Weak seat after having baby

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zoon

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I spent many years riding my horse in the riding school way - kick it and pull it. But started having proper lessons and found I had legs and a seat. Since having my son (2 years ago) I have lost all strength in my seat and legs. I figured it'd eventually come back when I started riding more often, but it hasn't really. I put it down to extensive surgery after the birth to repair a 4th degree tear. So roll on 2 years and I now have a very sensitive ex racer who needs reschooling and I am struggling due to my weakness. She dislikes any change in the contact and reacts very well to seat aids, but mine just aren't strong enough to get much good work out of her. I haven't time to go to pilates classes etc with 3 horses, a job and a toddler, so any ideas how I can get some of my strength back and become an effective rider again? Is it a case of having regular lessons with a good trainer who'll help me with my now weak position? Or something else?
 
Wii Fit is quite good for yoga and pilates style exercises at home and will sort out your balance and core muscles, combine this with strengthening yourself on other less sensitive horses until you feel ready to start again
 
I know the feeling - or lack of it!

Very gory and sorry to any readers who have not had children.....It might be worth checking with your GP to be sure your tummy muscles have closed. The two main blocks of tummy muscle part around the bump in the last trimester. They should come back together on thier own 6 months or so after birth but some don't. If they have not come back together you can have minor surgery to stitch them back, but nothing you do exercisewise will make any difference I'm afraid. You may also have a weaked pelvic floor from the tear - especially if it was partially internal. Again this can be repaired. The other thing that comes to mind is that you may have developed somthing called Symphysis Pubis dysfunction which is where the two halves of the pelvis become seperated, either at the front joint or one of the two articualtions where the pelvis joins the spine. It isn't a problem normally as the joints are held together by ligaments (until those ligamest soften in pregnancy...) but it will lead to a weaker seat.

Medical reasons aside it will come back on its own in time. You might want to try and get hold of one of those "Equilates" DVDs you can do at home. Harder with a toddler - I used to do it balencing the baby - but a toddler will squirm off! At least they can't laugh at you which they do when they get older!

The other thing which might be worth checking out is a discipline called Feldenkrais. It is a way of looking at whole body balence a bit like alexander technique. A Physio put me onto it when I was trying to recover from a broken back. (Not connected to childbirth - I fell off when she was about 2!)

Take heart - you'll get there. One way or another!
 
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Shay said:
You may also have a weaked pelvic floor from the tear - especially if it was partially internal. Again this can be repaired.
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Partially internal!!! Mine was 4th degree, meaning I tore straight through from from to back (if you know what I mean! Graphic details not really suitable for a forum, so google 4th degree tear if interested!) Interesting what you say about stomach muscles though - saw that woman on Embarassing Bodies the other week with that issue - might have a feel of my stomach in a mo....!
 
Even without damage, your stomach muscles take a major hit in pregnancy. So you need to actively get them back. Sit ups etc all help, but just practice good posture all the time too, that won't cost you any time!
 
Hi
I had similar when started back riding 8 months ago but now my instructor states I have light well balanced seat & hands. I still have trouble with giving her a good kick when in canter (which I am reguarly practicising) so what I have started doing (which is the only thing that works for me) is leg stretches immediately before I get on - 10 reps per leg 6 times then stretch my arms into the air and stretch my back. I then get on and immediately ride sitting trot, rising trot & little canter without stirrups to really stretch my hips/legs/back. I have very stiff hips/back and neck since birth of my son as he was 3 wk overdue and am tiny frame!
Hope this helps - time is a great healer. plenty of stretching.
Chin up:)
 
When you say 'seat aids', and them not being strong enough, what do you mean zoon?

Lizziegoos, why would you want to give your horse a good kick when in canter? Kicking a horse makes him board up the ribcage and prevents the back from swinging/lifting and the hindlegs from stepping under. Thump your own ribs, and I mean really hard as you would with a 'good kick' and see what your body does, do it a couple of times and see how you cramp all your muscles.

We need to be able to get a horse to work through his body from the back end to the front, and if there is any block in the middle, it won't happen!

Agree Shay, Feldenkrais is absolutely great and it really works very well for riders. Pilates and yoga too, but I have found Feldenkrais to be the best all round for riders.

PS I am a trainer of the classical seat, for over 40 years ;-)
 
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As my legs are weak my instructor says a good kick as to any other riders would be a nudge- and i meant making TRANSITION to a canter but my son decided to help me type & i lost train of thought.
My instructor is absolutely brilliant and everything I have recommended has being a massive improvement for both myself and our mare hence my light well bal seat and hands.
I dont need to be told through the internet thanks.
sorry OP was only trying to offer some solutions understanding how you feel as I suffer similar.
 
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Even with weak legs, you feel that 'a good kick' is the answer? I wonder how Lee Pearson manages, riding horses to Grand Prix, with withered legs that will not even bear his weight without crutches.

