Acknowledgements: Copyright Heather R Sansom, Author/Photographer: Heather Sansom

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Merryl Wood
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This workout is designed for adult amateur riders who understand the need to maintain yourself to ride like you want to.

Mature Rider or not, anyone who's interested in making their riding more beautiful, more comfortable and more effective should read this e-book.

Being an instructo, rider and competitor, I find many of these issues with my students and myself. Heather shows us the effect and cause of some of these issues that we all struggle with. A good read.

com Photo by Susan Stickle "I know how important fitness and flexibility is for any rider, but especially as we get older, it becomes more essential that we do all we can to best prepare our bodies

2 This workout is designed for adult amateur riders who understand the need to maintain yourself to ride like you want to. The workout plans in this book are designed to take physical requirements of a mature body into account, without compromising your need for tools that help you reach your goals. Mature Rider or not, anyone who's interested in making their riding more beautiful, more comfortable and more effective should read this e-book. Heather has done an excellent job of realizing and explaining common physical and positional issues that all riders deal with. Being an instructo, rider and competitor, I find many of these issues with my students and myself. Heather shows us the effect and cause of some of these issues that we all struggle with. A good read. Ruth Hogan-Poulsen, Grand Prix Rider, Dressage Trainer Photo by Susan Stickle "I know how important fitness and flexibility is for any rider, but especially as we get older, it becomes more essential that we do all we can to best prepare our bodies for riding, whether it be for a stroll down a trail or blazing down a race track. Our bodies just are not able to rebound, joints and muscles do not have the recovery time like they use to and unless you do something about it. Heather Sansom has done something about it for many of us that are not so resilient anymore. Although you may not be in training to ride in the Kentucky Derby, I think you would agree that you would want to be strong, fit and flexible as possible that is not only for the good of your body, but the good of your horse!" Frankie Lovato (award-winning jockey, 50yrs) Copyright Heather R Sansom, 2013 All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without prior written permission. ISBN: Acknowledgements: Author/Photographer: Heather Sansom Photo Models: Heather Sansom, Birgit Barca Elaine Alexander, Kelsey Dickson Cover Design: Karen Henderson Get more fitness tips by signing up for the Equifitt Fitness Tips Newsletter on the Equifitt.com website and by liking Equifitt.com on Facebook.

3 Introduction Congratulations on taking an important step! You are reading this because you have enough life experience to know that you need to manage your time, resources and body wisely if you are going to do the things that are important to you, for as long as you can. Riding is classified as an early start, late development sport. This means that it is one of those sports where participants who started very early, and who stick with it long enough, have a greater chance at elite performance. The reasons have to do with what is termed in the Canadian Long Term Athlete Development model, as windows of opportunity early in life for acquisition of physical vocabulary, and windows at later stages for development of the type of personal maturity needed to compete in riding at elite levels. Very simply, there is common wisdom in acknowledging that it is easier for young children to acquire riding skills when they are fearless and flexible, and it is much easier for them to anchor basics like balance and co-ordination early, so they always have it as a rider. Also, we know that working with horses takes patience and personal maturity, so it is easy to see that while a younger person may learn to ride horses quite well, it takes some time beyond that before they have sufficient personal maturity and knowledge of horsemanship to effectively train and develop horses up to elite performance. What does this mean for you if you are not an elite performer and just want to do your very best with what you have? Knowledge is often very helpful. A mature rider that takes up riding relatively late in life may or may not have had plenty of early experience building physical vocabulary and sport skill through other sports. If you did, you can transfer those abilities to some degree, to the riding. If you did not, then it is helpful to be aware that your riding plan should include acquisition of these skills. The time you spend out of the saddle can be helpful to your riding. The good news is that the time you invest is so worth it because riding is an activity you can enjoy until very late in life. While you are learning aids and very specific movement patterns in the saddle, you can also be improving your general transferrable base-line skills such as balance, cross co-ordination, proprioception (body awareness in space and movement), and joint mobility. As a mature rider, you have an advantage over your younger self that missed out on doing what you are doing now: you are more mature. You can use your stage of life to your advantage by educating yourself, having discipline and being wise about the risks you take and the progression and pace of your training. A well thought out approach will help you make up for lost ground. As a middle-aged rider who has recently taken up jumping myself, I can identify with the desire you may have to stay in your comfort zones. I would encourage you to make your plan in consultation with your coach, but let yourself get pushed out of comfort zones. Most people have so much more potential than they realize or give themselves credit for. A wise and good training plan should push you, while taking care to respect sensible and logical training iff progressions. If you feel unsafe or unbalanced in your riding, you may be right. You can work on the balance, then work your way up to the exercise that was formerly over your safe limit. Don t take un-necessary risk, but do make regular baby-steps outside your comfort zone so that you can build the courage and competency that will help you reach your riding dreams. Heather R. Sansom 2013, 2

