54/ OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2017 THE RIDER Fitness For Riders: Unless you are unusually natu-


rally gifted, following your horse’s motion, especially in seated disci- plines, is a skill that many riders spend their lives pursuing. Sitting on a horse’s back allowing your seatbones to follow his actual motion is very therapeutic. In hippo-therapy, the horse’s motion stimulates hip move- ment, core control and neural connec- tion that the person in treatment might find difficult. Most riders who are not riding


for therapy are trying to accomplish other tasks on the horse. We bring the same body to the ride, that we have used to get around all day. For most middle aged riders, this means that you bring hips that have a lifetime of habit of stationary sitting, to a moving surface. A rider in good balance with suppleness in their hips and no block- age will normally be able to sit upright with good posture, without tension. She will also be able to appear rela- tively immobile in her upper body, while each seat bones follows the mo- tion under it. At a walk, your seat- bones move naturally in a kind of motion similar to an elliptical trainer. The problem is, that older hips


have forgotten how to follow this kind of motion. They are also stiffened up by legitimately mechanical blockages, liked tightened fascia and ligaments, and a less supple sacro-iliac (SI) joint. Instead of following the horse’s mo- tion in the ergonomic pattern, the rider ends up with a range of other hip pat- terns. Some riders are too stiff in the hips, and are not following the horse’s motion well at all. They are blocking


Finding the Rider Golden Mean - A Following, Not Floppy Seat


rhythm off. Most riders will fall slightly more to one side than the other as well. Over time and thousands of steps, you are like an uneven weight in a backpack. A bag carried lopsided on your shoulder be- tween your front door and the car is one thing. An uneven weight carried over thousands of steps, with speed and other physical challenge, is a com- pletely different story. There are several issues


that can be playing into this physical scenario. The rider may have poor core tone, or need some strength in lateral thigh muscles. They may need to improve balance and propri- oception. A fitness trainer or coach might try and get this rider to put weight more evenly in stirrups, engage their core, or sit up straighter. The corner or aspect of the prob- lem that is best to tackle, and the instruction that gets the best effect in the moment, might be slightly different for different riders. One aspect that I work


with though (in addition to all the others), is the mobility of the rider’s hips itself. If you have stiffer hips in the saddle, you will notice that you tend to walk without a lot of motion transfer through your hips ei- ther. If you are that floppy side to side rider, you probably have noticeable lateral move- ment in your hips when you walk as well. Either way, what you


want is to have seat bones that can go up and down, inde- pendently of each other and independently of the rest of the position of your waist and your weight distribution. Two exercises I like to


the horse. Others try and avoid this problem by being very fluid in their spine. They allow their hips to do a kind of tilting shift from side to side, flopping over with each step to the side of the horse’s back


which his stepping motion has allowed do drop. This is not good riding either, because the rider is being drawn into weight shifts like loose ballast in a boat. The rider can even throw the horse’s cadence and


use are seat walks, and hip hikes (or hip drops). I’ve pro- vided some hyperlinks here to Youtube videos illustrating them. You can also run a search yourself. For seatwalks, sit on the


ground with your legs bent or straight in front of you. Lift one seatbone off the ground slightly and move it forward. Repeat on the other side. Try


to use your oblique and other core muscles to move the hip/seatbone, NOT leaning or rocking side to side. If you have a real problem with rock- ing side to side on your horse, try the exercise with a cushion on your head so that it falls off if you lean. Your movements will be smaller but you will be training your core for better position control while allow- ing seatbone motion. For hip hikes or drops,


stand on a surface that is slightly or well raised with one foot. Ensure that the other foot is hanging into the air a little. Lift your hip (and entire leg will come with it) up and drop it down repeatedly. The link I picked emphasizes the gluteus medius workout you get, but I like the exercise for the mobi- lization of your SI area and use of your obliques (which are also aspects integrated into this exercise). Repeat until you feel a slight burning sensation in your lower back, rest, and repeat the same number of repetitions on the other side.


Happy Riding and Training!


Photo urls: Sitting


left:


http://equifitt.com/wp-con- tent/uploads/2017/09/PICT00 30.jpg Sitting


http://equifitt.com/wp-con- tent/uploads/2017/09/PICT00 31.jpg


Link urls Hip


hikes/drops:


https://www.youtube.com/wat ch?v=r4anZ0sJzO4 Seat


https://www.youtube.com/wat ch?v=6nUV27oN4xQ


© Heather R. Sansom


Equifitt offers coaching for riders that helps with fitness, posture and biomechanics to help you ride better.


cluding riding instruction are available by Skype. Equifitt: www.equifitt.com


CHANGE OF ADDRESS AFFIX OLD ADDRESS HERE


Name: Address: City: Prov.:


Phone Number:


Canadian Team heading to


Mounted Games Across America


Postal Code: Date:


Send To: P.O. Box 10072, 27 Legend Court, Ancaster, ON L9K 1P2 (905) 387-1900 email: barry@therider.com


worlds team rightfully named “Canadian Road Runner’s” headed 9 hours south of the bor- der to participate in Mounted Games Across America. With some unexpected injuries, they still managed to put on the pres- sure “Canadian style” and came in a close second with only a few points determining the champion. These five have become a fierce force to be reckoned with. Cana- dians are making an impression on International soil. Canadians have got game! GoFundMe Link: www.go-


fundme.com/u17-team-canada- mounted-games The Canadian U17 Team in-


vites you to like and follow their journey on Facebook at www.facebook.com/emgcu17


This awesome Canadian U17 Most services in- walks: right:


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