Beginner Horse Rider Exercises

As a beginning rider, you may find that maintaining your balance, finding your seat and developing the correct muscles are difficult tasks to master. However, you can use many exercises, both on the ground and on the horse, to improve your skills. Some riders find physical exercises to be the most helpful tools to become better equestrians, while others will benefit more from incorporating certain exercises into fun horseback games.

  1. Developing Core Muscles

    • Some common beginner rider mistakes include hanging on the reins and riding with bad posture. You can work toward correcting these bad habits with exercises that strengthen the core muscles. Lay out on an exercise mat with your legs straight. Lift your knees toward your chest, hold for two seconds, and slowly lower your legs back to the floor. A variation of this exercise is to lay on an exercise mat, facing down. Supporting yourself with your forearms and toes, lift your body off the ground and keep your back straight and flat. Hold for 20 seconds before lowering yourself back to the ground.

    Improving Balance and Leg Strength

    • As a new rider you may have difficulty maintaining balance. Developing the proper leg muscles to ride well can also challenge you. To increase your leg strength, include squats and lunges in your exercise routine; gradually add difficulty to the exercise by holding weights. To improve balance on the ground, incorporate yoga and Pilates exercises into your workout routine. You can perform exercises for balance while on your horse, too. Sit squarely in the saddle and distribute your weight equally in both seat bones. Position your shoulders over your hips. Concentrate on looking straight ahead and keeping your shoulders back as you ride.

    Exercises as Games on Horseback

    • Some beginner riders have great balance and strong core and leg muscles, but can still benefit from exercises. Games on horseback help develop confidence in the saddle, which is as important as physical prowess. Egg-and-spoon races, which requires you to ride at different speeds while carrying an egg in a spoon, lets you practice balance and coordination in the saddle. Use ride-a-buck contests to develop leg strength. In this game, you ride without stirrups while keeping a dollar or slip of paper under their legs.

    Practice

    • Practicing physical exercises on the ground will make you stronger and better prepared to handle the demands of balancing and positioning yourself correctly in the saddle. Using games to practice skills is a fun way to stay engaged. Exercises are important to improving riding skills and abilities, but riders will see results only when they practice these exercises on a regular basis.