NOVEMBER 2019 THE RIDER /47 Rider Fitness: By


Heather Sansom


http://equifitt.com/fit2ride/ However, we hardly ever think of our toes.


You may have heard the expressions ‘toe the


line’, or ‘keep you on your toes’. These mean to stay within boundaries, and stay alert. While it’s generally not helpful to think of riding as intimi- dating (toe the line or else), or scary (you never know what is going to happen), we do actually value boundaries and readiness. For example, there are certain ergonomic ‘rules’ about the way a horse needs to bend the spine in order to ride turns or cir- cles most effectively without losing balance (or jump a course etc…). There are guidelines of human conduct around horses. There are biome- chanic principles to the way your body works best with your horse’s body. Also, we ride best when we are constantly ready to adapt: to a shift in the horse, a shift in the situation. The feature about your toes that I wanted to


talk about this month actually has to do with your body mechanics and fitness for riding. We are talk- ing about the way the human and horse body show complementarity of parts. Areas of the body that are more commonly discussed in a riding lesson include your shoulders, heels, and others. For ex- ample, if your right shoulder is tight and you have difficulty holding it in soft balance, it is very likely that your horse will reflect this in the positioning (fall out, falling in, stiffness) of his right shoulder. If your left heel is stiff, your horse’s left hind will have trouble moving under himself: he won’t have the flexion at the hock that you want. The illustra- tion below shows which areas are complementary, by depicting them in the same colour on the horse and rider.


© Illustration by Margaret, Henderson, copied from Sansom, H. Fit to Ride in Nine Weeks (avail- able through Amazon, Horsebooks.com, or


I’ve never seen a fitness training program for toes. I’ve heard riding instructors use cues like ‘lift your toes’ to get riders to adjust their leg or foot posi- tion, but I’ve never heard a riding instructor rec- ommend ‘working on your toes’ before your next ride. I have seen physiotherapists and human gait specialists zero in on toes. Working with some older riders recently, toes came into focus in our training. Very simply, your toes are (obviously) con-


nected to your feet. These bones correspond to your horse’s pastern and hoof. In your foot, the ligaments that support your toe function are also connected to your plantar fascia, which in turn connects to your Achilles tendon and the whole fascial train up the back of your leg. When you have stiff toes, it compromises your gait by causing you to turn slightly with your foot when you walk. Instead of a straight break-over point in your walk- ing gait, you are offset, reducing the flexion in your ankle. Reduced flexion in your ankle reduces the range of your ankle bend on a habitual basis, so the ankle becomes stiffer. Turning your foot to


Why Your Toes Matter


walk puts different loading on your knees and hips. In the end, the flexibility and function of your joints from your toes to your hips, can be nega- tively affected by those stiff toes. As we age, the toes are one of the first areas


to stiffen up, or even develop arthritis. In my cli- mate zone, the freezing cold winters are really not great for aging joints. This means that most riders I work with over a certain age have stiff feet. Feet with reduced joint mobility not only impact your riding leg position. They also render you less sen- sitive and less responsible to texture in the terrain you walk on around the barn and yard, which com- promises your balance and increases risk of injury from falling. Some common exercises for reducing ten-


sion in riders and helping them adjust leg position with softness in joints include ‘wiggling your toes’ in your boot, or ‘picking up your pinkie toe’ (to im- prove ankle and stirrup position/weight). A rider with stiff toes responds to such directions with ten- sion in the body elsewhere (the body can’t wiggle the toes, so other muscles get tensed with effort). There are three really easy exercises that you can do to improve your toe/foot functionality- you can even do them sitting at your desk at work, or re- laxing in the evening at home.


1. Role your toes under. Here you place the top of your toes on the ground, and lift up your foot to in- crease the curl of the toes. Some people do this ex- ercise as part of a down-dog in yoga or similar stretch. You can do it sitting.


2. Flex your toes. Simply lift your heel to create an acute bend at the big toe joint. Some people in- corporate this stretch into a slight ‘runners’ lunge’,


a kind of ‘inch-worm’ movement. You can also roll a ball or tube with your toes for a similar effect.


One final benefit of working on your toe


agility and mobility is that it will improve your proprioception to that area. In other words, your brain will pick up more subtle signals from the ex- tremities of your feet. You will notice more ‘feel’ for your horse’s footing, more groundedness in your walking and riding, and quicker responses to unforeseen incidents like walking into an object or a step you didn’t expect.


Happy Riding and Training!


© Heather R. Sansom, PhD. www.equifitt.com


or while walking. You can stand or sit.


3. ‘Walk your toes’. From a seated position, crawl your toes along the floor ahead of you for a few inches and back again. Your foot would be making


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