Pilates, a workout for the rider

Horse riding is a sport that has two main players: horse and rider. Regarding horse training, rivers of ink, words and strategies have been spent for years to ensure that our four-legged friends are athletically at their best.

Trainers and veterinarians study the horse’s career, the timing and mode of training, the alternation between periods of intense work and rest to arrive at the competition season in top form.

And thank goodness! What has been overlooked by most for years is the physical training of the rider, who, on the other hand, must be in perfect shape to be able to perform at his best in the saddle.

Fortunately, for some years now the trend has changed and the rider’s athletic preparation has begun to be a fundamental point in sports training in terms of both performance and well-being.

However, even today, among the uninitiated, who do not know how exhausting it is to ride a horse, one hears people say ‘But if the horse does everything!’, yet anyone who practices this sport knows perfectly well how false this is! Riding a horse takes a body of steel!

Suppose on the one hand you need hands like feathers, capable of conveying the most invisible of suggestions and of grasping every nuance, and strong legs, capable of dosing the action to the gram and the centimetre.

In that case, you need at the same time muscles of steel in the legs, certainly, but above all in the abdominals and lats: it is from there that the rider absorbs the thrusts coming from the horse in motion, it is from there that the rider moves his centre of gravity to follow that of the horse and at the same time to suggest what to do.

An excellent ally for those practising horseback riding is Pilates, a practice devised by its namesake Joseph Hubertus Pilates to strengthen the body and mind through discipline and the search for the core, or centre. By means of specific gymnastics and breathing exercises, great results can be achieved (read “Unveiling the Synergy: Pilates and Equestrian Mastery“).

From stretching the muscles, to centring the spine, to achieving diaphragmatic and functional breathing. Applied to horse riding, with a view to all-round sport and well-being, Pilates is an excellent method of physically and mentally training for riders of all disciplines.

We talked about it with Agnese De Blasi, a Pilates instructor whose courses include athletes of all kinds.

From a physical point of view, Pilates allows us to have a Core, this term refers to the corset around the spine, although it often refers mainly to the abdominal muscles. This word is now widely used by trainers and Pilates teachers to emphasise the importance of pelvic stability while mobilising the upper and/or lower limbs.

Translated to riding, Pilates is an optimal method for performing functional gymnastics, i.e. strengthening the body to perform movements useful for the activity we are going to perform. Stability of the shoulders without creating rigidity, mobility of the spine, independence of the legs and arms, are all necessary qualities for a good rider, combined with a solid and never heavy balance.

Pilates also teaches how to ‘feel’, to perceive one’s body in all its parts, and this can make all the difference when riding a horse. We can also concentrate and perform specific Pilates exercises at home, they can be a useful warm-up before a training session or a competition, but it is always a good idea to be followed by a professional who can correct any incorrect postures we may be assuming and help us to ‘feel’, to listen to us in order to understand what the correct position is.

Roll Down: a useful exercise

Once you have consolidated the basics, and learnt to feel your core, an excellent preparatory exercise for riding is the Roll Down. This exercise strengthens the abdominal muscles as well as facilitating the mobility of the column and pelvis, helping the rider to dissociate the movement of the hips from that of the column.

hips from that of the spine. When doing the exercises, let’s focus on the movement in order to perceive the internal sensations, trying to recognise, through the information provided by the body, whether we are assuming the right or wrong position.

First, let us sit with our backs straight, with our legs bent and spread as far apart as our hips. The feet are placed fully on the floor and the hands are under the thighs with the elbows raised.

Inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth we round the column

starting from the coccyx, bringing the lower back towards the floor. Let’s imagine we are taking off our tight trousers and sliding away with our coccyx. We curve our back like a C.

The abdominal muscles are activated and the lower back stretches. Our gaze remains on the horizon. We hold the position and inhale through the nose to send air to the back and sides of the rib cage creating expansion. We can repeat this exercise four times.

Breathing, loose muscles and the ability to listen to yourself are a good basis for creating a top combination.

Elena Pecora

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