All Blog Posts Tagged 'fitness' (29)

Building Your Riding Fitness While in the Saddle

Do you find yourself huffing and puffing after a few strides of canter? Have you been riding less recently and find that now your back in the saddle, your less effective than before? Are you spending hours schooling your horse but seeing little to no difference in his way of going...

It often amazes me how much time, effort, planning and work riders put into conditioning and increasing the fitness levels of their horses and yet completely fail to invest even a little of that towards…

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Added by Lorna Leeson on July 22, 2015 at 10:30am — No Comments

5 Tips to Develop Your Horse's Topline

Is your horse's topline lacking? A good topline both improves a horse's appearance and makes it easier for him to carry himself properly. If you're looking to develop and strengthen your horse’s topline, these exercises can help you do that.

Before You Start

Before you begin working on your horse’s topline, remember that for these exercises to be…

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Added by Classic Equine Equipment on August 7, 2014 at 9:30am — No Comments

The Ride of Your Life

Riding can be tough on your body and great for your physique. Staying strong will help you to ride better and improving your general health and fitness will ultimately improve your love of the sport. Making sure you get enough sleep and are well nourished is the first step to good health and the complimentary benefits on your chosen sport. Your horse will be in peak condition, so why shouldn’t you be too?

An exercise routine which incorporates a variety of approaches is…

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Added by Ann N. on March 20, 2012 at 9:23am — No Comments

Spring Weight Loss Strategies - Should You Count Calories?

Welcome to spring! Horse show season is under way and bathing suit season is just around the corner. A winter of holiday feasting and reduced activity may have left you with a few souvenir pounds to help you to remember last season. I was recently asked if I think that counting calories is a good way to lose weight so I…

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Added by Patti Bartsch, Ph.D. on March 22, 2011 at 1:20pm — 2 Comments

Important Horse Care Tips

Spring is pretty much here and before you know it: show season. In light of all the training and preparing you’ll be doing, here are a few tips on caring for your horse that should keep him or her in top shape.

Maintaining Manes: during the summer show season it gets hot. This might cause your horse’s mane to become dry and start to frizz. In addition to regular shampooing and conditioning, apply olive oil to keep it soft and shining.

Pink Noses: also in… Continue

Added by The HorseLady Blog on March 15, 2011 at 12:51pm — No Comments

Become More Fit For Your Horse

Become More Fit for Your Horse

By Lindsey Forkun, RN, PHN, BScN

Have you ever gone to see your horse, and afterward thought “hmmm that could have gone better”?

Have you ever considered how your…

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Added by Lindsey Forkun on October 15, 2010 at 10:30am — No Comments

William Micklem offers TEN MORE LITTLE BEAUTIES

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Added by William Micklem on August 1, 2010 at 5:00pm — 1 Comment

Rider Fitness- those old bones!

Hi, I just posted a blog entry about managing age and injury as a rider. The post was doing some funny formatting, so I had to fix it. Here it is again:

EquiTip July 2010: Those Old Bones…

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Added by Heather Sansom at Equifitt.com on July 19, 2010 at 7:34pm — 1 Comment

Those Old Bones- Ride well after injury (or age!)

Hi, I thought I'd share a recent fitness tip I send out in my newsletter about how to recover from injury and manage age so your body works the way you want it to when you're riding. (by the way, you can sign up to receive free monthly fitness tips for riders at www.equifitt.com )…

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Added by Heather Sansom at Equifitt.com on July 17, 2010 at 12:09pm — 3 Comments

And So on and So on and So on....

Thursday April 22

At some point, riding lots of miles starts to feel a little redundant. Today, Robin and I rode around the buttes – we mixed it up a little by going over the steep pass down to Ave Q, then across to…

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Added by Monica Whitmer on May 1, 2010 at 11:53pm — 2 Comments

Ride Fit 1-2-3- How to Ride Better

Hi, with so much going on at this time of year, I thought I'd share my latest fitness tip for equestrians. The EquiTips go around the world to a few thousand readers, and subscription is free (just email me at personaltraining@equifitt.com if you want to subscribe to the fittips). You can also read lots of free articles by looking up Fitness Tip of the Month in the search bar on www.equisearch.com .…

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Added by Heather Sansom at Equifitt.com on March 29, 2010 at 10:30am — No Comments

Ride With Confidence: Part 8 - The Art of Staying in the Saddle

While we all know there is a huge psychological component to riding there is no denying that it is also very much a physical skill. Everyone needs to develop a balanced, stable secure seat on a horse. That requires improving your core strength and balance but there is a payoff for that effort. You will fee much more confident in the saddle if you know that you can stick there no matter what happens.

