12/ JULY 2023 THE RIDER Rider Fitness:


useful exercise for supporting the lower back. The side crunches (with a side leg lift) have a similar neg- ative impact on the lower back and psoas with poor technique, but are very useful for training lateral leg and hip strength if done correctly.


Leg Lowers Start by lying on your back with your legs


straight up in the air. The exercise is to use gravity to strengthen your


lower back and abdominals. Many people are familiar with leg raises, which is different. By lowering your legs slowly while paying


By Heather Sansom The exercises for this month’s


tip are taken directly from my Killer Core Workout for Riders (available on my website, or downloadable from Amazon). Now that you understand the basic foundation of postural align- ment from last month’s tip, it’s time to prepare your body to maintain that stability. What we want to do as rid- ers, is maintain stability in the core, not an exact position or posture. What this is about, is being able to change your body position or movement as needed, in order to maintain the er- gonomics or biomechanics of your ride (with safety for your back), in constant response to the horse’s changing position. Having a stable core is not about making your posture rigid. The theme of this second workout is about key moves you can do to build all-round core strength, especially in the muscles around your pelvis area: lower abdominals, low back, sides of your hips (gluteus medius) and that ‘girdle that protects your lower back and keeps your hips and shoulders connected, the transverse abdominus. In other words, we’re working on the first steps of serious stamina for your core area, especially in the parts clos- est to your hips. Your structural integrity (align-


ment) is challenged with every step that your horse takes, and everything that you do for horse care. It isn’t about holding a position, but about maintaining an ergonomic relation- ship between your joints- especially in your spine. Solid lower body and hip area core strength helps you keep a solid and balanced seat without ten- sion. That solid seat is like an anchor for your upper body and your legs. With stability that you can maintain over the thousands of hoof-steps of your ride, you can have the same leg strength for aids and the same ability to stay with your horse’s centre of gravity at the end of your ride, as you had at the start. For this month’s tip, I’ve se-


lected two exercises from Week 2 of the Killer Core Workout for Riders. The complete workout includes: crossover crunches and slow bicycle crunches to promote cross-body co- ordination; side plank and side crunch for lateral stability; leg lowers (and the bicycle crunches) for lower ab- dominal/low back strengthening; bridge rolling an exercise ball and su- permans for backline strength; and standing on one leg with free leg movement to promote hip stability and balance. The two exercises I’ve selected are the leg lowers, and the side crunch. The reason I’ve selected them


is because they look deceptively easy, people do them with poor technique all the time, and correct technique is essential to targeting the muscle areas you want to train. The leg lowers are particularly tricky for riders because leg lowering and raising has the po- tential to worsen psoas (hip flexor), leg position, and low back problems if executed poorly. If executed cor- rectly for a rider, it is an immensely


close attention to maintaining your core tone and back position on the floor, you will need increasing engage- ment of the low back/low abs. Lower your legs about 4 inches at first, and


hold this position for 6-10 counts. As you are able to complete the number of rep-


etitions for this weeks workout, you will be able to in- crease the effort by lowering your legs a little further. It is critical to stop the exercise the moment you


feel your back lifting off the floor. When you get to that point, the muscles you are training have fatigued, and you have shifted out of training and into overload- ing your lower back, which contributes to negative strain.


Leg lower step one: remember to bend your knees to start raising your legs. Do not raise them while straight. This protects your lower back while raising the legs into the air. The important part of the move- ment is slowly lowering them.


Safe and Happy Training!© Heather R. Sansom, PhD. www.equifitt.com


Personal Trainer, Riding Coach, Therapist Fitness, biomechanics and riding instruction. Personalized Coaching Available online Check out the leading 9 week rider fitness plan book (complete with anatomy illustrations)- available in print or as a download!: www.equifitt.com/fit2ride/


Side crunch starting position Easy Moves for a Strong & Stable Core and Hips Side crunch basic position showing alignment


Active crunch portion of the movement What Can I Say?


By Janice Wright CanteringOnThru


“Why oh why are you in your stall when your buddies are enjoying this beautiful day?” I came to the barn on a beauti-


Leg lower step two:


ful sunny day just before noon looking forward to my anticipated ride — but first, stall cleaning! Nor- mally quiet this time of day, as I ap- proached the barn there were noticeable differences in the atmos- phere. My first thought was a bored horse on stall rest edging to get a peek as I entered: ‘hmm, maybe there will be some treats hidden deep inside that duffel bag slung over her back?!’ But sadly, no; nothing as com-


