Yoga Series, by Lindsay Smith, May and April

Why Every Rider Should Practice

Yoga

by LINDSAY SMITH

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As riders, we constantly seek to develop and improve our ability to communicate physically and emotionally with our equestrian partners. The task at hand is challenging enough, but when you add the butterflies and nerves that many of us take into the show ring, the seemingly simple act of riding a horse can seem downright overwhelming and often humbling. Bending our bodies to the proper position, communicating clearly with our mounts, conquering our nerves and our doubts—it can seem a physical and mental gauntlet. However, these hurdles that stand in the way of our best rides can be minimized through simple exercises designed to properly prepare the mind and body for the unique challenges of the show ring. By weaving a combination of yoga postures into this relationship, an internal shift toward stillness, quieting of the mind, and a heightened body awareness is achieved. This builds a strong foundation for a more balanced rider and horse partnership.

Yoga is a dynamic marriage between fluidity and strength. When the physical aspect of yoga is combined with breathing exercises, you remain present, find a deeper seat and move in sync with your horse. A rider who is balanced in mind, body, and spirit will instill confidence, symmetry, and focus in their horse.

Dedicating a few minutes to key yoga exercises can help open your muscles, improve balance, and focus your mind before your ride. Imagine how tight and stiff your muscles would be if you began a marathon without proper stretching and preparation. Why would riding be any different? The body needs to be prepared for what lies ahead. Riders who take the time to prepare via a pre-ride yoga routine, both mentally and physically, show significant improvement in both the work arena and show ring. They are more focused, relaxed, flexible, and comfortable in the saddle.

Photos by Ray Lundrigan.

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As herd animals, our horses look to us for guidance, support, and a sense of safety. They mirror our emotions and are directly affected by our reactions. Keeping a calm mind and body directly translates to a calmer horse. The next time you’re on your horse, take a deep breath in and completely relax as you exhale. Notice how quickly your horse follows suit. To identify the physical aspect, engage your abdominal muscles to balance and collect him slightly and observe his centerline lift and shorten.

In addition to a calm mindset and sharp focus, riders also need a great sense of body awareness and core strength, which leads to balance. While yoga postures can strengthen and stretch the entire body, I find one of its greatest gifts is in searching out imbalances, tight or instable spots. These all may translate into their riding.

This allows the rider to feel where their body is going without having to look, making reaction times quicker, and cues more accurate and quiet.

Furthermore, strength and flexibility go hand-in-hand. Without flexibility, too much strength can lead to stiffness and bracing.

Flexibility without strength can lead to an absence of stability and lead to injuries. Our horses feel tension through the saddle and it directly impacts their performance. A consistent yoga routine harmonizes your strength, flexibility and focus.

It is no wonder why pairing two ancient practices— horsemanship and yoga—creates an unstoppable force.

Over the next few months, we’ll take a deeper look at yoga postures that will warm you up, cool you down, help you maintain riding stability when you’re away from the barn, and keep you in the mental game.

Lindsay Smith, e-RYT 500, is a certif ied Yoga Tune Up® instructor, YogaWorks 500-Hour Yoga Teacher and physical therapy assistant who specializes in teaching yoga to professional and Olympic athletes. Lindsay’s unique approach to yoga infuses sport-specif ic poses, anatomical awareness, and invigorating breath work. She has coached some of the best athletes in their f ields from the high school, collegiate, professional, and Olympic levels. Working directly with coaching staff, Lindsay’s approach to yoga provides every athlete the opportunity to maximize their performance in their position, and longevity in their sport. Although athletes are Lindsay’s specialty, she also works with individuals of all ages and abilities using her skills and unique point of view to customize an appropriate set of postures to surpass your goals. www.RAWSportsYoga.com Photos by Ray Lundrigan.

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Self-Awareness And Mental Focus:

Conquering The Show Ring With Yoga

by LINDSAY SMITH

Both casual riding and intense competition place significant demands on the amateur equestrian. Not only must we manage our horses’ bodies, positions and dispositions, we must remain aware of our own. However, we often become so focused on our horses—their headset, cadence, ring position, attitude—that we completely lose track of ourselves.

