Using your core?

[ShowJumperBeckii]

Hello!
Something I seem to really be struggling with is engaging my core when riding/jumping which obviously is effecting my riding and how the horse goes,
I am a regular gym goer (weight lifting/little cardio) and would say i actually have a good strong core which is really engage while in the gym yet when On a horse just ride like a sack of potato’s, when I think about using it I’m fine but say round a course out competing after fence 1 it’s out the window!
what do people recommend exercise wise or riding wise to start working on engaging the core for riding?
(ideally expensive ideas like PT aren’t really doable due to Being a student/cost of living atm)
Thanks!

 

[poiuytrewq]

Hello!
Something I seem to really be struggling with is engaging my core when riding/jumping which obviously is effecting my riding and how the horse goes,
I am a regular gym goer (weight lifting/little cardio) and would say i actually have a good strong core which is really engage while in the gym yet when On a horse just ride like a sack of potato’s, when I think about using it I’m fine but say round a course out competing after fence 1 it’s out the window!
what do people recommend exercise wise or riding wise to start working on engaging the core for riding?
(ideally expensive ideas like PT aren’t really doable due to Being a student/cost of living atm)
Thanks!

I find this difficult too, I don’t get why I struggle so much with it but seem unable to isolate muscles easily.
Interested to read your replies!

 

[Britestar]

Look up Active your Seat on FB. Does wonders for you seat, concentrating on all the muscles not the core.

 

[Skib]

Riding a horse will in itself strengthen your core, especially rising trot or a light seat in canter. But there are lots of free exercises on line, from the NHS and also Joe Wicks.

 

[Roxylola]

So, lots of people sag in an attempt to be soft and move with the horse, think of lifting up a bit through your rib cage and weight down in to your feet in general. Also light seat light seat light seat over lots of terrains

 

[smolmaus]

I was very into weights for a few years as well and found it didn't help at all with my riding. Keeping your core engaged and working consistently while you're riding is using the muscles differently than when you're consciously engaging it during a lifting movement. I honestly think it's just practise until it becomes muscle memory, you know you have the strength there, its just remembering to use it!

I'm having a similar problem with my anterior pelvic tilt, it really stops my core engaging and collapses my spine. Most of my practise is done just walking around day to day when I have fewer other things to focus on.

 

[Red-1]

Try being stationary and practice standing up, sitting down, going forwards and back, and feel for which muscles you need to engage to stay balanced. The do the same in walk etc, but by slowing it right down you can feel for which muscles you need. Only speed it up so you can use unconscious adjustments.

 

[sbloom]

The wrong saddle can seriously affect your ability to access your core, if you are sitting on your pockets, with your pelvis in posterior (backwards) tilt, then it's nigh on impossible. It IS harder on the horse and actual biomechanics sessions, ridden may help. Activate Your Seat is a good programme, I really like Rider Reboot.

Gym work has to be geared towards riding - doing "6 pack" kind of work is not what's needed for riding, not at all.

@smolmaus try pushing some small pieces of yoga mat under the skirts of your saddle, where your thigh sits, and see if that reduces your anterior tilt. There are many reasons for anterior tilt but that is one possible, and cheap/easy, fix.

 

[Palindrome]

I think a yoga/exercise ball can help, you can seat on it and go forward/backward and try to remain balanced. Then do the same while lifting your legs, etc...

 

[Palindrome]

The wrong saddle can seriously affect your ability to access your core, if you are sitting on your pockets, with your pelvis in posterior (backwards) tilt, then it's nigh on impossible. It IS harder on the horse and actual biomechanics sessions, ridden may help. Activate Your Seat is a good programme, I really like Rider Reboot.

I have the opposite and my pelvis tips forward whenever I ride in a GP saddle, it doesn't happen in a dressage saddle. I think it is due to the stirrups bar being too forward and my lower legs move back in a GP saddle but not completely sure. Would it make sense?

 

[poiuytrewq]

What is anterior tilt?
I’ve seen brilliant looking rider assessment sessions with an osteopath on a mechanical horse at Hartpury. Once my saddle is paid off I am absolutely doing that. They sent me a video and it looks fantastic

 

[sbloom]

I have the opposite and my pelvis tips forward whenever I ride in a GP saddle, it doesn't happen in a dressage saddle. I think it is due to the stirrups bar being too forward and my lower legs move back in a GP saddle but not completely sure. Would it make sense?

Maybe, but stirrup bar placement isn't the biggest factor in pelvic support. More common is the saddle bing out of balance, or too narrow a twist/waist.

What is anterior tilt?

Pelvis tipping forwards, may be accompanied by chair seat but not always.

 

[Sossigpoker]

If you start doing Pilates you will learn to activate your core and if you have a good instructor, isolate and activate muscle groups. I would have found that incredibly hard to learn to do on a horse.
If you can find an instructor who's a horse rider or teaches classes aimed at riders, even better. I attend a class aimed at horse riders and the difference it makes is amazing.

 

[sbloom]

And there's this

https://www.facebook.com/100005916041150/posts/1778158015724716

. In the ideal world you'd have a bodyworker, or two, a Dave, and a ridden biomechanics coach when trying to effect change. Oh and make sure the saddle isn't hindering.

