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Fitness for Riders:


discipline you practice, we can all understand that a horse needs to have a steady gait and reliable contact with the bit before his train- ing can advance. Short cuts in training horses, do not result in longevity and soundness.


Applied to your training program as a rider, flexibility and suppleness are one of the baseline conditions for a successful pro- gram. Most of us are aware of the need for more flexibility, but do not necessarily have time for a regular class such as yoga. Tightness blocks motion and creates strain across joints. Tight muscles and ligaments cannot bear load of any significance or for any length of time without producing strain injury. Under the unique conditions of riding (balance on a moving base), your body will tend to tighten up to maintain balance. This is one reason why riding on it’s own, is insufficient conditioning for riding. For example, many riders tend to have tight hips, partly resulting from squeezing inner thigh muscles. When there is insufficient strengthening and stretching in the area, an imbalance is created across the hips. This imbalance reduces mobility in the hips, which further affects your seat position and ability to follow your horse. In some cases, it may even cause strain issues com- mon to riders such as low back pain or sciatica.


and write about what I call a rider’s fitness train- ing scale. The idea comes from the ‘dressage train- ing scale’ concept. For readers not familiar with dressage, the training scale can be understood as a progression of desir- able outcomes in your rid- ing and training, which build on one another. For example, rhythm and con- tact are earlier in the scale. No matter which


I often speak


Yoga for Riders Specialist Louise Sattler SEPTEMBER 2012 THE RIDER /15


yoga emphasizes an ethic of not harming your body. While you are practicing, you use breathing to create a rhythm to work to. You also use awareness of your breath to know when you are working within your comfort zone, or have gone past where you should be. For example, if you are listening to your breath and find that it is becoming shallow, you may be pushing the exercise too far and need to back off.


Flexibility: Interview with “COBRA - Posture Corrector”


Horses being flight animals are very attuned to our breath. So are other people. So when we learn to use our breath, it can become a tool to help ourselves and our horses relax. As a rider, when you work on slowing and deepening your breath, you take yourself out of that fight or flight mode, and horses pick up on that. There are physiological changes such as a lowering of brain- wave patterns, so you can respond to the changing situation in your sport more accurately and authentically.


behind you, position your feet hip width distance apart, toes pointed back and hands underneath your shoulders with fingers in line with the top of your shoulders. Press into the tops of your feet, draw your belly in and reach your chest forward and up. Extend through the crown of your head and keep your neck long with the shoulders relaxed back and down. Use mostly spine strength and less arm strength. As you inhale invite the spine to lengthen and as you exhale, draw the belly in and lift through the crown. Benefits for the Rider: Stronger core back muscles


“PIGEON - Hip opener”


The definition of yoga is to unite or bring together, and this refers to body, mind and spirit and whatever you may associate with the spiritual. There are lots of different styles of yoga. Your degree of involvement of the spiritual side is up to you and your convictions. Emphasis on that area depends on the teacher, so if you try a class and the teachers’ delivery style or spiritual empha- sis doesn’t appeal to you, find one that works for you so you can get the benefits of the exercises.


HEATHER: How do I know what type of yoga to try?


LOUISE: Go to beginner level class. Yoga poses use your body differently that other exercise disciplines, and at first that can real- ly challenge the neuro-muscular connections. It’s important to go at your pace and know your limits, and feel comfortable to ask the teacher about any concerns. Especially if you have joint, back or other physical issues or conditions.


Yoga can often help many conditions because they are often related to imbalance and tightness, which yoga addresses.


Maintaining a practice of integrating stretching and flexibili- ty exercises into your day and week will help your muscles respond better both to your horse, and to your training program. While many of the riders I work with use stretches at the office, home or barn, many also enjoy yoga. A question I am often asked is whether doing a class you enjoy such as yoga, has any lasting benefit if done only once a week. With your schedule and respon- sibilities, it may not even be possible to join a class as often as once a week.


Occasional bouts of stretching activities will not improve your flexibility any more than occasional riding would advance your horse’s training. Using an occasional class to inspire your day-to-day habits can work out very nicely. The difference is real- ly made in your daily habits anyway because you are either losing or gaining flexibility on a daily basis. The more you use your body such as in sport, riding or choring, the more important it is to stretch.


HEATHER: What makes the needs of a rider different? Riders tend to get tight in the hips. Most people have imbal- ance in core muscles. When they then get on a horse, the instabili- ty of the horse causes their body to want to create stability. With- out proper core tone, they often get tight in the hips and tension in their spine, neck and shoulders instead. Yoga helps a lot with posture. For most of our day, we are folded somewhat forward. A good yoga class will take the spine through all directions of motion to help correct that and open the chest up.


A lot of riders round their shoulders. Rounded shoulders dis- connects arms from the core and destabilizes your lower spine. Yoga exercises can help correct the poor posture of rounded shoul- ders and allow a rider to stabilize their spine. The result is less tension in the shoulders, and better posture and alignment.


HEATHER: In rider-specific yoga, what areas do you focus on?


In this month’s piece, I was able to interview yoga for riders specialist Louise Sattler (www.gallopingyoga.com ). We dis- cussed various concepts and exercises which come from the yoga tradition, and align very nicely with sport and conditioning prac- tices for developing flexibility. For a busy rider, the exercises below are accessible, and easy to do almost anywhere.


HEATHER SANSOM: How did you make the connection between yoga and riding?