The situation is exacerbated when adrenaline and show ring jitters enter the fold, further distracting and fragmenting our concentration. There are so many foreign things to focus on and try to control, that we become overloaded. We lose track of ourselves and our rides suffer. This critical flaw is a hallmark of most amateur equestrians.

Our body position and awareness is directly responsible for the state of our horses’ frames, pace and temperament. We may not always be aware of what our body or riding position is telling them, but they most certainly are. Whether confused and disjointed or measured and well managed, body position directly influences every aspect of our horses’ performance.

Imagine how sensitive a horse must be to detect a tiny fly on their back. Consider how loud our physical cues must seem in comparison, then compound the issue with increased adrenaline and muscle tension that often accompanies show ring jitters. Think about how confusing those messages must be, if we can’t even keep track of what our bodies are doing.

Quite simply, by losing track of our bodies we set ourselves and our horses up for failure.

To lay the foundation for success in and out of the show ring, we must remember these sensitive animals look to our bodies for guidance. We must train ourselves to remain in control of both mind and muscles, to bring conviction and clarity to the cues we provide our mounts. By focusing on what we can control most readily (our selves), we can simplify communication and remove the haze of uncertainty between horse and rider.

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While such self awareness and control can seem daunting, a few simple stretches can help prepare both mind and body and begin to build the awareness essential to a successful horse and rider relationship. In last month’s AHT, we introduced yoga as an activity that can help conquer the physical and mental gauntlet of bending our

bodies into the proper position, communicating clearly with our mounts, and vanquish our pre-ride nerves. The following yoga poses are designed to improve the muscle tone/control and mental focus necessary for riding and competing at a high level.

Child’s Pose and Child’s Pose with a Lateral Side Stretch Kneel on the floor. Bring your big toes together. Separate your knees hips width, then sit on your heels. Bend forward, bringing your torso down between your thighs, stretching your spine. Extend both arms in front of you, with shoulders relaxed and away from your ears. Hold this pose for several cycles of breath, allowing the mind to tune-in to the task ahead. Focus on relaxing your entire body. Then, walk your fingers to the right and shift your hips slightly to the left for a side stretch. Focus on stretching out the left side.

Hold for 30 seconds and switch sides, walking your fingers to the left and shifting your hips to the right. Hold again for 30 seconds.

Benefits: Child’s Pose gently stretches the back, hips, thighs, ankles, and tops of the feet. This is a resting pose that relieves stress and fatigue while calming the mind, heart rate and breath. These features make Child’s Pose an ideal posture to help reduce pre-competition nerves.

Adding a side stretch lengthens the entire torso allowing more flexibility in the spine, room for deeper inhales, and improved posture. This allows for a more grounded seat in your saddle and a more fluid movement with your horse.

Most importantly, a calm mind and smooth breath translates to a focused and confident rider who is able to instill the same properties into their horse.

Modifications: If the quadriceps or knees are tight, place a blanket or block between the back of your thighs and calves. Rest your forehead on a block if it doesn’t reach the ground. Having your forehead in contact with the floor, block or hands increases the pose’s calming aspect.

Dynamic Cat and Cow Start in tabletop pose (hands and knees), making sure hands are stacked under shoulders, and knees are stacked below hips. Begin with a neutral spine (neither arched, nor hunched). Inhale, dropping your stomach as you lift your chest and seat bones to the sky. Exhale, press your hands against the ground and round your upper back, tucking your chin towards your chest. Repeat ten times.

Benefits: Dynamic Cat and Cow stretches the entire front and back of your torso and neck muscles. It will help you maintain a supple spine, and proper posture. In addition, it will aid in spinal shock absorption when riding and core stability for balance. This shock absorption is especially important to maintain spinal and hip joint health of riders who sit their jog/trot often. In addition, the better your posture is, the more your field of vision increases allowing you to see the entire arena/field, other horses or obstacles.

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Low Lunge Series Step 1: From standing, release your hands to the ground, step your right foot back, and drop that knee to the floor. Keep the left knee stacked above your left ankle. Reach both arms up.

