NOVEMBER 2023 THE RIDER /39 Rider Fitness: Simple Secret Hack to Convert Almost Any Welcome to your quarterly


Equifitt rider fitness newsletter: a space for tips, encouragement, and helpful explanations to sup- port your riding and fitness goals. In the last newsletter, we


discussed the importance of in- corporating a stretch routine into your daily life. Fitness for riding has two sides: one is using your body to aid and guide your horse. The other is making sure your body doesn’t block or get in your horse’s way ergonomically. When you carry yourself, your horse has a better chance of self- carriage too. When you are in control or self-carriage for your- self, your horse’s motion can move more freely, improving all your activities. Your flexibility contributes in this way to better balance too, since a body that is flexible in the joints can be better aligned, and freer to stay with the horse’s motion- whatever you have your horse doing. In this newsletter, I wanted


to give you another hack for im- proving the way your fitness helps your riding: rhythm. We know that in training


horses, rhythm is a very impor- tant component of good gaits. A consistent rhythm also helps your horse learn better, because it is


more relaxing, and easier for them to anticipate what you want next. Just as tightness in your body can create tight- ness in your horse’s body by blocking his motion (our stretching and flexibility theme from the last Equitips newsletter), irregular rhythm in your body can create ir- regular rhythm in your horse’s movement. Simi- larly to flexibility, rhythm is not something we can only focus on when we want it,


such as while riding. The flexibil- ity and rhythm we have riding, are greatly shaped and dictated by whether we have it most of the time when we are not riding as well.


You can improve the timing


of your aids by having a better sense of your horse’s stepping ca- dence or rhythm. You get a better sense of his body under you, the more you have a good feeling for rhythm in your own body. For example, you might remember learning to ride and having diffi- culty keeping a posting trot, es- pecially if the horse sped up and slowed down, and was not con- sistent in their rhythm. Also, as you post rhythmically, your horse’s trot improves, and your feeling for when to apply aids also improves. One of the best ways to im-


prove your sense of rhythm is to start by being conscious of it. If it is particularly challenging for you, you might want to take an exercise you are familiar with, and do it with a metronome app or a favourite song that has a con- sistent beat. You could also do everyday activities such as walk- ing, listening to the beat and being more conscious of consis-


tency of your movement. Pay at- tention to the consistency of the rhythm of your footfall, as well as your arm swing and breath cy- cles. How consistent can you be for 30 seconds? What about a minute? What pace feels calm- ing? What pace makes you start to feel more stressed or rushed? Does a song refrain, or counting numbers help you keep a steadier pace?


When you have experi-


mented with your own natural preferences and sense of rhythm, try doing an exercise activity in which you can keep up a steady rhythm for approximately 20-40 minutes- approximately the amount of time you would be working the hardest in your train- ing with your horse. It doesn’t re- ally matter what activity you choose, as long as it can be con- verted to a steady rhythm. For ex- ample, walking, swimming, or a Pilates exercise can be done rhythmically, but playing tennis is less suitable since your move- ments would have too much va- riety of direction and speed. Just by converting something you al- ready do into a somatic rhythm exercise, you will be training your body to keep more consis- tent rhythm. The goal is to be able to keep a rhythm without being conscious of it. At first, you might ride a few times with rhythm as a top of mind focus. As keeping rhythm becomes more automatic, you can change your focus to other goals in the ride such as training or technical ma- noeuvres. Don’t expect you or your horse to keep up a new- found rhythm steadiness for an entire training session right away. Use frequent breaks to give you both a mental and physical break,


Grey Bruce Farmers’ Week’s Horse Day is Sunday, January 7th, 2024!


| What do behavioural research, hoof biome- chanics, liberty training, saddle making, fall safety, equine metabolic syndrome, massage therapy and alternative driving disciplines all have in common? (Aside from relating to horses…) They are all top- ics that will be included at Grey Bruce Farmers’ Week’s Horse Day 2024! The 58 year old conference will be held from


January 3rd – 9th at the Elmwood Community Centre, with Horse Day falling on Sunday, January 7th 2024. Participants can join in-person in Elm- wood, or online via the livestream to catch the pre- sentations. For those attending in-person, there will also be a tradeshow all day and a hot roast beef lunch included with their ticket price. All partici- pants (whether in-person or livestreaming) will be able to review conference recordings and addi- tional on-demand videos online for 30 days follow- ing the event. The fun just keeps going! For many conference-goers, attending Horse


Day in the first week of January has become a win- tertime tradition; a time when participants meet with friends and get current updates on equine top- ics. What better way to get motivated for a new year? Organizers hope that those who haven’t been before will start a new tradition in 2024, engaging in education to better their equine care, and meet- ing with friends from the horse industry outside of a competition environment. Presenters will include Dr. Katrina Merkies,


Steve McConnell, Lindsey Partridge, Ernie & Jodi Wilson, Heidi Martin, Dr. Tee Fox, Scott Cieslar, Carolyn Aarup, and Ashley Stinson. Two hands- on, demonstration style presentations will be in- cluded, so look forward to those! For more information about this stellar event, you can check out their website www.gbfw.ca.


Craig Hunter and Family and Staff clearblufarms@bellnet.ca


www.ontarioequinecremationservices.ca


Mark your calendar for January 7th 2024, we hope to see you there!


Your horse has given you a lifetime of love and it is hard to walk away when the time has come to say goodbye


Honouring the life of your horse.


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and allow you to reset. It is better to be focused or relaxing on a long rein walk, than to persist around with a deteriorating rhythm. All the other movements that you want to do will suffer from the breakdown in rhythm and timing- or benefit from its consistency.


Fitness Activity into Better Riding 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 illustra- tions)- available in print or as a d o w n l o a d ! : www.equifitt.com/fit2ride/


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