No worries, I won't be offering advice again. You clearly know best ;-)
 
I don't think its the 'big kick' the instructor will be focusing on. I had weak legs after having my daugther. And its the same principle as your pony club kick. Lift both legs away from the horses sides then let them drop back against the sides!
This to build up the muscle and train your legs to squeese rather than kick, or draw your heels up, or other common bad habits.
Everyone has to start somewhere and while learning or rebuilding rider fitness and strength, you won't ride perfect or maybe even to certain peoples standards, but everyone has to start, or restart somewhere.
So to all those other mums out there it'll come back, it just takes time and patience and lots of practice (which is the perfect excuse, to get out to the four legged babies) :)
 
lizziegoos said:
As my legs are weak my instructor says a good kick as to any other riders would be a nudge- and i meant making TRANSITION to a canter but my son decided to help me type & i lost train of thought.
My instructor is absolutely brilliant and everything I have recommended has being a massive improvement for both myself and our mare hence my light well bal seat and hands.
I dont need to be told through the internet thanks.
sorry OP was only trying to offer some solutions understanding how you feel as I suffer similar.
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You are a little prickly. EE's post was just trying to help. I have to agree in that even the laziest of horses can be made so light off the leg that they never need anything more than a nudge. I have a couple here that one rider seems to need to kick continuously and still they hardly go. I sit on both and they are really forward, and I hardly need to use my legs. I think that partly what is to blame is that the rider is 'blocking' the movement.
 
Hi zoon, pilates REALLY is good for improving core strength, it would be worth finding an hour or two per week if you can. Even just going to a class once a week would be beneficial. Otherwise, swap every chair you use for an exercise ball ;)

Having lessons with a seat trainer would really help. Enlightened Equitation teachers are very good, you can find your closest one on the EE website.
 
crazyhorse4727 said:
I don't think its the 'big kick' the instructor will be focusing on. I had weak legs after having my daugther. And its the same principle as your pony club kick. Lift both legs away from the horses sides then let them drop back against the sides!
This to build up the muscle and train your legs to squeese rather than kick, or draw your heels up, or other common bad habits.
Everyone has to start somewhere and while learning or rebuilding rider fitness and strength, you won't ride perfect or maybe even to certain peoples standards, but everyone has to start, or restart somewhere.
So to all those other mums out there it'll come back, it just takes time and patience and lots of practice (which is the perfect excuse, to get out to the four legged babies) :)
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Good grief no wonder so many kids think kicking till you can hear the hollow thud thud thud of legs hitting rib cages is the right way to ride then :eek:

OP surely a better solution than training your own weakness on the horse, when usually horse and rider have other things to focus on together, is to sort to sort it out OFF the horse and find other ways to gain forwardness other than kicking 10 bells out of your horse.

There are lots of things you can do at home with no special equipment such as the pilates dvds, slow step ups on a chair, bulgarian split squats etc. You can practise squeezing your glutes and holding for a count of 3 stood in the line at Morrisons! Obviously you build this up to 5/7/10 seconds etc. You need to retrain your muscles and the only way to do that is work them harder and harder each time so you break down the muscle fibers and they have to rebuild.
 
lizziegoos said:
of course, 45 years exp
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I am actually a BHS county chairman and is why I asked ;-) Nowhere in the good old Manual of Equitation does it advocate 'giving it a good kick' as the aid to canter! Heck if I kicked one of my horses I wouldn't be seen this side of Timbuctoo!

Zoon, you sound to me to be on the right track- as you have clearly left 'kicking and pulling' behind- where it belongs- in the Dark Ages. :)
 
My daughters 7, the one time I saw her kick into canter (her fault as asked from a very unbalanced trot) I made her get off & walk for 5 mins. Quite scary if instructors are teaching people to do it. I'm not saying I've never been caught out & done it, but its not something i'm proud of. We should be aiming to school our horses to the minimum aids possible.
 
littlelegs said:
Even without damage, your stomach muscles take a major hit in pregnancy. So you need to actively get them back. Sit ups etc all help, but just practice good posture all the time too, that won't cost you any time!
Click to expand...

Just to add that if you have muscle seperation, sit ups aren't usually recommended. To check them, do a little 'crunch' of your abs and poke your fingers just below the belly button. Some women can get a 4 finger width of seperation!

Apparently, the 'Plank' pilates move is better, and anything that builds up your core. Sit ups can cause further seperation if done too soon.
Theres lots of advice on the net...
http://babyfit.sparkpeople.com/articles.asp?id=805 (plucked at random!)

Good luck OP, just give yourself time. Sometimes we can expect too much too soon, and forget quite how much your body has had to adapt to carry a baby! (an then shrink back again ;)) x
 
If you actually try that exercise I think you'll find it means you don't ever kick your horse.
Its more for stretching and building up muscle for yourself, and establishing a secure seat and lower leg. Rather than drawing up your heels, gripping with your knees, moving your seat off its centre point, and dropping your shoulders. Which are all faults caused by kicking, and all confuse the horse.
 
EnlightEquitation said:
When you say 'seat aids', and them not being strong enough, what do you mean zoon?
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This may not make any sense, but I hope it does! I used to find with my old horse that I could "feel" with my seat - by that I mean I felt I moved with him and could feel exactly where all his legs were at any one moment and by moving my seat bones I could move him - I felt we moved together. I could change his pace by changing how "heavy" my seat was - not sure if that is the right word!

Now it may just be that I have a new horse who has chuff all idea what I am asking her (ex racer I am reschooling) and old horse was very well schooled, but I now feel like a separate being bouncing ineffectively on top of this poor horse! I know I am not going to have the same feel riding an unschooled racehorse to that of an event horse, but I feel I am the factor that is holding my new horse back. My balance isn't as good, my legs are weak and I just don't feel like I can move with her or maybe it is that I don't feel like I can move her with me??? It is so hard to explain.
 
Just wanted to add I don't ever kick my horse (I'd be 20 miles down the road within a few seconds if I did I think! She is very responsive to the leg!)

Think people were getting me and someone else who posted a bit confused!
 
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