Horse Riding Stretches for Equestrians as Athletes

Through my career as a soft tissue therapist for performance horses and riders, I quickly realised that most issues with the horses were stemming from the riders. We often forget as riders the huge influence we have on our horses and their way of going, which is why it is not just important, but critical that we look at ourselves. One way to improve overall as riders is to work on our fitness. Strength and conditioning training is now fairly common place amongst elite riders, and is fast becoming more widely accepted and embraced across all disciplines and levels.

How Equestrians Train as Athletes

You might not have a desire to compete at Badminton Horse Trials, or ride at London International, but you probably do want to be the best you can be, and for that, you really need to think about how much the areas you keep working on in your horses training could be caused by your own weaknesses.

Then you need to establish how you are going to address these areas of weakness off of the horse. How much time and energy do you spend on your own training in relation to riding are you doing? This is where functional fitness comes in.

Every sport has different fitness requirements for example:

Rugby players need to have incredible shoulder and ankle stability, some need to be quick and some need hamstrings like an ox for a scrum; F1 drivers need to have lightning speed reactions, strong necks to absorb the G force and be light framed; Ballerinas need impeccable balance, toe strength, flexibility, and agility, different to another type of dancer.

When looking at Riders it’s also important to be aware that the different disciplines will also have their own unique fitness requirements.

An Event Rider’s focus should be muscular endurance, reaction speeds and thoracic rotation. Whilst in comparison a Dressage Rider needs to focus more on their upper body and gluteal stability, flexibility and accuracy - off the horse too. By comparison Show Jumpers need amazing leg strength, neck, hip, thoracic mobility and upper body control. It’s important that Show Jumpers make it as easy as possible for the horse to get the air they need when going over a fence, and to be able to make tight turns where necessary. The riders therefore must be very independent in their seat and able to absorb the forces under them.

A major factor that prevents riders from undertaking fitness training is a lack of time and resources, which is why I created EQ BANDS. These resistance bands have been designed to help develop increased body awareness and feel whilst riding. They are a great training tool that can be used both on and off the horse.

We are at such an exciting point in equestrian sport, where riders are becoming more aware of the importance of their own fitness. Improving overall riding fitness is going to benefit all riders in multiple ways, from being more aware of their physical and mental health, their diets but most importantly how it can make our horses happier and therefore perform better too.

To get you inspired to work on your own fitness I have put together some exercises below, designed especially as equestrian stretches to improve your performance. These are fantastic for all disciplines and levels, and you can make them harder as you progress. These exercises were created in partnership with Ariat and Ariat Athletes to go onto Rehab My Patient, where you can see more videos of specifically designed horse riding stretches. Before undertaking any exercise do of course consult your healthcare provider.

Our Favourite Equestrian Stretches

Banded Side Lunges

This is a great warm up routine for any rider as it’s amazing for hip mobility.

For this exercise, you can use the orange EQ band I am using in this demonstration video, a grey band or something similar with a lower resistance to begin with and then work your way up to a higher resistance.

Banded Full Twist Rotations

Thoracic rotation, back strength and gluteal stability are key for any discipline. For this exercise ensure you use the correct resistance to suit your ability. You don't need to rotate the full 180° if you can’t.

Yoga Ball Straight Leg Glute Bridge

This is the perfect exercise for stability and glute activation. Take your time with this and remember it’s quality over quantity. I’d advise having someone watching you as many riders tilt through their upper body without realising.

To make this exercise harder have only your upper arms on the floor. You can then progress this exercise by practicing complete straightness and lifting your arms up completely so that they cross over your chest. To increase the difficulty even more, progress to using a single leg.

Banded Assisted Squats Horsebox

Here is an exercise you can practice before the competition season, whether that be both at home or at shows.

In the exercise you want to start off by wrapping the resistance band around a fixed point in your horse box or at home. You then want to hold the resistance band with both hands, holding both arms out in front of you. With your feet shoulder width apart, you want to squat down into a seated position.

(Linking back to my earlier points, if you watch a rugby game the players perform different drills that create similar movements to what they are doing whilst playing and the same should go for riders.)

Let us bring equestrian sport into the modern world by prepping ourselves for training at home and when competing, we owe it to ourselves and to our horses to be the best we can be.

Enjoy and any questions please feel free to message me at The Hub.

Dee x