DECEMBER 2010 THE RIDER /37 Fitness for Riders: Be Kind To Yourself By Heather Sansom.


In fitness and condi- tioning circles it’s quite trendy to refer to everyone as an athlete. For many population groups, this is good marketing because there are lots of people who like to wear sports gear, show up at the gym a couple of times a week, drink trendy sports drinks and think of themselves as athletes. I find that the words ‘athlete’ and ‘fit’ sometimes intimidate peo- ple- especially horsepeo- ple. Most riders would rather clean stalls than ‘waste’ time in a gym, and some of us thought we’d found the perfect ‘out’ by having the horse do the jogging while we do the sitting.


We have the mistaken idea that being an athlete is something glamorous and onorous: triathlon partici- pants are athletes, so are people that get on major teams and paid millions of dollars, as well as people that get on podiums and travel overseas to compete. We don’t usually think of ourselves in that class. Ask yourself: when Jack Rabbit Johansen (famous cross country skier) was 80, was he still an athlete? Is Wayne Gretsky still an ath- lete even though he doesn’t play hockey? Was Tiger Woods an athlete only after he hit a certain competition level—or was he all along? When did Ian Millar become an athlete? If he stops riding, does he stop being an athlete? Are all horses athletes, or just the ones in 6 day a week train- ing schedules? Are you going to tell your little nephew/niece/grandchild/c hild that they are not an athlete, just because you can’t see them making the NHL/equestrian team? (If you do, you’re a grinch.) In all the interviews I’ve done with elite eques- trian athletes for various magazines, I’ve learned two important lessons: you are an athlete when you realize that you are, and never squash someone’s dream- especially your own. You are your daily habits. For riders hoping to reach certain competitive goals, this can be a hopeful thought. Train yourself like an athlete, and one day everyone else will recog- nize it too.


You might be in the camp of folks that do not want to be athletes: too much commitment. That’s fine. But if you ride, if you sit on a horse and ask him to carry you around. If you go even further and ask


him to have pre- cise responses to the signals you give him with your body, then please be kind enough to take your fitness seri- ously enough to be fair to your horse. If you want to ride until you are well into old age, some attention to your own fitness is


required. We’re not talk- ing about a fanatical gym schedule here.


Being fit to ride is all about being a better team- mate. It’s about being the training partner your horse deserves. It’s about having self-carriage to stay out of his way so he can move the way you want him to, body awareness and control so you can apply clear aids that make your training fair, and stamina for stay- ing with him. A horse that is happy to see you and happy to go to work together, does not want to find himself carrying a human sack of potatoes 30 minutes later. It is not fair for you to expect him to bend around a circle to the right, when your pelvis tells his body to go left, or to expect a clear canter departure to the right, when you’re seat and legs are giving noisy scrambled sig- nals.


Of course, you can throw as much time and energy as you have or want into being as fit as you can be for your age and condi- tion. Since most of us have time constraints, and a very large percentage of us are in our 40’s and 50’s, taking concrete steps to better fit- ness for riding means doing so sensibly. You probably don’t have all the time you’d like, and you proba- bly need to expect to take longer to achieve results, take more breaks, and gen- erally be kind to yourself. When you were in your 20’s and 30’s, life was about beating it to the fin- ish line. Relax. You’re in this for the long haul now. Now it’s about managing your resources. You were the hare, now you’re the tortoise. Be kind to your- self and commit to small acts of exercise that improve specific areas you know will help your riding tomorrow and next week. Now that you’re more mature mentally and emo- tionally than you were a couple of decades ago, you can afford to take the slow steady approach toward the results you want.


I recently interviewed Sue Leffler, Level IV Cen- tered Riding clinician and Balimo instructor for an upcoming piece for the Canadian Horse Journal. Sue is in her 60’s, and coaches a lot of older rid- ers. The full interview will be published in Canadian Horse Journal early this spring, but I wanted to share the following excerpts with you to encourage and inspire you.


Heather: What percentage of riders over 45/50 do you work with?


Sue: I teach predominately adult riders with probably 60% of those over 45 and many of those are well past 50 and 60. The wonder- ful thing about riding is it is a sport we can do well into our old age. I have friends in their 80’s who are still actively riding!


Heather: When you are working with someone who is older and who may not have had the athletic opportunities when they were younger, they would be in a differ- ent place in terms of ‘re-coding’ muscle memory, body awareness and use of self in the saddle. Can you talk a little about what you observe and how you address it?


Sue: Often non-athletic people take up riding later in life to pur- sue a childhood dream now that they have both time and money to do so. They tend to be thinkers and understanding the “why” and “how” of what is necessary to ride well is important to them. They are very motivated riders but defi- nitely need to develop core and pelvic strength to be able to rebal-


ance on their moving horse. They also need help in not over-thinking everything. Tai Chi classes help riders build strength, tone, balance and flexibility through slow move- ments and increases their ability to centre and ground. Many of our Centered Riding exercises come from Tai Chi.


Adult riders, in fact most rid- ers, often have very little body awareness and need help in learn- ing how to feel what they are doing and to listen to their horse’s response. Without this kinesthetic awareness, riders are not able to apply their aids at the correct moment of their horses’ stride and the horse will be unable to respond to those aids. It is not difficult to have perfect timing for the aids. It only requires correct “feel” and that can be learned. As humans we “feel” and “do” with our hands and feet. As riders we need to learn how to “feel” and “do” from our seat.


As humans, we see what’s in front of us and want to fix things with our hands. That means we are riding the front of the horse but he’s rear wheel drive! We need to learn how to ride that hind leg power up into our hands and out to the bit. This will keep our horses


sound so both horse and rider can continue to enjoy this sport well into old age.


Heather: I often hear an older rider lamenting the opportunities they missed. Yet, it can be so exciting to ride at a time in life when you can understand more, and have more knowledge. What would you say are the strengths an older rider has? How can they best leverage their strengths to continue to grow as a rider?


Sue: It’s funny, you know, but older riders seem to understand that learning a new skill or honing an old one, takes as long as it takes. They are not in such a hurry to move on but are able to enjoy the journey and with it, the small


successes. Experienced older rid- ers often know what “correct” is, or should be, but have difficulty achieving it. Understanding that it’s impossible to “stop” an old habit by deciding not to do it, that it must be replaced with a new and better one, is essential to becoming a more effective rider. These habits or holding patterns come from a lifetime of poor posture, accidents including riding acci- dents and/or chronic pain and inhibit our ability to follow the horse’s movements Thanks Sue. To conclude, let me challenge you to start the New Year with a commitment to improving you. You know what you need to do: your goal might be


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