50/ AUGUST 2018 THE RIDER Rider Fitness: Want your horse lighter in front?


forward, the shoulder area rounds forward and the body has to fight to maintain up- rightness. This fight results either in thickening of the muscles holding shoulders up and back, tension in that area, or both. If you have ex- perienced a lot of tension in the area between your neck and shoulders, you know what I’m talking about. This happens because your


By Heather Sansom You’ve experienced tense


shoulders. You’ve seen other rid- ers with tense shoulders. You’ve even heard that if you have ten- sion in parts of your body, your horse will too. In fact, if you’re having a problem getting your horse to lift off of his fore-hand, there is a good chance that you are blocked through your shoul- ders as well. In fitness and conditioning


outside the equestrian world, we talk a lot about tension in the shoulders: it’s everywhere, not just a riding specific problem. The bread and butter of massage therapy business is shoulder ten- sion. Strong contributing factors to the problem include the lifestyle we have created: sitting in cars gripping steering wheels through hours of traffic, hunching over computer keyboards typing for hours (ouch, this one hits home), inattention to correct me- chanics when lifting heavy ob- jects (I see twinges among those of you who do barn/farm chores!), and the basic anatomi- cal fact that most of our tasks are performed in front of us, so we are always reaching forward and down.


As a result, our bodies de-


velop a strength imbalance in the upper front part which we refer to as ‘upper cross syndrome’. Es- sentially, the musculature in your chest develops more than your back, and also tightens up. Com- bined with a postural tendency


shoulder girdle is not actually mechanically secure and sta- ble in the same way your


pelvis or legs are. It sort of floats in a web of muscles connecting arm, scapula and collar bone to your torso, and controlling move- ment. Interestingly, this is very similar to the way your horse’s shoulders ‘float’ in a muscle ‘sling’ on his body. Have you ever noticed the


astonishing number of areas your body can find around your shoul- ders and neck to develop knots or pressure points? The way your shoulders sit on your torso like a yoke is one of the reasons it is so easy to injure the area, such as the ubiquitous rotator cuff injuries I see. One horse spooking on the end of a lead rope, or one hay bale tossed the wrong way is all it takes to lay you up for months. The vulnerability of the


shoulder area is one reason why female athletes in many sports do strength and conditioning for the upper body, approximately 25% MORE than their male counter- parts in order to avoid injury. As a rider, you are going into the sit- uation (riding) with a modern human predisposition to tension in your shoulders. The problem is that you really need your shoulders loose and supple. While rider self-carriage


does start with the seat, tense shoulders also have a downward effect on the rest of your posture, and especially the way you man- age your contact with your horse’s mouth through the reins. Tension in your shoulders, con- tributes to tightness in the


Shoulder Stretch habits.


4. Build up strength in your back and shoulders so that you are not riding ‘at your limit’ and your body can relax. On exercise I like is a forward raise with weight. In the photo (also from Fit to Ride in 9 Weeks), the model performs a slight squat, bent at the hips with a straight back. The straight back is very important. She is using only enough weight to make lifting it to a position where her arms are


Ball Raise


stretching before you ride, or if you are an A type person, do an intense workout before you ride to get the aggressive chemical- levels down in your muscles and pacify the neuro-muscular con- nections so you can be relaxed in your ride. Happy riding and training!


You have it in you!


*Article originally published in The Rider (www.therider.com ). Shoulder muscle illustrations originally published in Fit to


Take the Tension out of your Shoulders.*


horse’s, and can affect everything from quality of gate to how much weight he is carrying on his fore- hand. When you tense your shoulders riding, you block the freedom of your horse’s shoul- ders as well. Often I will see a rider try-


ing so hard to push the ‘go’ but- tons on their horse (and getting even tenser all through their own body), when in fact their own shoulders and knees are hammer- ing the biomechanic ‘stop’ but- tons at the same time. The


CHANGE OF ADDRESS AFFIX OLD ADDRESS HERE


muscles involved are shown in the photos here, which are illus- trations from my book Fit to Ride in 9 Weeks (published by Trafal- gar Square). If shoulder tension is a factor for you, you can make dramatic changes in the space of a few days or weeks by doing the following:


1. Stretch your shoulders and neck every day, all the time, in the car, at work, on your horse, and before you ride


2. Use fascial release techniques such as pinching the tight muscle areas or laying on tennis balls to release accumulated tension in the fascial tissue and muscle complex If you are able, check out


this Youtube video link to shoul- der


fascial


www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW RX-vyB9Jw (or search for my- ofascial release for shoulders on Youtube).


Name: Address: City: Prov.:


Phone Number:


3. Go get massage or other re- lease therapy to the area, then maintain it with good stretching


release-


aligned with her torso, slightly challenging. The reason is that you engage your lower trapezius. When you use too much weight, you might collapse or curve in your back, or compensate by using the areas of your shoulders which you are trying NOT to use. This exercise helps you with alignment, and integrating the lower parts of your backline. In your horse, the equivalent would be getting him to use his back more, to lift his shoulders up


5. Use relaxation techniques or


Ride in 9 Weeks (published by Trafalgar Square Books: link to book- also available on Amazon and around the world) © Heather R. Sansom, PhD. www.equifitt.com


Personal Trainer, Riding Coach, Recreation Therapist Fitness, biomechanics and riding instruction. Personalized Coaching Available online


Check out the 9 week rider


fitness plan book- available in print or as a download!: www.equifitt.com/fit2ride/


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