 

[emilylou]

Very simply, ride without stirrups. Start in walk for 10 minutes each time you ride, then build up to 30-40 minutes in all three paces. If you can successfully school for 30 minutes with a supple, engaged horse then there is no way you will not be using your core. Later on jumping grids with no stirrups as well, and riding bareback. Jumping with no saddle, no hands… all the things we aren’t supposed to be doing anymore ?

 

[Ratface]

For the past twenty years, I have ridden my horses in a Christ Lammfelle sheepskin saddle pad. It doesn't have stirrups, although these can be added if required. It has a Jesus strap on the pommel and I always have my right hand little finger tucked under it.
I spent many years as a child haring about bareback on evil little natives, retired polo ponies and ex-racehorses. I've also studied classical dressage and am blessed with long legs and low weight.
Prior to the purchase of the Christ Lammfelle, I had a WoW dressage saddle made for me and my short-coupled little Crabbet ex-working stallion. This encouraged a correct seat and my own self-carriage.
Due the above, I feel secure riding without stirrups. When I ride or do groundwork with my naughty but much loved Arabian, my core is always engaged, probably by automatic muscle memory.
I hope this doesn't sound hideously smug!

 

[Griffin]

If you start doing Pilates you will learn to activate your core and if you have a good instructor, isolate and activate muscle groups. I would have found that incredibly hard to learn to do on a horse.
If you can find an instructor who's a horse rider or teaches classes aimed at riders, even better. I attend a class aimed at horse riders and the difference it makes is amazing.

Totally agree with Pilates, it has completely changed the way I ride for the better.

 

[Tiddlypom]

In the ideal world you'd have a bodyworker, or two, a Dave, and a ridden biomechanics coach when trying to effect change. Oh and make sure the saddle isn't hindering.

As someone who is trying to rediscover their core (I'm sure that I had one once ) I have regular Pilates classes with my human osteo, plus I see her for treatment every 8 weeks. I've just started having biomechanics sessions on a mechanical horse with a biomechanics trainer who will also come out and teach me on my actual horse, plus I'm booked in to a local 45 minute 1:1 Rider Reboot session with Dave in August - he will have access to the mechanical horse but I'm not sure if that is incorporated into the session.

My saddle is a good fit for both me and horse.

If I'm not riding better at the end of all this then I'm terminally useless these days (a possibility which can't be ruled out ).

A taster as I just got back on Rocky after a 10 year gap! I appreciate that this is all quite spendy, though.

 

[milliepops]

(ideally expensive ideas like PT aren’t really doable due to Being a student/cost of living atm)
Thanks!

I find a cost effective way to feel how to switch on the right things is equipilates, there are few people offering classes online for a relatively low fee. I joined Jo Titterton's classes which are about £20 a month (will rejoin now over intense ££ crisis ) and while i am sure in-person classes are more effective, i did find it useful for the on-a-budget approach.
when people hear "use your core" i think people assume that means you have to be like a rock on the horse but if you overdo it then I think that's counter productive. so i think receiving training from someone who rides is pretty important to get the balance right.

My flippant tip is to only ride sitting trot for 4 months, that's done me a lot of good (though was entirely a self-preservation decision, loopy horse = bum needs to remain in saddle as much as possible )

 

[sbloom]

As someone who is trying to rediscover their core (I'm sure that I had one once ) I have regular Pilates classes with my human osteo, plus I see her for treatment every 8 weeks. I've just started having biomechanics sessions on a mechanical horse with a biomechanics trainer who will also come out and teach me on my actual horse, plus I'm booked in to a local 45 minute 1:1 Rider Reboot session with Dave in August - he will have access to the mechanical horse but I'm not sure if that is incorporated into the session.

My saddle is a good fit for both me and horse.

If I'm not riding better at the end of all this then I'm terminally useless these days (a possibility which can't be ruled out ).

A taster as I just got back on Rocky after a 10 year gap! I appreciate that this is all quite spendy, though.

Brilliant, I know it's a huge commitment in time and money. I will say that honestly, rider fit is so much more subtle than many of us realised, more than I realised. Not saying this IS the case for you, but you can have comfort, the right seat size, right block and stirrup bar placement (what most fitters look at, what I looked at until a year or so ago) and it still not be 100% right for you. Not to say that you can't overcome a slightly "lacking" rider fit, but often it is in tension.

 

[Burnttoast]

Brilliant, I know it's a huge commitment in time and money. I will say that honestly, rider fit is so much more subtle than many of us realised, more than I realised. Not saying this IS the case for you, but you can have comfort, the right seat size, right block and stirrup bar placement (what most fitters look at, what I looked at until a year or so ago) and it still not be 100% right for you. Not to say that you can't overcome a slightly "lacking" rider fit, but often it is in tension.

Only tangentially relevant to the thread maybe but I realised a while back what an enormous difference the right saddle makes when I found my saddle soulmate... Most of my recent riding (last 10 years) has been at a local classical yard where I helped with schooling and rode in whatever saddles the horses were wearing. Most were 'ok' except for a treeless I hated and a livery's GP, but there was a particular dressage saddle that was perfect for me - as in, I forget it's there when I'm riding. It makes everything effortless. I know I'm at least 50% more effective as a rider in it, which makes me reluctant to ride in anything else!