Sensitive Topic: Rider Weight/Fitness

[GrassChop]

Before I start, this is something I have always been curious about and I want to make it clear that this is not a shaming post in any way! I am not the lightest weight rider and could do with losing weight myself. It may not be a sensitive topic but I wanted to mark it as such in case.

I was always under the impression that riding is exercise so in my mind, I think if I ride more, I can lose weight but then I see that there are quite a few bigger riders that compete/event or ride daily and wonder, does riding not actually work that well in form of exercise/weight loss? As you need to be so fit for a lot of aspects of it and even all the general horse care duties so it doesn't make sense to me how we are not all super slim from doing so much? It may be a dim question but it's just something I've been curious about. I'd always thought that riding and general care like mucking out/poo picking etc would be enough in form of exercise but maybe it isn't. I'd love it if it was, that would make losing weight easier!

 

[meleeka]

I’m not very fit and I look after 3 ponies. I am very strong though. That’s different to cardio fitness though and I don’t think mucking out and heavy lifting would help with weight loss, because I rarely get out of breath.

Saying that, if I didn’t have the ponies, I’d probably be even less fit than I am, so i’m sure it’s doing me some good.

 

[Bernster]

Obv this topic has lots of tricky aspects to it but this the exercise/activity/calorie burning side of the discussion is an interesting angle. I know what you mean, for me my horse activity is pretty active in comparison to the rest of my day - I feel like you do lots of walking, lifting etc, and then there’s the actual riding (maybe exc gentle hacking which may not do much).

On the weight side, the rest of my day explains that in my case . But yes I’m coming around to the idea that riding isn’t that athletic (at the amateur rider level).

 

[IrishMilo]

I don't lose weight from riding/yard chores. I'm sure it helps maintain it, but if I want to lose weight I have to add in extra cardio. I'm a very active person, usually always on my feet in some form or another - walking the dogs, house chores, being up the yard, etc. but I think your body does get used it what you do after a while.

I also started tracking calories and was shocked by how much was going in on what I thought was a good day!

 

[GrassChop]

I’m not very fit and I look after 3 ponies. I am very strong though. That’s different to cardio fitness though and I don’t think mucking out and heavy lifting would help with weight loss, because I rarely get out of breath.

Saying that, if I didn’t have the ponies, I’d probably be even less fit than I am, so i’m sure it’s doing me some good.

Yes, there is that aspect of it too but I just think about, for example, riders that are hunting or doing cross country, surely that must use stomach muscles and especially your legs if you're out of the seat a lot or even dressage or showing bigger horses where you have to hold your seat in large movements. I feel like it should tone up more than it seems to!

 

[GrassChop]

Obv this topic has lots of tricky aspects to it but this the exercise/activity/calorie burning side of the discussion is an interesting angle. I know what you mean, for me my horse activity is pretty active in comparison to the rest of my day - I feel like you do lots of walking, lifting etc, and then there’s the actual riding (maybe exc gentle hacking which may not do much).

On the weight side, the rest of my day explains that in my case . But yes I’m coming around to the idea that riding isn’t that athletic (at the amateur rider level).

Yes, the rest of my day probably doesn't help me either but then what about people that go to the gym once a day? Why doesn't it do the same I wonder...

 

[94lunagem]

I will caveat this by saying I no longer ride, my horses became companions after retirement and now my horse life is my lifestyle/home rather than riding.

I am by no means slim, and I think time has a lot to do with it. Critics will no doubt consider this an excuse, but I know I don't eat well and that is because I am up early, horses are done before showering/getting ready for work, then a commute, then a full time job, then a commute home (traffic is far worse than it used to be), horses after work, gym, sleep, repeat. I am single, keep my own home and the horses are also at home, and I have little help. I will happily admit what I eat in the midst of that is neither always health or nutritious sometimes, in favour of quick and easy.