4 Table of Contents Common Rider Issues & Patterns p. 6 Upper Body p.6 Rounded Shoulders, Straight Arms, Inconsistent Rein Contact, Dropping one Shoulder/Collapsing, Tense Shoulders, Loss of Balance, Low Back Pain Lower Body p.13 Chair Seat, Floppy Legs, Knees Too Pinched, Heels Raised Slow Timing of Aids, Workout Program Plan Step 1 p. 17 Finding spine neutral, and range of motion. Workout Program Plan Step 2 p. 20 Building core stability. Workout Program Plan Step 3 p. 22 Laying strength and movement foundations. Workout Program Plan Step 4 p. 24 Increasing awareness and accuracy. Workout Program Plan Step 5 p. 27 Training better balance. Workout Program Plan Step 6 p. 29 Improving stamina. Workout Program Plan Step 7 p. 31 Integrating core engagement with performance. Workout Program Plan Step 8 p. 34 Building more core strength and stamina. Workout Improvement Logs p. 36 Track your progress. Conclusion p. 39 Heather R. Sansom 2013, 5

5 About the Author Heather Sansom, MA, Certified Personal Trainer & Centered Riding Instructor Photos in memory of my training partner, Breeze. Heather is a rider biomechanics and conditioning specialist. She is a certified elite Personal Trainer, Centered Riding Instructor and Equine Canada Competition Coach. A lifelong rider, she has trained in Dressage at Level 4 and is proud of having done at least one barrel race in her life, taken polo lessons, and hunted with hounds. Heather's personal cross-training program varies according to season to include activities for cardiovascular, strength, core and flexibility training. She hikes, and trains in martial arts and dance for overall conditioning and to improve rhythm and co-ordination. In a project management role with the Canadian national equestrian federation, she was responsible for the development of the national equestrian coaching and riding curriculums and certifications. She is recognized for her innovation in remodeling the equestrian adaptation of the Long Term Athlete Development sport model. Activities with EQUIFITT include fitness (talks, workshops, small group and individual), biomechanic and performance analysis (mounted and unmounted) and riding instruction to improve biomechanics. Equifitt virtual coaching is also available: Heather works with clients around the globe through Skype and other tools. A comfortable speaker, she has presented nationally and internationally. In addition to several rider fitness ebooks, Heather has published over 100 articles on rider fitness and biomechanics in national and internationally read publications such as Horse Sport, Canadian Horse Journal, Dressage Today and some Australian publications. The monthly Equifitt Equestrian Fitness Tips newsletter is free, and has a few thousand subscribers worldwide. The EQUIFITT vision and mission are to contribute meaningfully to excellence in equestrian sport by helping riders improve the conditions for riding at their best- good fitness, a supple and athletic body, effective movement patterns and good biomechanics. Balanced training for better riding really means you and your horse have more fun reaching your goals and improving your performance. Other ebooks by Heather Sansom: The Complete Core Workout for Riders Handy Stretching Guide for Riders Fit to Ride: Collected Equestrian Fitness Tips and Articles Volume I Fit to Ride: Collected Equestrian Fitness Tips and Articles Volume II Many thanks to my clients and readers for modeling the exercise photos in this book. It s my hope that the illustrations of correct technique will be helpful, and that seeing ordinary people doing them will be encouraging and inspiring. Heather R. Sansom 2013, 40

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