Regular Pilates can be very beneficial for riders of all disciplines and riding abilities, there are even books written specifically on the subject and tailored teaching programmes to become qualified to teach Pilates to Equestrians.
I believe however that even attending ‘regular’ Pilates classes that are not tailored to equestrians will still aid your improvement. In fact, everyone can benefit from regular Pilates classes and it should improve any sport and athletic performance because it develops strength, balance and increases postural awareness which will be a positive influence regardless of which sport you partake in.
In this article I will outline why regular Pilates classes are likely to help your riding technique and help you develop good posture in the saddle.
1. Alignment and postural awareness.
Top dressage riders all have amazing posture in common, if you watch them in action they hardly seem to move at all. This may look effortless, but in fact they have an astonishing amount of control over their bodies which allows them to make it look effortless, even when it is not at all. To guide the horse with ease and efficiency and to minimise discomfort to the horse a rider will aim for a ‘classical seat’, the perfect riding position. The classical seat requires the rider to sit in such a way that each part of the body rests on the part directly below it. Many of the problems in riding come from unintentional mistakes or movements that affect your seat, over time we develop asymmetries, imbalances in our posture, due to injury, lifestyle or lack of awareness. These imbalances affect movement and alignment and make it very difficult to maintain a good riding position. In our Pilates classes we work on increasing postural awareness and alignment, learning to tune in to your movements. This will help you pick up on issues and mistakes and work to correct these.
2. Core strength / reduced impact on the spine
A rider must cope with a horse moving both vertically and horizontally, during their basic movements such as walking, trotting, cantering, bucking or shying, to absorb that motion a strong core, and strong, flexible, balanced muscles are needed. The core is the shock absorber and power house of the body. It comprises of the muscles that support the spine and provide strength to maintain body balance, alignment, and posture. A rider needs to master the difficult task of maintain postural alignment, stability and balance on a moving horse. When you are able to keep a strong core engaged and focus on your alignment from hip to heel, this can help with half halts, collection or to help bring a horse up off their forehand.
The best place to develop core strength and great posture is off the horse, working on focussed core movements and alignment work. You can then apply your knowledge and improved strength when riding. Pilates moves can help you learn to switch on the right muscles, we are always focussing on keeping our core engaged in movement, strengthening while we do.
3. Balance and Stability
Being a good rider requires stamina, stabilisation, strength and flexibility, the combination of these factors creates balance when in the saddle.
Balance is critical when in the saddle, for example, if you sit too far back you may end up leaning forward and tipping the horse on the forehand. In addition, your balance effects your horse’s balance so if you are balanced and stabile your horse will also be more balanced. A great focus in our Pilates classes is on stability, the ability to move one body part whilst keeping the hips and torso as still as possible. We also lengthen the spine and strengthen the core, which in itself stabilises the body in movement.
There are many other elements to Pilates which can help you in the saddle, we work on flexibility and we focus on our breath. Pilates can enhance performance in every discipline, whether you aim to increase your score in a dressage test, jump a more balanced round or simply want to hack out with greater ease. Pilates is a wonderful tool to add to your arsenal. Just being able to invest an hour of your time every week to Pilates, will help you to become or stay, supple, strong and flexible. It will allow you to switch off all distractions and focus solely on your movements, on the muscles you engage for each move, on your breath and how it can aid or hinder you and your posture and alignment and how tiny adjustments can have a massive impact. All these improvements to the way you move and your increased awareness can benefit you to move freely on and off the horse, to create a deeper seat with a strong and stable core and generally benefit your comfort, during and after your ride.