Rider fitness (2) : How to go about it

In horse riding, performance is linked to the repetition of muscular effort to maintain rider balance, better cope with the horse’s locomotion, and the succession of training sessions and the solicitations of competitions (see fact sheet 1).

Improving one’s physical condition with the aim of acquiring better mastery and output from one’s body while preserving physical integrity over time, should be considered as something to be done on a daily basis on two different levels :

• During every session
• Through developing the physical qualities required for riding.

Warming-up or preparing one’s body for the effort required

Neglected by most, warming-up is of vital importance for both horse and rider. It is an essential part of the day’s or training session’s start. It is the warm-up phase for heart and lungs, and for neuromuscular capacity, it prepares the body for the efforts of the session by improving motricity (coordination, skills, balance…), in order to be relaxed and ready, so as to avoid injuries and falls.

It respects four principles : generating heat, maintaining it, being progressive, altenating and varying the work.

The warm-up session is adapted to the rider and to his discipline, and the length will vary according to the intensity and duration of the effort to follow, according to the outside temperature and the moment of the day (longer warm-ups when it is cold, or in the morning). A warm-up session can be divided into two stages :

On foot (8 to 10 minutes)

• Start by grooming the horse energetically to raise body temperature (see Ifce works)
• Brisk walk or jog (4 to 5’ at least) – punctuated by a short acceleration -  possibly with the horse in hand, to enhance heart and lung activity
• Dynamic suppling up exercises ( 4 to 5’ ) on foot – or with the horse in hand- to mobilise the main connections between body parts (neck, shoulders, wrists, fingers, pelvis /back, knees, ankles). Progressively increase gesture amplitude, followed by suppling exercises (back, oblique muscles, rear chain (calf and hamstring muscles), iliopsoas/ rectus femoris, quadriceps, and adductor muscles)

On horseback (5 to 6’)

During the horse’s warm up , finish yours with a few stretches and postural reinforcing exercises (work on oneself at each gait), this to awaken proprioception, back and pelvic tonicity, through initiating relaxation, independance of the aids, and « horse and rider harmony »

« How can a rider hope to get his horse to relax, if that rider is himself tense and stiff » (Michel Robert).

Cool-down, or evacuating stress after effort

Cooling down is also important for horse and rider, to evacuate physical and mental stress caused by effort. It disconnects, and revitalises the organism, returns muscles to their initial length, makes them ready again, avoids accumulation of fatigue, muscle soreness and sources of injury...

• Stretching after effort (3 to 4’) at the end of the session, or the day, either contraction/ relaxation (PNF), or a global method (Mézière)…., with longer times. At least the back, rear muscle chain (calves and hamstrings), iliopsoas, quadriceps and adductor muscles should be stretched – see working on suppleness.

Recovery or restoring capacity

Accumulation of work generates an energy expenditure which is proportional to the intensity and duration of the effort. Recovery helps in restoring capacity, eliminating waste, and renewing substrates. During this phase the organism needs to maintain sufficient metabolic activity to allow the restructuration of the different body systems solicited. It is all the more important given that the organism will have taken from its reserves during effort. Recovery time should be considered as important for each session, and for each training period.

Thanks to recovery periods, training will become more productive and better assimilated ; muscle soreness is reduced, and the level of performance improved. The rider will quickly be able to bear up to a higher load in terms of training (repetitions, volume, intensity, length of time). To acheive this :

• Recovery should be active : tiredness, associated with a concentration of lactates are more readily eliminated by maintaining active aerobic exercises.
• Stretching : this helps recover muscle suppleness by helping to eliminate metabolic waste.
• Food and rehydration : Stores of energetic substrates are replenished thanks to balanced meals. Sweating, which reflects the amount of water lost during a session, needs to be balanced by drinking little but often. Water is the only essential drink.

• Rest, sleep, naps : respecting rest and sleep phases alternating with periods of work is vital. Lack of rest can lead to a situation of over-training, loss of capacities and performance.

Physical capacities necessary to the rider

When worked on regularly, each of these contributes to performances in equestrian sports.

Maintaining suppleness

Although some recent currents of thought seem to question the need for stretching, all seem to agree that working on suppleness helps to maintain optimal mobility. It is therefore essential. For the rider, suppleness can help to acheive better amplitude, and the muscle elasticity thus acquired can be used dynamically with body tone and carriage in one’s position on horseback.

The exercises should be chosen for their relevance in the discipline. Brief (6 to 8’’) , repeated (2 to 3 times for each exercise), varied (static, dynamic, postural), regular (at every warm-up / cool-down), performed correctly (attitude, stance, breathing out during the stretch…..without jerking).

Maintaining muscular reinforcement

It is important to differentiate between mucle building (usually working out with additional weights) and muscular reinforcement, recommeneded for riders, which can be done anywhere, with no need for specific equipment. It essentially uses the actual body weight.

Working on deep muscles

Skeletal muscles, controlled by the voluntary nervous system, link bones together and allow motricity. Superficial or deep they represent 40 % of our body weight. Even though the superficial muscles are larger, it is the deep muscles which ensure articular stabilization : deep postural muscles, around the joints and along the spine, they contribute to adjusting body-tone. They allow posture control. These  slow-twitch muscles are only minimally voluntary,  not very strong or large, they are however extremely resistant.

