All Blog Posts Tagged 'rider health' (50)

Ridden Hard and Put Away Wet - Equestrians Lose Sight of Self-Care

“Ridden hard and put away wet!” This age old expression brings to mind an image of a horse that worked rigorously and was not properly cared for. You can picture the animal galloping along, doing her…

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Added by Patti Bartsch, Ph.D. on October 24, 2010 at 8:02pm — No Comments

10 Diet Tips to a Healthier You: Tip 2

10 Diet Tips to a Healthier You, Tip 2:

Add Fruit to Your Day – Start by adding one more fruit to your day until you reach more than 5 servings of fruit and vegetables per day. The adult recommendation from Canada’s Food Guide is 7-10 (7-8 servings for females and 8-10 servings for males) servings. Dried fruit like raisins or prunes contain a lot of nutrients but they won’t fill you up the way fresh fruit will. Fresh fruit contains…

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Added by Lindsey Forkun on October 22, 2010 at 11:00am — No Comments

What it Means for YOU to be Naturally Unbridled

What it Means For YOU to be Naturally Unbridled

By Patti Bartsch, M.A., Ph.D.…

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Added by Patti Bartsch, Ph.D. on October 21, 2010 at 5:27pm — No Comments

10 Diet Tips to a Healthier You: Tip 1

Becoming more fit for your horse has many benefits and will allow you to do more with your horse both on the ground and in the saddle. You will also get the health benefits of reducing your risk of many chronic diseases and cancers.

Becoming more fit involves a good diet and physical activity. These tips will help you get started with a good diet.One new tip will be posted each week until…

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Added by Lindsey Forkun on October 15, 2010 at 11:00am — 2 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

Breathing: A Lesson on the 1st Step to Effective Movement

As riders we get all sorts of information about how to have correct posture, how to breathe, and how to use our abdominal muscles. All of these things affect the way we stand, sit, move, and breathe. They even affect the way we think and our emotions. As babies we knew how to breathe naturally and use our breath for power. We filled our lungs, letting our belly expand, and screamed! When we breathe naturally our lungs fill as our diaphragm lowers and flattens out, and, because our stomach,… Continue

Added by Sit_the_Trot on January 30, 2010 at 9:30am — 1 Comment

Balance Exercises: #2 Here is another balance exercise that you can do! #2: Flip Around Start by swinging your left right leg over the front of the saddle so that you are sitting side saddle. Nex…

Balance Exercises: #2

Here is another balance exercise that you can do!

#2: Flip Around

Start by swinging your left right leg over the front of the saddle so that you are sitting side saddle. Next, put your right arm over your stomach and grab the back of the saddle. Then, reach around your back and grab the front of your saddle. Lift your self out of the saddle and turn around so that you are dangling off the side of the saddle, facing it. Finally,… Continue

Added by Sasha Merlin on January 28, 2010 at 6:07pm — 1 Comment

Balance Exercices: #1

Have you ever felt un-balenced on a horse? I know I have! So here are some exercices to help you stay in balence!

#1 Around The World

Swing your right leg over the front of the saddle, so that you are sitting side saddle. Next, swing your left leg over the back of the saddle so that you are facing backwards. Then swing your right leg over so you are sitting side saddle again, and then swing your left leg over so that you are sitting facing forward again.

Next month… Continue

Added by Sasha Merlin on January 25, 2010 at 9:22pm — 2 Comments

From Chair to Saddle: Take it slowly

Unlike four-legged mammals that generally move with a horizontal spine, the human spine is uniquely shaped to allow us to move in multitudes of activities while standing or sitting upright. With the muscles and tendons providing structure, the spine can bend and twist and oscillate. It can also relax and allow us to sit for long periods. Unfortunately, our spine also has a good short-term memory about what it has been doing.

The tissues hold on to what we have been doing. What does… Continue

Added by Sit_the_Trot on January 25, 2010 at 3:48pm — 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

Help become a better rider

This blog is about how to help other riders get stronger legs and core strength. If you have any questions or answers then you can fell like you can add what you think.

Added by Stephanie Good on January 18, 2010 at 1:47pm — 2 Comments

Supple, Balanced Seat + Dissipation of Force

The rider, to ride well must be supple; the body must be filled with shock absorbers at every joint to allow the movement of the horse to go through the legs and up the rider's spine without getting stopped anywhere. For the dressage or western rider the ankles, hips and shoulders must be relaxed, moveable, and independent of the movement of the torso.

This… Continue

Added by Sit_the_Trot on January 14, 2010 at 10:00am — 2 Comments

Ride in Harmony: Half-Halt--Biomechanics of Your Seat, Legs, and Hand

For many riders the half-halt is elusive even though they understand that if done correctly it will rebalance the horse, increasing engagement of his hind end and readying him for the next move. Your seat during the half-halt must be ready to receive the engagement of the hindquarters and increase of energy created by your legs, otherwise you'll lose your balance and be tempted to hold onto the reins or grab with your legs because the change in balance and energy has left you behind the motion… Continue

Added by Sit_the_Trot on January 4, 2010 at 12:43pm — 5 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

Enjoy the Ride: Confidence at the Faster Gaits

I get questions about going faster without bouncing--trotting, cantering, loping, galloping--and realize that novice riders are often intimidated by faster gaits, not realizing that riding the trot or canter on a calm, well-trained horse is fun and relaxing, even exhilarating.

Part of learning to ride comes from spending time in the saddle but plenty of riders spend hours in the saddle without really learning the one simple thing that will make it enjoyable to ride: moving with the… Continue

Added by Sit_the_Trot on October 1, 2009 at 4:56pm — No Comments

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

Ride Fit 1-2-3 More Stretches: Get better shoulders

Hi,

Since the questions and comments to last weeks' lengthy blog on stretching were related to how to get better shoulder mobility, I've uploaded a new video showing some pre and post ride stretches for chest and shoulders.

http://www.barnmice.com/video/chest-stretches-for-riders-aug

You can post comments, questions and even photos to this Ride Fit blog anytime. The… Continue

Added by Heather Sansom at Equifitt.com on August 12, 2009 at 8:58am — No Comments