'Ride Better 1-2-3' Exclusive Rider Fitness Online Clinic - Week 2

Hello,

Welcome to the second week of the Ride Better blog. We have had some encouraging comments, and one rider submitted photos for analysis and recommendations. While I CAN work with descriptions without photos, it is much better if you can send in photos. If you don't have the three postures such as we see in these first two examples, just some shots of you riding, and a side view or front or rear view would still be better than no photos at all.

And, once again, I'd just like to underline the idea that in this blogspot, our goal is to provide three exercise which might be helpful to the rider chosen for the week's clinic. Naturally, we can't develop a complete fitness program, or make a full biomechanic analysis from a few photos.

The Rider
Andrea is a dressage rider currently working at third level (single flying changes, half pass, medium and extended trot and canter). She has expressed concerns that she
1. may have a tendency to shift her weight too far to the right
2. tends to carry tension in her shoulders
and 3. feels that she has difficulty keeping her legs straight under her with that straight heel/hip alignment.

Postural Analysis

In her photos, Andrea does sit a bit to the right with her right leg more vertical to her hip than her left. Her left leg by comparison is rather 'open'- notice the knee and toe pointing more outwards. You can see this especially in the rear-view shot where it also seems that her left hip is slightly higher than the right. Her left seatbone is not as deeply planted in the saddle. It would not surprise me if her horse is slightly less senstive to her right leg aid and has a tendency to falls in or out to the right (depending on which rein she is on), based on her weight distribution and the fact that her right leg appears so much tighter against the horse with a much more closed angle on her inner thigh. Her hips do seem a bit tight, with the right side tighter than the left, and the left actually showing weakness in the inward rotators (muscle groups which would work together to turn her knee and toe in.)

It appears that her left shoulder is slightly ahead of the right, and right hip slightly ahead of the left, although it would be easier to see for sure with moving footage, or a picture taken in motion. This type of axial rotation (swivel at the waist) can impede her ability for independent movement of the seatbones, and shoulder girdle. In other words, it can make flying changes or lateral movements in one direction more difficult than the other.

She is not happy with how deeply she is able (or not) to sit in the saddle and would like to have longer legs positioned more directly underneath her hips. In the photos, she appears slightly perched on the seatbones, with tension moving upward into her shoulders, and down into over-flexed heels. It's difficult to say how much of this leg posture is due to her saddle as the positioning of stirrup irons and construction of the seat really does make a difference in rider position. When one is moving up the levels in dressage, one can 'outgrow' a saddle that no longer positions the rider optimally for the biomechanic needs of the level. That has happened to me, and I have seen a major difference in the way a rider sits in different saddles. In Andrea's case, I do notice the stirrup leathers shoved a bit forward of the bars by her foot, so I think she could lengthen and straighten her leg before considering changes to the saddle. I'm not a saddle fitter, so I will stick to comments related to the rider. I am also not her riding coach, so while I would love to see this rider ride without stirrups more often, and lengthen her stirrup leathers by about 3 holes, her riding coach is in a more qualified position to give her riding instructions. Again, I'll stick with what I'm here for, which is the off-horse recommendations I can make to help her create balance and self-carriage she can translate to the saddle.

In addition to the heel being ahead of the hip and not aligned directly under it, she also shows a slight tendency to a forward pelvic tilt (iliac crest or hip bone near waist is tipped slightly forward). There is a more closed angle at her leg/hip which almost pulls her more forward on the pubic bone than is desireable for the deeper dressage seat she is aiming at. This posture is suggestive of tight hip flexors. Tension in her back would be logical as she tries to maintain an upright posture, while fighting the tendency of her knee to creep up, legs to shift forward and pelvis to tilt slightly forward.

Forward pelvic tilt is almost always present when there is weakness in both the lower back and lower abdominals, combined with tightness and shortness in the hip flexors. There are many things I would put in this riders' home exercise program. This is partly due to what you may have already noticed: that each issue seems to indicate BOTH strength issues and flexibility issues in muscles which oppose each other or work together. In other words, there isn't a single magic exercise to solve x problem. There's usually a combination that will work for most riders with a similar issue- bearing in mind that each is also an individual, and individual's bodies compensate differently. Since we are limited in this space to three exercises, we will start at the bottom and work our way up. I like to think of Sally Swift's 'building block' concept. Or, you can think of the tower of Pisa. If it's crooked at the foundation, it won't get fixed by a change on the top floor. You can see that Andrea's attempt to keep a straight upper body in spite of what is going on with her legs and hips actually creates undesireable tension in the back and shoulders because she is fighting against herself, and the lower body is much stronger than the upper. Also, she has said her main focus right now is to get a longer more correctly positioned leg. So, I will stay focused in her recommended exercises on the legs and hip area for this week's blog.


Suggested Exercises


1. Thighs: Stretch the inner thighs before riding with side to side lunges, and afterwards with holding the splits (end of the day when you have time to really get into it and change the fascial tissue and work deep into the muscles). You can rest your upper body on a stool or fitness ball to take the weight off of your legs so they will relax more as you stretch the inner thigh. I would combine the inner thigh stretching with some outer thigh work so that the muscle tone on your outer thighs is more supportive of your legs widening and wrapping around the horse. About 30 side leg lifts a few times a week would be good.

2. Hips: Those hip flexors have to loosen up considerably. Stretch them using a 'runners' lunge' or the yoga pose 'pigeon'. It wouldn't hurt to get more flexible hamstrings as well. I stretch hip flexors with a flowing in and out runners' lunge before getting in the saddle, and it makes a difference in releasing your leg to be pulled back.

3. Core: Work on your lower back and lower abdominal strength with leg raises lying on your back on the floor, and 'supermans'- lying on your stomach on the floor raising legs and arms up and down.


Until next week- happy riding!

Sincerely,
Heather Sansom, www.equifitt.com Equestrian Fitness Training




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Comment by Heather Sansom at Equifitt.com on March 25, 2009 at 3:34pm
This comment was actually sent in a separate blog, by Andrea featured in this Ride Better blog and the above photos: Hi Heather,

Just wanted to say how much I appreciated your comments regarding my position on my horse. I have tried a number of your suggestions and feel that they have definitely helped. Clearly, you spent a lot of time analyzing my leg position and the problems I mentioned about leaning too far to the right side. I also have gone to your site and it is very helpful. I would highly recommend anyone wishing to get some helpful hints to contact you.

Thanks so much for everything again,
Andrea
Comment by Lucy on March 12, 2009 at 8:28pm
The recommendations are great and really helpful. I already do some of the exercises suggested at the bootcamp I attend and find that over the few months I have done them, they are a big help. Using an exercise ball for stretching is a great idea and I will have to give it a try.
Comment by Anni on March 12, 2009 at 4:24pm
I love the recommendation for the pigeon, this has helped me immensely in the past. Good post. :)
Comment by Heather Sansom at Equifitt.com on March 11, 2009 at 10:06pm

Here are the photos submitted for this weeks' online fitness clinic blog:

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