I also think there are different degrees of fitness. I can poo pick and muck out all day, spend all day repairing fencing, sweeping, lifting feed bags and hay or dealing with fallen trees. But could I run 10k, no.

riders that are hunting or doing cross country, surely that must use stomach muscles and especially your legs if you're out of the seat a lot

My understanding of the higher level eventers is they have their own fitness programme separate to time in the saddle, so that they CAN use their muscles effectively.

 

[Cloball]

Maybe I'm weird but I went from a size 12-14 to a size 8-10 when I bought my pony. Does sound like much but I've lost cms all round. I was quite sedentary before though due to job, injury and covid and have just gone back to my 'active' weight.

 

[GrassChop]

I don't lose weight from riding/yard chores. I'm sure it helps maintain it, but if I want to lose weight I have to add in extra cardio. I'm a very active person, usually always on my feet in some form or another - walking the dogs, house chores, being up the yard, etc. but I think your body does get used it what you do after a while.

I also started tracking calories and was shocked by how much was going in on what I thought was a good day!

That's a good point. Maybe it is just our bodies being used to it but then it makes it harder to lose weight! If anyone ever mentioned going to the gym, I always used to say that I have horses so that's good enough for exercise but perhaps it isn't!

 

[Abacus]

I think it's pretty well documented that you can't exercise your way out of a bad diet. Meaning that no amount of exercise will counteract eating too much or the wrong sort of food. I have read that weight management is 80% diet, and 20% exercise - the latter because it speeds your metabolism more than because you exercise off, say, 500 calories in a session. So the riding and yard chores won't, I fear, help you to lose weight but they will contribute towards fitness and metabolism. A good day's hunting every day might make a difference but probably because you don't eat a lot while you're out! I know for myself that I exercise a lot and am generally active, but still have to be quite careful in what I eat.

 

[GrassChop]

I think it's pretty well documented that you can't exercise your way out of a bad diet. Meaning that no amount of exercise will counteract eating too much or the wrong sort of food. I have read that weight management is 80% diet, and 20% exercise - the latter because it speeds your metabolism more than because you exercise off, say, 500 calories in a session. So the riding and yard chores won't, I fear, help you to lose weight but they will contribute towards fitness and metabolism. A good day's hunting every day might make a difference but probably because you don't eat a lot while you're out! I know for myself that I exercise a lot and am generally active, but still have to be quite careful in what I eat.

Yes, there is that. Maybe it's a personal thing in particular for me but I don't eat badly at all and I never seem to lose weight, I've only gained but luckily at the moment, it's staying the same.

It only made me think about it when I saw a picture a few days a go of a rider competing and mid-air over a cross country jump. She wasn't slim around the stomach or legs but she must be pretty fit to be doing that?

 

[Fanatical]

The saying 'you can't out exercise a bad diet' springs to mind - whatever the exercise is. You could be a marathon runner and still be over weight if you are eating more calories than you are burning.

 

[Tarragon]

I have a feeling that people get fit TO ride, as opposed to riding getting them fit. I bet a lot of us do extra activities, such as Pilates, just to help with riding.
If we only rode, and did none of the chores associated with looking after them, I think you would struggle to be even riding fit, unless you were rich enough to have horses at hunter livery, or polo ponies, for example, and rode lots.
The activity of DIY horse management just fits nicely into someone who has an active lifestyle, just as gardening and dog walking would do.
I remember filling in a form to join a gym, and they wanted to know how active I was by using a tick box list, and I was amazed that there were no options for just being an active outdoor person, all the options were organised activities, like swimming, gym, classes, running or playing a sport etc.

 

[ihatework]

The vast majority of loosing weight is about calorie intake. For women there is also a hormonal element. Exercise per se counts quite low in the overall equation. Riding even less so, and in all honest for amateur riders riding will have negligible effect on weight.

Now, lots of good riding will help core strength and muscle tone, but that’s slightly different.

Also if you spend a lot of time doing yard chores then this is pretty good exercise, and by default you might not be sitting around eating, so it’s not a bad thing!

