getting into and out of stretches smoothly and carefully is paramount. Ballistic stretching was from the aerobics days of old, and research shows that bouncing causes micro-‐tears! The second hip flexor stretch is in the “half kneeling” position. To stretch the right leg, kneel on the right knee with the left leg in a “chair position,” meaning, the hip and knee are at 90-‐degree angles so that a child could sit on your leg. Do a pelvic tilt forward, that is, rock your seat bones forward as if to tuck your buttocks underneath you, and then lunge forward slightly. If done correctly, a great stretch will be felt even by those of us who are more flexible than others. The trouble with this stretch is that it is really tough to find the proper angles for the best stretch without a physical therapist being present to guide you. However, this is the best hip flexor stretch if you have a bad back. Another good manner in which to get the hip flexor to be stretched is to do so in the “fully prone” position. Lay on your stomach. To stretch your right leg, grab your right foot with the right hand, and pull your heel toward your buttocks. For those of us who are not as flexible, wrap a sheet around your foot, and pull the sheet so that your heel gets closer to your buttocks. This is the easiest of the four hip flexor stretches in terms of getting the proper technique. The last way to get a hip flexor stretched is in the “standing” position. Get in a slightly “lunged” position, left foot in front of the right, and make sure both feet are pointing straight ahead. Do the same pelvic tilt as described above, and don’t let your right heel come off of the floor. The second most common physical problem within the legs of riders is tight external rotators of the hip. The external rotators externally rotate the hip, or turn it to the outside. Our riding seats require that our toes are pointing forward, and our knees are in contact with the saddle. If our external rotators are too tight, our knees lose contact with the saddle, and our lower legs and toes turn out. When this happens, we lose our “feel” for the horse, which is a crucial thing for all riders. The lower level riders need a better “feel” to prevent them from falling off, and the upper level riders need a better “feel” to help them execute the most difficult maneuvers with grace and style. One way to get the external rotators to stretch is to do so while seated. To stretch the right leg, sit with your back against a wall with the left leg out straight in front of you.
Bend the right knee, and pull that knee toward your left chest with your left hand. This stretch is easy to achieve, but can be tough on the back. You may also get the external rotators to stretch in “supine.” Lie on your back and have both knees bent with your feet on the floor. Cross the right foot over the left knee. Then pull the left leg toward your chest. Those of us who are less flexible can wrap a sheet under the left knee, and then pull the sheet toward your chest. An alternative “supine” position for getting this hip external rotator stretch is to have a buddy hold the right hip down by pushing directly downwards lightly on the bony part of the front of the pelvis, so that it cannot come off the floor. Then have your buddy push the right knee toward the wall on the left and diagonally up, so that they are pushing up and in until the stretch is felt. Another common problem, especially with riders who are over 30, is tight hamstrings. There are two causes for this problem. The first is when we send a horse forward through the use of our lower legs and heels, the hamstrings contract. Repeated use of these muscles in riding, especially for those of us who ride slower horses, causes tightness in the muscles. The second is that most of us sit a lot during the day for our jobs. Increased sitting time causes the hamstrings to permanently shorten unless we regularly stretch them. The “supine” position for getting the right hamstring to stretch is to have the left knee bent with the left foot touching the floor in an effort to protect your back. The right leg will have a bit of a bent knee initially. Pull the right knee toward the chest while simultaneously trying to lift the right heel toward the celling. The closer your knee gets to your chest, the more you stretch the upper part of your hamstring, the portion which is closest to the buttocks. The closer your heel gets toward the ceiling, the more the lower portion of the muscle gets stretched, the portion which is closer to the back of the knee. The “seated” position for getting the hamstrings to stretch is to sit on the very edge of an armless chair or bench. Put the right leg directly out in front of you. Keep your right knee straight and your toes pointed toward the ceiling. For those of you who are not flexible, this may be stretch enough. For those of you who are more flexible, you will need to lean forward while keeping a straight back in order to feel the stretch.