LOUISE: I’ve been riding for twice as long as I’ve been doing yoga. Yoga came into my life at a time when I didn’t have riding. I had ridden all my life growing up and was competitive in hunter/jumper equitation. I had moved to California to follow my partner’s job offer and had to sell my horses to be able to go. I became quite depressed. A friend I met down there suggested yoga, so I went. The experience was similar to the first time I sat in a saddle. I knew it was going to be a major part of my life, for the rest of my life.


LOUISE: I focus on opening the hips, decompressing the spine, developing better posture. Before we get into specific exercise sequences, we take some time with breath to help the riders engage the diaphragm and bring their breathing deeper into their torso. The physiological benefits of breathing deeply include oxy- genating your tissues, purifying your blood, a shift in the nervous system from sympathetic to parasympathetic (out of ‘fight or flight’ response), and calming the brain helping with intuition which helps us ‘read’ our horses better. There’s also a core strengthening sequence in the program. In addition to improving your posture, a strong core gives you confidence as a rider.


HEATHER: Many people do not have access to a weekly yoga class. What’s a good way to use yoga if you can’t always go to a class?


Back in Canada I eventually started working horses casually for people, but was mostly building my yoga business, teaching full time. I had not ridden for years, and came back to it a couple of years ago. In the time between, the yoga had made something change in my riding: I had better balance, flexibility and co-ordi- nation, and I had more ability to focus my mind. There was less resistance between me and the horse.


horses. Yoga is all about getting aware of your body, and I felt that interacting with the horses would be an interesting opportuni- ty to learn the connection between their awareness and communi- cation. So I was bringing the yoga world to the horses. Because my yoga practice gave me so many benefits as a rider, I wanted to share that with other horses people. Also, when I got really competitive in equestrian sport as teenager, looking back I lost sight of the simple joys of riding. Yoga helps bring that back because it teaches you to be present.


HEATHER: Many people associate yoga with a religious or spir- itual aspect, which they may not want to participate in. We hear of high level athletes such as NHL teams and the US jumping team doing yoga. Can you comment on yoga as part of a sport conditioning program?


LOUISE: A lot of yoga exercises or postures lengthen and strengthen muscles at the same time. So you are building both strength and flexibility in balance. You also pay attention to breath, and use breath consciously as you move your body. When I teach and practice yoga I always remind my students and myself that the breath is your guide. The physical practice of


I had this idea to bring non-riding yoga students out to meet


LOUISE: I recommend going to a few classes initially. Some styles like Yin yoga lend themselves well to DYI DVD’s, but if you can start off with a few classes to give you the basics, then you will be able to practice exercises at home more safely. The teacher can give you important feedback on whether you are doing the exercises correctly. Community centres or gyms often have a short series available where you can learn the basics. You wouldn’t learn the basics of riding, even to trail ride on your own property, just from a DVD.


HEATHER: Can you demonstrate and explain some good exer- cises for riders?


names. A simple sequence which opens hips, strengthens core in front and back and decompresses the spine might include ‘pigeon’(hip opener), ‘cobra’ (good posture pose), ‘boat’ (core strengthening pose), and a ‘standing forward fold’ (tension release pose: decompressing the spine and lengthening the hamstrings).


SOME YOGA EXERCISES LOUISE RECOMMENDS “HALF BOAT - Core Strengthener”


From a seated position bring your hands on the ground behind your hips and your feet together on the ground with the knees bent. Draw your belly button in towards the spine and up towards the heart. Incline your upper body back slightly WITH- OUT ROUNDING YOUR SPINE. Squeeze your knees together, lift your chest and straighten one leg. Your knees may not align (as shown) until you develop more strength but do try to keep the leg straight as you work towards lifting the knee of the straight leg in line with the other. Eventually you will be able to straighten both legs and reach your arms over head. Remember your spine must stay straight! Benefits for the rider: a stronger core to main- tain a tall and balanced position in the saddle.


Yoga exercises are called poses. They have pretty standard


In a table position (down on all four’s), slide your right knee towards your right wrist and your right ankle towards your left wrist. Then slide your left knee behind you further keeping the left hip, knee and ankle in one line. Make sure your right knee feels safe. If not, slide a cushion under your right hip for support. You may stay tall with your upper body or come down onto your fore- arms. Benefits for the rider: Riders have such tight hips in general. By opening the hips you’ll deepen your seat and release tension in your lower back. Hip openers help you feel more youthful!


“STANDING WIDE LEG FORWARD FOLD - Tension release”


Step your feet about 3.5 to 4 feet apart on a non slippery sur- face with the outer edges of your feet parallel (toes turned slightly inwards). Bring a slight bend to your knees and your hands to your hips. Take a deep inhale, and on your exhale fold forward with a flat back. You may find that you can only go down so far before your back starts to round. If so, bring your hands on to a table or chair in front of you for support. Keep the weight in the balls of your feet and your thigh muscles engaged (knee caps lift). Once your flexibility starts to improve you can bring your hands closer to the floor or feet (as shown). Benefits for the Rider: lengthens the back of your legs (gives you a “longer leg”), releases tension from your spine and lower back, oxygen to your brain for clarity of thought.


From a prone position (belly down) with legs extended out


Louise Sattler demonstrates the Pigeon Pose.Photo used with per- mission. www.gallopingyoga.com


© By EquiFITT.com Personal Fitness Training owner, Heather Sansom


By Heather Sansom, Owner, Equifitt.com Equestrian Fitness Training


EquiFITT.com Equestrian Fitness offers personal training, clinics & workshops, Centered Riding® instruction, and convenient online personal coaching for riders anywhere. Subscribe to receive free monthly Equestrian Fittips, and download rider fitness ebooks at: www.equifitt.com .


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