 

[Peglo]

In 2022 I was riding a lot. We did lessons and lots of hacking. I also ran 3 times a week to keep my weight down.
Last year I didn’t ride as much but carried on running. My knee (which has had surgery) didn’t cope as well last year and I think it was the lack of strengthening work I was unknowingly doing in the saddle the year before that. So there’s definitely strengthening going on whilst riding.

I keep my horses at home and do early morning muck outs and still out at the stables at 8 in the evening. I’m a hobby rider but I have always needed to run, walk and gym on top of horsing. I watch what I eat but do enjoy good food (my evening portion size is a bit ridiculous) and make an effort to stay as slim as I healthily can and stay a weight I can maintain whilst also enjoying life. I have a very active hard job too.

I think it’s hard to find the time and effort to do more exercise while having a hobby like horse riding. 1:30-2hrs of my day is taken up with horses before I’ve even gotten to riding but for me I need to do that extra exercise to feel comfortable in myself and comfortable getting on my horse.

 

[maya2008]

It’s exercise…but you can out-eat it with relative ease. Healthy eating first, then add exercise for a healthy weight.

In a world where a Starbucks can have as many calories as a hefty lunch, it’s easy to have a ton of hidden energy in food and not realise where it is coming from.

 

[Roxylola]

You can be fit without being slim. Look at the world's strongest man type contestants. Muscle can be strong without being visible (ie covered in fat). Bodies are very good at being efficient so when you start a new activity regime you initially lose weight and/or build muscle however you'll quickly plateau if you are just doing the same thing.
To build muscle as opposed to maintaining you need to be putting it under regular stress ie working harder so lifting heavier weights, running faster etc.
Losing weight consistently is the same, if you're quite overweight initially you can make big losses with small adjustments but you have to reduce and reduce to continue losing as you get closer to goal

 

[Arzada]

I'd always thought that riding and general care like mucking out/poo picking etc would be enough in form of exercise but maybe it isn't. I'd love it if it was, that would make losing weight easier!

It is so long as you do enough of it. When I worked with horses contracted minimum 60hrs pw over 5 days I and literally everyone else lost weight and became very fit. I only occasionally mucked out but it was a very active lifestyle in all weathers.

 

[webble]

Assuming a normal metabolism it will usually be calories in vs calories out. You cant out exercise a bad diet

 

[Hackback]

I also started tracking calories and was shocked by how much was going in on what I thought was a good day!

Maybe you can eat more calories because of the physical activity involved. Exercise makes you hungry so you eat more kind of thing.

I was always amazed at the amount of food the YO and her workers ate when I was on livery, and they were all slim. Just ravenous from mucking out 17 horses etc etc.

Also, my YO was 2 or 3 inches shorter than me, same size in clothes and weighed at least a stone more than me - her bones are obviously wrapped in solid muscle (and mine are wrapped in wibbly fat).

 

[TheHairyOne]

I am neither slim or fat but have been both over my life.

I remember my horror at an 80cm ODE when when I was at a slimish weight, by half way around the XC I couldnt breathe, couldnt stay out of the saddle and couldnt effectively help my horse at all! I had no conditoning for that level of work, as though I rode 5 or 6 times a week, my fittening work involved intervals around a field, my scholing had never involved a full XC course and dressage/sjing didnt use the same muscles/were not as long in duration. My horse was fine, I was not.

I added cardio. I couldnt run 1km when I started. Im fatter now than I was then, but I am significantly fitter.

Im fatter due to the day job and lack of stable work as the horses are out 24/7. I find it reasonably easy to loose it though coming into the better weather so am currently on that journey again, which I do every year after the less riding/more food winter!

 

[Jenko109]

It really does not matter how much you exercise, if you end your day with a meat feast pizza and a pint of ice cream.

 

[SEL]

I have type 1 diabetes so I wear a blood sugar monitor - even pushing a wheelbarrow of poo around a field can cause my blood sugars to plummet and before I broke my fitbit it would show me quite how many calories wheelbarrow work was burning. So all the DIY horse stuff definitely does help but obviously not to the extent you can eat a mars bar, packet of crisps, can of coke etc every day.