Side Crunch (with Static Leg Raise) Side crunches do not look like much from the


outside, and as you do them you will have a feeling of not accomplishing much, based on the relatively small movement involved. Start by lying on your side so that there is a straight line between your ankles, hips, shoulders, and ear, with a bend in your knees. Raise your leg until your ankle is level with or slightly above your hip (with bent knee). Your foot should re- main parallel to the floor. The common error is for the toe to point to the


ceiling. The issue is not foot position. The issue is that this error causes a rotation in the leg, which results in you using your psoas to hold the leg up, resulting in increasing tension and tightness in your psoas. You want that psoas to stay soft and unengaged, letting the muscles on the sides of your hip and leg do the work of holding that leg up. If you are aligned correctly from heel, hip to


shoulder with your abdominals engaged for a true neu- tral spine (don’t allow your lower back to hollow), you will only be able to bring your lower ribs a very short distance toward your hip bone. The alignment is critical to this exercise as it


trains your body for straightness with lateral loading (the effort of lifting your torso). Using your arm to reach past your hipbone can be a helpful technique for maintaining alignment.


ical as that greeted me. I was quickly drawn to the only being in the barn weaving frantically back and forth. Approaching the stall quietly, I longed to settle this horse — although, doing so could be problematic and stepping beyond my rights. I spoke soothingly but to no avail — my only recourse was to proceed with my chores hop- ing my presence would be calming to her. It was not. The weaving and high pitched whinnying continued throughout my time there. As the morning progressed I


learned that apparently there was some “bad behaviour” the horse had displayed and followed by (in my opinion) a bad judgment call. ALL other horses were turned out to enjoy their morning frolicking and grazing. But “bad” horse was ignored. The owner was adamant that: oh, yes, the horse had demon- strated unfit behaviour and would remain in the stall until it learned its lesson. Seriously?!? …like a child


being punished through time out I supposed? What can I say? I knew this


battle of wills between horse and human was irrational… and we’ve all seen, or heard, of such “battles” in our lifetime. It’s not easy to turn our backs and go about our busi- ness, but we do. Again; it’s bound-


aries that have led me to many sleepless nights thinking about all the reasons why humans should not interact with horses! So. Wait a minute. What ex-


actly are we teaching a horse here? I cannot condone irrational be-


haviour described as discipline. Se- questered in a stall will never be a lightbulb moment of “oh geez, I’m going to feel remorse and shame from my actions while in here.” (like four hours ago!) In my opinion… when a horse


is being chastised for “bad behav- iour” in any form such as segrega- tion, I would call this aka-bullying. I really have trouble understanding why horse behaviour (vices?) brings out the worst in people who choose their sport — yet they can- not accept the reality that horses would not choose them over roam- ing freely! Most horse people know of the


horse’s (approx) attention span *(11.8 seconds) and so, rewards or corrections by the rider are most likely processed within that very short time span. Hence the rider’s gentle hand strokes of praise along the neck after a good (or bad) round, or the occasional rider’s half-halt to gain back the attention of the overly anxious mount rush- ing the fence. Repeated swift smacks with a


crop/whip to gain a horse’s “re- spect” — after refusal for example — is deplorable. This only serves to make the rider look more incompe- tent than they already are. **You may recall the docu-


mented horse abuse case against Brazilian Dressage athlete Leandro Aparecido Da Silva. He was filmed riding and mistreating his young daughter’s very small pony. The video is beyond disturbing. “Da Silva defended himself


that the “correction” he applied to the pony was a “half-halt” and he claimed that the video showing the abuse “was misinterpreted by peo- ple who are unaware of the tech- nique used.”


~Under the terms of the Final


Decision, the FEI Tribunal has im- posed a threeyear period of ineligi- bility on the athlete. A fine of CHF 5,000 and costs of CHF 2,000 were also imposed. Uh huh. What can I say? Ever wonder


how children grow up to mistreat animals and (possibly) grow up to become bullies? His huge adult son joined in and ALSO rode the frantic pony. You can hear laughter, with the daughter present. —————————— I’m well aware there are trou-


bled horses — we’ve met some or, even owned one: the nippers, biters, kickers, spook-ers, buckers, rear- up-ers, bolters…just to name a few. I understand that frustration can be an emotion of choice…especially with the time invested, along which the drain on a bank account is sur- mounting! Here’s my example: Very few par- ents understand the importance of doing their homework — and the fact they are in child-recreational- horse-debt, can’t accept why their child still isn’t jumping! Riding fa- cilities are expensive but the bottom line is equestrian pursuits require years and years of training (not as easy as it looks!) and costs are high. Frustrated and angry, the blame usually falls squarely on horses. And yes, some schooling horses are treated poorly through rider mis- takes and misunderstandings and that leads to a sour horse. —————————— And what do we do when


we’re unable to deal effectively with a horse being a horse? Well, here’s my take…and I


am not claiming to be the expert! I’m sharing what I only hope is taken as insightful. • I would invest in a highly,


reputable horse person — someone who is certified and has clocked many hours of experiences dealing with troubled horses. (Sorry…avoid going to barn mates or, instructors,


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