Don't let desk work ruin it.
Unfortunately, if you have to sit for long periods due to work or any other reason, creating and maintaining a correct and flexible position in the saddle can become difficult.
The correct position of the rider affects everything; from the horse's rhythm and its longitudinal and lateral balance to its willingness to move forward and collect.
It also makes your aids clearer.
But as riders know well, finding and maintaining balance on a living, breathing, and moving animal is a very big challenge.
Some compensate by hanging on the reins or applying pressure with their legs or tightening their backs.
What is the result?
Your horse becomes heavy; it either doesn't move forward or doesn't bend.
To be more effective riders, we need to look at parts of our bodies that are not moving in harmony with our horse.
Some of us have stiff legs; others face tightness in the lower back, hip joint stiffness, or stiff arms.
All these issues limit your horse's ability to move freely.
Your body type can also affect your position.
For example, my back is longer, so maintaining a neutral spine and preventing my lower back from hollowing out when my horse loses its balance and leans on the bit is a challenge I constantly work on.
Here, I will explain why sitting too much can harm your posture and provide exercises and body tips that you can do off the saddle to counteract the effects of the time you spend at a desk.
I will also introduce exercises in the saddle that you can incorporate into every riding session to help your hip joint and lower back become more flexible, allowing you to maintain your correct position while following the horse's movement.
Barriers to correct posture in the saddle Many of my students have desk jobs or drive long distances to reach the stable, and this affects their position in the saddle.
Their heads may be slightly forward, or their torso may have collapsed and their shoulders rounded.
If you have been sitting in front of a computer or behind the wheel for a long time, sitting correctly on a horse becomes very difficult.
To become a more effective rider, you need to pay attention to parts of your body that are not moving in harmony with your horse, as this lack of coordination limits its ability to move freely.
Prolonged sitting causes the hip flexors, hamstrings, and quadriceps muscles to stiffen; the same muscles that need to be flexible and soft in the saddle.
When these muscles remain contracted for a long time, the gluteal muscles weaken, the range of motion in the hip joint decreases, and unnecessary pressure is placed on the lower back.
Awareness of proper spinal alignment throughout the day is very important.
This awareness helps strengthen and train the muscles you need in the saddle.
Strength training, Pilates, stretching, and many other activities are very beneficial for balancing the muscles you use too much or too little while riding.
Core muscles can be strengthened off the saddle, but it is important that these muscles are also strengthened on the saddle.
Maintaining a healthy balance between exercises on and off the saddle will bring you years of comfortable, enjoyable, and effective riding and reduce many of your and your horse's structural problems.
Exercises for posture and tips for riders: striving for proper posture as part of a lifestyle can play an important role in improving the seat on the horse and the ability to use aids independently.
If you have office work and need to sit for long periods, try these: pay attention to your posture throughout the day so that you don’t slouch or hunch your neck while looking at the computer.
There are even tools for "posture correction" that can help maintain the correct alignment of the spine while sitting or standing, such as ShouldersBack from Equifit.
If possible, break up your day with some physical activity to avoid monotony.
If there is a gym nearby or your workplace has sports facilities, do a short workout during your lunch break.
Or simply go outside and take a walk.
If you are lucky enough to work from home, do a Pilates or yoga session; there are plenty of free yoga and Pilates videos available on streaming apps.
Stretch as much as you can.
Yoga, yoga, yoga: you’ve heard this many times, but yoga really works wonders; it helps stretch key muscles, tendons, and ligaments, and provides the necessary twists and stretches to the spine to maintain the correct alignment and proper posture in the saddle.
Incorporate short and intermittent exercises into your routine: stand up from your desk every 30 minutes and walk for 3 to 5 minutes.
Try a standing desk.
These desks come in various models and price ranges, and most are convertible; meaning they allow you to work both standing and sitting.
However, when using a standing desk, be careful not to inadvertently lean on one of your hips; it’s better to stand with your feet further apart so that your body weight is distributed evenly.
Use a stability ball for part of the day.
Sitting on an exercise ball or balance ball at your desk can help strengthen your core muscles and improve your posture.
Strength training, Pilates, stretching, and many other activities are very beneficial for balancing the muscles you use too much or too little while riding.
Exercise 1: Free your hips, legs, and lower back. Every day when I get on my first horse, I do an exercise that I also recommend to my students.
Most of us mount, place our feet in the stirrups, and immediately start riding without taking the time to identify tension in the hips, legs, and lower back.
To release these areas, try this exercise: 1.
Sit in the saddle and release the stirrups.
2.
Lift your legs and place them on either side of the upper part of the saddle, close to the pommel.
Then, with one hand hold the pommel and with the other hand hold the cantle, and bring your hips as close to the pommel as you can.
3.
Let your legs drop back down and rest along the sides of the horse.
You will feel a significant stretch in the hip flexor muscles, psoas — the muscles that connect the lower back to the tops of the thighs — and the inner thigh muscles, and especially during the first few times doing this exercise, you will likely notice considerable tightness as well.
4.
Continue to feel your legs being drawn down and while walking for 15 minutes around the arena with loose reins, try to find the three points of contact in your seat.
Lift your legs and place them on either side of the top of the saddle, close to the pommel.
Let your legs drop down again and rest along the sides of the horse.
Summary If you look at riders like Steffen Peters, Günter Seidel, Helen Langehanenberg, or Ingrid Klimke, you will notice that their bodies seem to move in perfect harmony with their horses.
They move with their horses as one unit; it’s as if their core structures are working together.
This should be our goal.
Our task is to work with our own physical characteristics and those of our horses to find our core strength and balance in the saddle and maintain it every time we ride.
About Shannon Peters Shannon Peters is a popular rider, instructor, and trainer, and also serves as the coach of her husband, Steffen Peters, a three-time Olympic dressage rider.
Shannon began riding and competing in Western and saddle seat disciplines in her hometown of Michigan.
Her college years took her to Boulder, Colorado, where she established a successful dressage training business before relocating to San Diego in 2002.
After Shannon and Steffen married in 2004, the couple established the SPeters Dressage in San Diego.
Shannon, who holds bronze, silver, and gold medals from USDF, has competed three times at the national championships: in 2007 with Luxor, where they earned the national reserve championship title in Intermediaire I; in 2009 with Flor de Selva, where they placed fourth in the Intermediaire section; and in 2011 with Odyssey, Akiko Yamazaki's horse, after winning the Grand Prix Special at the CDI Del Mar and Burbank competitions in California.
Shannon earned the national reserve championship title in the 6-year-old horses section of the Markel/USEF Young Horse Championships in 2008 with Weltino's Magic, a Westphalian gelding owned by Jen and Bruce Hlavac, while Steffen won team and individual gold medals at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Sources and Attachments: EquiFit Source: Practical Horseman – Training