Strength Training for Equestrians

"You're never going to develop a deep seat if you don't strengthen your weak core and stretch your hips!"

So I don't know about you, but I've had this screeched at me throughout the years as I no doubt, bounced around like a sack of potatoes when I was learning to ride.

My instructors weren't wrong: it IS important to improve your fitness and your riding specific strength if you want to increase your performance in the saddle as well as improving your horse's experience too.

But how do you exercise in a way that actually translates into improving your riding? What is strength training for equestrians?

Sure, running will improve your cardio fitness. And squats, lunges and glute bridges will increase your leg strength. And planks will make you really good at, well, planks. But how much do these exercises (which are the ones I most commonly see in equestrian programs) actually transfer to your riding?

Yeah, not very much.

This is because they simply do not mimic any of the biomechanics most commonly experienced in the saddle. So whilst you'll get better at performing those exercises you may find that after a while you stop seeing progress when you ride your horse.

This is why I have made a 20 minute generalised follow along workout for you to try so you start developing your sports specific strength. If you want to jump ahead straight to the workout (linked at the bottom) go for it.

However, If you'd like to learn WHY these exercises will help you more than planks and lunges, keep reading.

The video I recorded looks at quite generalised skills that we'd need to school or jump our horses and focuses primarily on the core via the movement of "the air hump".

The air hump is my slightly tongue in cheek way of describing the ability to move our hips, pelvis and lower spine forward and back (with a small amount of rotation and lateral flexion) without too much movement in the upper or lower body.

Basically, as i mention in the video, you've got to get really good at doing a humping movement whilst keeping the rest of your trunk, as well as your limbs, fairly still. This repetitive movement of the core as it controls and transfers the force driven by the horse is pretty unique to equestrian disciplines. Developing strength at moving through your core in this way will deepen your seat so you can roll with the movement of your horse more fluidly as well as keep your centre of gravity and balance.

There's THOUSANDS of exercises we can do to build riding specific strength and the great news is it doesn't have to take a lot of time because I don't know any equestrian that has a lot of time to devote to exercising themselves. As I mentioned, the workout below is generalised to schooling and basic jumping skills however if there is a discipline that you would like me to record a specific workout for drop me a comment below and I'll get on it 👇

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