Mucking out was much the same.

Riding however barely registered on any of my gadgets except to push my blood sugars up if it was stressful (you could honestly track the spooks and idiot drivers by my blood sugar graph!)

I think if you are DIY and eat a reasonable diet then horses will keep you fit - but its in much the same way gardening does rather than the cardio work.

 

[Belmont]

The issue with exercise is that it simulates a hunger response through extra calorie requirements and if your diet/nutrition isn't good enough, it's very easy to over eat. In reality, you don't have to do any exercise to lose body fat. It's all about a calorie deficit. You can sit in an armchair all day and lose weight if you've consuming less calories than your body needs to function. Those larger riders you see, assuming they don't have a health condition, are simply consuming more calories than they're burning when riding/mucking out.

 

[Abacus]

The issue with exercise is that it simulates a hunger response through extra calorie requirements and if your diet/nutrition isn't good enough, it's very easy to over eat. In reality, you don't have to do any exercise to lose body fat. It's all about a calorie deficit. You can sit in an armchair all day and lose weight if you've consuming less calories than your body needs to function. Those larger riders you see, assuming they don't have a health condition, are simply consuming more calories than they're burning when riding/mucking out.

While the ‘energy in-energy out’ argument is true in principle there is a lot of evidence and research now around how people as individuals have very different abilities to metabolise, and about the food types that are better for each person. Gut bacteria, and sometimes the order in which we consume food (always eat vegetables first), also have an impact on blood sugar - and while this doesn’t affect the basic calorie equation it does affect how full you feel for how long, and your drive to snack. The Zoe app is totally amazing, if you feel like exploring what works for you in a more scientific way.

 

[Wishfilly]

When I was working at a stables, and riding pretty regularly, it did keep my weight low. However part of that was also the fact that I was often too busy to eat a proper lunch etc, and I don't think it was so much the riding that kept my weight down, but all the yard work and miles I was walking!

I've never been that light since as an adult, even when I was running regularly, and I do think a lot of it is about diet- if I really watch my calorie intake, I can lose weight. Whatever exercise or activity you do, if you have food available, you'll often start eating to compensate for it. When I'm riding more, I'm not at work, so I tend to end up eating more, which means I don't necessarily lose weight!

That doesn't mean that exercise isn't having a benefit for you!

 

[teapot]

Think it probably depends on what riding you’re doing? Seen a number of 5* eventers post about their gym or cross-fit work, and they’re riding multiple horses a day.

A rider’s fitness for a 4 min xc round compared to safely getting around a 5* and still being able to breathe are quite different!

At my busiest I was riding in three private lessons a week, while I had muscle tone and an element of a core, I still wasn’t as riding fit as I needed to be.

 

[Tarragon]

I thought I was riding fit, when I was exercising one or two hunters (three if you included riding and leading!) every day - until they asked if I would do some canter training on one of them getting fit for a point-to-point and canter around a big field 4 times. Goodness me, my legs felt like jelly after that!

 

[Mrs B]

I don't find looking after them or riding at the level I do keeps me as fit as I should be, nor as fit as I want to be. So these days (I'm 57) I go to the gym 3 or 4 days a week, doing weights and cardio.

I am also aiming to lose about 7kgs or so this Spring - but that will only happen through eating differently.

For me, that means doing the 5:2 diet for a couple of months. On average, I know I'll lose about half to 1 kg a week. As I lose weight, I'll up my protein and my exercise, which will raise my metabolic rate - all helps to keep the fitness up and the weight off.

That's the plan, anyway!

 

[Quigleyandme]

I’m old, lazy as a cat and greedy and my son has my horse in the UK at present but I am being very disciplined about maintaining my fitness for when I get him back. I do 30 minutes of cardio as well as 30 squats, push ups and sit ups every morning. I don’t like it but I don’t work so have no excuse not to get on with it. I‘ll get my pensions this year and I want to enjoy this period of my life I have worked so hard for so long for and that means maintaining my health and fitness by eating sensibly and exercising.