The “standing” position for getting the hamstring to stretch is exactly the same as the sitting stretch, but you put your right heel on top of a raised surface. For the inflexible person, the raised surface could be something as small as the first step on your stairs or a milk crate. For the flexible person, it may be as high as your kitchen table. The knee must stay straight while doing this stretch. In addition to having tight hip flexors and external rotators, weakness in the lower legs is also quite common among inefficient riders. The best and easiest way for us horse people to strengthen our lower legs and help us to build an independent seat, is to jack up our stirrups in an English saddle and go for a good canter or gallop on a trail in a half seat. The shortened stirrups place our legs at a mechanical disadvantage, causing them to work really hard! If you do not have access to an English saddle, “wall sits” will do the trick for the thighs. Simply have your body up against a wall and perform a perpetual squat so that your hips and knees are bent to 90 degrees, and your back remains totally flat on the wall. Time yourself while doing this, and try to increase your “sit times” each day. Furthermore, walking on your toes or heels with straight knees for about 100 feet at a time will help the calves and shins respectively. Finally, wall slides, during which you have a therapy ball between your back and a wall while you perform squats work the entire leg. Perhaps an even more common physical problem in riders than the aforementioned leg issues is a weak core. The weak core causes us to tire quickly in general, and forces us to rely on our hands and legs in an inappropriate manner, such as inadvertently yanking a horse in the mouth or allowing our legs to slip back and spur the horse by accident. My favorite set of core exercises is called the “dying bug progression.” When you have mastered the highest level, you look like a bug dying on the floor! The first level is simply to do a pelvic tilt while laying down. In order to do this correctly, you must not cheat by lifting your head or using your feet to help get the tilt. The tilt is achieved by using your abdominal muscles to push your back down into the floor, so there is no arch left in your lower back. Level 2 is doing the same pelvic tilt, but with adding a “foot slide” to it. Slide one foot forward about 6”, then slide it back. Then slide the opposite forward and back, while simultaneously and continuously holding the pelvic tilt. Make sure that the pelvis on the moving side does not fall. If it does, you are not using correct technique, and not getting the benefit of the exercise. Level 3 is performing full foot slides so that your knees straighten as in Level 2. Level 4 is lifting one knee up toward the ceiling (bent leg), putting it down and then the other. Level 5 is a “half bike” where you keep both legs suspended in the air and parallel to the
ground (which is most important), and move both legs back and forth simultaneously, like riding a bike, while maintaining the pelvic tilt. This is extremely difficult. Once you are able to do 20 repetitions on each leg while maintaining the pelvic tilt and never letting go of it at any level, you are ready to progress to the next level. This ought to keep you busy for a while! In addition, it is also common for riders to have a minor scoliosis, or curvature of the spine. Some are too difficult for the untrained eye to “see,” especially through clothing. In order to tell if you have a curve, have a friend put his or her finger at the bottom of your neck, and slowly trace your spine all the way down to your buttocks. If the line traced is not perfectly straight, even if it is only off at one vertebra, you have an issue. Unless you have a massive “fixed” curve, you can get rid of your “flexible” curve on your own! If the curve is anywhere but your lower back, you will do the following exercises seated. If the curve is in your lower back, you will do the following exercises standing. If your curve is to the right, you will side bend your trunk to the right, obtain a good stretch for about 10 seconds, and then return to neutral. Repeat! If the curve is to the left, you will side bend to the left in an effort to make your spine straight. Additionally, your partner can feel if your spine is “rotated” to the right or left by feeling if one side of a vertebra comes more “out of the back” or toward your partner. If the rotation is not in your lower back, you can decrease the rotation by rotating the trunk to the opposite direction of the rotation while sitting. In other words, if a vertebra sticks out of your back on the right, you will turn your head, neck and trunk to the left as far as possible, then hold that stretch for up to 30 seconds to get rid of the rotation. The sides of vertebrae, also known as the transverse processes, should not be mistaken with the attachment sites of the ribs to the vertebrae. Rotations in the lower back are too complicated to discuss for the scope of this article. In summary, if we strengthen what is weak and lengthen what is tight, we will all be very well-‐balanced, strong and maximally effective riders. I look forward to hearing your questions about these exercises. Feel free to contact me at
[email protected], or visit my website at www.journeysendshe.com for more resources. Reprinted with permission from The Equine Chronicle. All rights reserved. EQUILGN1337 (09/13)