Your posture and balance also have a tremendous influence on your horse's…

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Added by Laura Hunter on March 10, 2010 at 9:49am — 1 Comment

making the commitment and keeping it to get fit

So the weather hasn’t been kind – but I am determined to keep up the work schedule. First of all, I found a GREAT on line article about conditioning for your first endurance ride. It is from the Southeast Endurance Riders Association. The link is below.…

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Added by Monica Whitmer on March 5, 2010 at 2:17pm — No Comments

Tummy Out! Find Your Strong and Supple Core and Release Tension

“Tummy out, tummy out,” I heard in lesson after lesson when I rode in Germany at Etoile International Equestrian Academy under the direction of Stephan Kiesewetter, chief trainer. Tummy out? I’d never heard such a direction from a dressage instructor, yet when I did it, I felt my lower back fill out and hip joints relax, the mobility of my lumbar spine increased while my upper torso stabilized, and I sat deeper. I found it easier to follow each big, bouncy stride—in fact, my horse gave bigger,… Continue

Added by Sit_the_Trot on January 20, 2010 at 4:30pm — 7 Comments

Lazy Horse? Behind the Leg? or Tense Rider?

Often people who come to my clinics complain that their horse is lazy. They say things like: "He doesn't want to go," or "Even my trainer has problems getting my horse to go."

I say, really? your healthy, vibrant 5 year old is lazy? Your prime-of-life, athletic 10 year old is lazy? Really? Does he just stand around out in the pasture?

"Well, no..."

Hmmm, Let's see what's going on, I'll say.

I watch as they ride and yes, the horse seems sluggish, making little effort to… Continue

Added by Sit_the_Trot on January 10, 2010 at 7:00am — 3 Comments

Ride Fit 1-2-3: Making Sure Your Barn Chores Aren't Causing You Postural Problems in the Saddle

Hello and Happy New Year!

I had a great question recently posted to my page about the effect of barn chores on your body, as a rider. Lorel's question about barn choring is actually quite common, so she gave permission for me to post her question here in the blog so that others could benefit.

Lorel's Question:

Hi Heather, I struggle with a problem which I am sure many other riders have. I am employed working with horses then do farmwork when I get home so I have… Continue

Added by Heather Sansom at Equifitt.com on December 28, 2009 at 11:00am — 1 Comment

Ride Fit 1-2-3: Self-carriage & Centered Riding

Since my last blog entry, I decided to follow up the Centered Riding clinic that inspired that blog, with some lessons in the process of becoming a Centered Riding instructor.

It's an interesting journey. If you've never read Sally Swift's book, Centered Riding, I highly recommend that you do: there are great illustrations and visuals in there which can really help you with awareness and posture while you are riding.

The Equifitt work I do most of the time is about building… Continue

Added by Heather Sansom at Equifitt.com on November 25, 2009 at 1:30pm — 5 Comments

Fit to Ride 1-2-3: Centered Riding, Balimo and Awareness

Hi, As you know, you can post questions to the Ride Fit blog, along with photos (if you have them and want to) and take advantage of the blog as a free online 'clinic' to help you with specific suggestions for getting more alignment between your riding, and your fitness activities.

Just as with other sports, there is no single workout you can pull out of a box that will make you a better rider. There are some principles: good posture, for example, is essential to good riding whatever… Continue

Added by Heather Sansom at Equifitt.com on November 5, 2009 at 4:00pm — 1 Comment

Ride Fit 1-2-3: More on Soft Hands and the Connection with Shoulder Strength

Comments and questions recently posted to my last blog were really excellent. I've copied them here, with some answers. Remember- you can post questions, comments and even photos for analysis to the latest Ride Fit blog. I try and respond in the next blog posting.

QUESTIONS FROM BARNMICE MEMBER, 'SIT_THE_TROT':

OK, I totally agree with this:

"we do look for alignment from the elbow through the forearm to the bit, regardless of discipline. A rider should also have softness… Continue

Added by Heather Sansom at Equifitt.com on October 1, 2009 at 4:30pm — No Comments

Ride Fit 1-2-3: Fitting up for Cross Country

Hi, I had an excellent question about suitable training schedules for getting fit for Eventing in my inbox in response to one of the recent Ride Fit blogs. The question and response are below.

Question:

Hi Heather

Thanks for responding to my blog post about neck stretches. As my neck and back have been causing me problems lately I've decided to start up my clinical pilates again which I'd let slide when life got busy. I'd be interested on your opinion about a couple… Continue

Added by Heather Sansom at Equifitt.com on September 5, 2009 at 9:30am — No Comments