rider exercises to improve posture (without the horse)

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My youngster is off for the winter so I thought I might use my time to improve my posture which frankly needs a lot of work. I sit fairly crooked which I think needs ironing out more on the ground to help with my riding pposture.

I am after recommendations for books or DVDs to help with this - has anyone used the Pilates for riders type DVDs? Were they useful?
 
I have both the Pilates for riders book and the Gemma Tatershall DVD. Neither will give you a hardcore workout but they are both rider focused so the exercises are relevant rather than general.

I don't know where you are in the country but Sheepgate are supposed to be running some more of their 'Equilates' sessions. Gamebird and I are looking to book in!

I'm also going to book some lunge lessons to work on my position, the other thing is to try one of the mechanical horses which might be useful?
 
Hi meardsall millie - I'm in Northern Ireland and have searched but can't find anything similar here to the pilates for riders thing but happy to work off the DVDs

I like your plan about the mechanical horse and lunge lessons, will look into those too
 
Have a look and see if anyone teaches on the power plate near you. It's intense and hard work but excellent for improving core and balance. I use the same instructor mentioned in this weeks h&h and she is brilliant. Already made a big difference, not only to my seat but also helped my position with the other exercise I do (spinning, body balance and body pump)
 
ive just been to the physio as i have had a major op and my core strength is rubbish. he has recommended a gym ball and i read somewhere that some competing riders use them to help with fitness. they are not expensive and i have just ordered one from argos which i will pick up tomorrow and start using as i want to get back to normal a s a p.
 
Yoga helps me a lot :)

I've been bad and skyved off for a few weeks and my back and posture is definitely worse.
 
If you're not straight I'd really recommend getting checked by a chiro or great sports physio in the first instance. The danger is that if you're not as straight as possible before you exercise, you can risk just making your existing "wonky" muscle patterns stronger, if you know what I mean. Otherwise really good pilates, ideally in v small class or one to one, is a good place to start. It's more expensive, but if you can find a specialist pilates instructor who works with people with back pain (i know you don't say you have it, but the principles are the same) then you'll get even better help as they're very good with alignment.

Otherwise if you want to do it at home, a good (and cheap!) book which helps you analyse your own wonkitude, and then has a routine of really simple stretch / strength exercises to help you address it and straighten it out, is The Egoscue Method of Health Through Motion. I've recommended it on here before, and you do have to wade through some slightly egotistical early chapters, but it's only a few quid and I'm using the exercises at the moment to help straighten me out after breaking my shoulder earlier this year and ending up feeling horribly wonky, and it's definitely helping me to feel straighter, freer through both shoulders, easier through the back and hips etc. Worth a go.
 
I have some Lucy knight fitness videos they are really good. Not horse focused but filmed in Spain so you can look at nice sunny beaches in the middle of winter!
 
Gym ball - core muscle exercises. Also agree with the Chiro suggestion - I went to see one after a particularly bad bout of back issues and she yanked and popped me a fair bit - this coupled with the core muscle exercises have improved my posture in the saddle. Saddler commented on it the other day as I usually had a bad habit of leaning my entire body slightly left.
 
But really worth paying for 121 instruction to begin with. If you have a weak core (and most riders do), your body will compensate using other muscles. You may think you are working correctly then your instructor will tweak you again and bingo.. Suddenly it's HARD as you are working your muscles properly. I have found I compensate with upper back and neck (go figure) but am gradually improving. I could not hold a side plank at all, or even a normal plank. The stomach exercises whereby you raise your legs slightly off the ground? No chance. I can now all this comfortably and my posture has improved imeasureably.
 
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