Different types of muscle contraction

Muscle strength is the capacity to perform a physical effort thanks to the contraction of a muscle or o group of muscles. It helps to overcome or oppose resistance. The power of a force is the speed at which the the force can be exerted.  Depending on the resistance, the speed and the movement of the load, several types of contraction can be noted :

• Concentric: movement of the resistance point. The muscle swells, the insertion points move closer together.
• Eccentric: resisting movement of the load by slowing it down. The muscle lengthens, the insertion points move away from each other.
• Isometric: no movement of the fixed resistance point, or when it is too heavy. The muscle remains in its initial state, the insertions are at a constant distance from each other.
• Combined plyometric : succession of reflex concentric and eccentric contraction phases, with no pause betweeen them ( springing jumps – see  Rider fitness (1) : Essential).
• Combined stato-dynamic : Movement including a pause phase of varying duration (pre-fatigue state) followed by a voluntary concentric or eccentric contraction.

The stronger you are the more you can be relaxed on horseback

He will be able to sustain the same efforts with less energy.

More resistant, more available, he will be capable of repeating effort, multiplying training sessions and competitions, performing better, while generating less fatigue.

Choosing relevant exercises for horse riding

• Static exercises to improve posture : Building « core strength » consists in maintaing a position for a certain time so as to tire, and thus increase the efficiency of postural muscles over their whole length (increase muscle tone, without increasing size, and without reducing speed). These are the best abdominal muscle exercises. Progressively increase duration, and repetitions.
• Dynamic exercises : the purpose is to aim for speed in the execution, explosivity, mental effort during work phases. Progressively increase number of repetitions.

• Usual caution : Badly performed exercise can be harmful. Synchronise your breathing, and respect recovery times. Be careful of working on a fragile muscle. Vary and perform a range of exercises (agonistic/ antagonistic muscles, constantly use the « surprise » factor).

Cardiorespiratory endurance exercises

Many riders are out of breath and tetanised at the end of a dressage test, a show-jumping round, a gallop or a cross country course...Working on stamina is learning to optimise one’s breathing. Endurance workouts for the rider should also contribute to developing physiological qualities and energy levels, so as to better respond to the physical and mental demands of the daily activities, training sessions and competitions.

Each of the processes can be improved in Power (going faster) or in Capacity (over longer periods of time). To develop cardiorespiratory endurance, running, cycling, or swimming are the most adapted. They allow a variety of work, intensity and durations, and use different muscles. They complement coordination and motor diversity.

Two or three sessions a week will quickly lead to improvement, and you will feel the benefits when riding.

Working on coordination

This is defined as the capacity of muscles and muscle fibres to work in a synchronous fashion to generate harmoniuous, fluid movements which are controlled and « economical ».

• To reach this goal : Knowledge of one’s own body is essential. Physical preparation enables to work on all the elements of coordination.
• Benefits for horse riding : equestrian technique becomes more precise, and communication between horse and rider improves. Rapid gain in fluidity, precision, assurance and improved decision making, reaction, and execution speeds. Economy of gestures and energy, thus delaying tiredness and allowing better concentration capacity, increasing mastery in all situations, be they foreseeable or unforseeable. It is a source of prevention against injuruy, and safety for the horse and rider .

Concentration and self assurance

Concentrating is defined as fixing and maintaining one’s mind, attention and energy focused. Every moment in time (T) which follows the precceding one, is the assembly of three complex intellectual efforts, they are silmultaneous and focused on the action :

• Fulfilment of the previous T (which in the best case scenario had been anticipated by the rider).
• Coping with the unforseen in the present T (for a short time)
• Anticipating the following T+1

This is why man has a high concentration capacity which is limited to around twenty minutes. A horse’s concentration capacity is estimated at about half that !

While on horseback, a rider’s concentration is required from beginning to the end of a session to cope with his balance which is constantly disturbed by the horse’s unforseen reactions, which have to be anticipated and contained immediately.

The rider needs to permantly call on a great proprioceptive adjustment capacities, and on instant reactions. Proprioception is the capacity to perceive the position and placing of each part of the body to fine tune the sense of movement and postural adjustment. Proprioception is based on sensory modes which lead to better control and gesture regulation, from the simplest to the most complex, taking into account speed, the particularities of the discipline and the horse’s response.

Inherent to the muscular system, perceptive skills are an integral part of the way the body functions, and can be improved through appropriate physical preparation. The rider learns these automatic responses through training, succession of actions, to be better connected to the horse (in harmony).

Learning to take care of oneself, listening to one’s body, taking care of one’s physical fitness so as to be more precise, more available, is for the rider a guarantee of control, efficency, performance, safety and welfare.

Exceed awareness ! Organise, through simple steps and concrete tools, improvement and aim for yours and your horse’s well-being.

How to implement this task ? The next fact sheet « Rider fitness (3) : Organise your preparation » presents simple, quick and efficient means to implement a fitness program.