Step 2: Add a hamstring stretch by releasing the hands down to the ground and shifting your hips back to straighten your front leg. Flex the front foot. {Repeat Step 1 & 2 two more times} Step 3: Release both hands down, reach your left arm towards the sky twisting to the right. Keep your hips as still as possible so the twist comes from the spinal column and ensure your knee stays pointed straight forward.

Step 4: Release the left arm down to the inside of the front foot and twist in the opposite direction, reaching the right arm high. Outer left foot, knee, and hip should all line up with the knee pointing forward and stacked over the ankle.

Step 5: Add a quadriceps stretch by first returning to a Low Lunge. Then twist to the left, reaching your arm back to grab the top of the foot or ankle, stretching your quadriceps. Right hand reaches to the floor or knee.

Benefits: Low Lunge stretches out the hip flexors, which can be shortened from posting or holding a two-point position. The hamstrings and quadriceps stretches are important for strong, yet malleable muscles. This helps keep a deep, balanced and quiet seat. The quieter you are in the saddle, the more clear your cues will be to your horse.

Modifications: For sensitive knees, cushion with a towel. For tight quadriceps, wrap a towel around your back foot.

Upward Facing Dog Start lying on your stomach with your legs stretched back. Press all 10 toenails into the ground. Bend your elbows 90-degrees and spread your palms on the ground next to your floating ribs. Press down to straighten your arms and simultaneously lift your hips and thighs off the ground. Keep your thighs firm while you slide your shoulders back and down. Lengthen your lower back, as if you were trying to reach your tailbone to your heels. Try to draw your belly button in. Lift through the top of your chest, pressing the shoulder blades against your spine.

Benefits: Upward Facing Dog stretches your chest, lungs, abdomen and shoulders. This stretch will increase lung capacity allowing for a rhythmic breath. The spine, core and arm muscles are all strengthened, improving posture, which is imperative to balancing on your horse. The more balanced you are as a rider, the more balanced and cadenced your horse will become.

Modifications: For lower back sensitivities, practice Cobra Pose instead. Leave a bend in your elbows and keep your hips and thighs on the floor. Keep the legs firm and draw your chest forward to gather length, just as in Upward Facing Dog. 246 | AR ABIAN HORSE TIMES

Garland Pose (Yogi Squat) Squat with your feet as close together as possible, keeping your heels on the ground. Bring your arms to the inside of your thighs. Press your palms together so your elbows push out against the inside of your knees. Add a small inner thigh contraction squeezing into the elbows.

Benefits: Yogi Squat provides a huge stretch for the ankles, inner thighs and lower back muscles. It also tones the lower belly. The deep hip stretch and inner thigh flexibility provides a more natural and easy turned out leg, allowing you to “hug� your horse easier. By pressing the inner thighs into the arms, and the arms resisting that squeeze, the inner thigh muscles also gain strength and stamina required to remain in the saddle for extended periods of time.

Modifications: If your heels don’t reach the ground, place a folded blanket underneath to support.

Tree Pose Start standing with your feet together, arms by your side. Shift your weight onto your right foot, keeping all four corners of your foot rooted to the floor. Bend your left knee and place your left sole onto your right calf or inner thigh (NOT on the knee joint). Stretch your torso tall, lengthening both sides towards the sky. Press your hands together at the center of your chest. Pick a focal point to help maintain your balance.

Benefits: Tree pose improves balance by centering and focusing the mind. It also strengthens the core, thighs, calves and ankles. The inner thighs, chest and shoulders are stretched. These are all important components to finding a grounded and stable seat.

Easy Cross Leg Pose Sit on a thickly folded blanket or block. Cross your legs at your shins, stacking your ankles under the opposite knee. Your legs should make a triangle shape, shins parallel to the front of your mat. You can rest your palms, or the back of your hands on the top of your thighs. Sit for a few minutes visualizing your ride ahead.

Focus on calm, unhurried breaths as you envision transitions, gates, jumps, or whatever your ride will include.

Benefits: Easy Cross Leg Pose strengthens the back while stretching the ankles, knees, hips and thighs. Sitting tall, allowing your spine to align, can reduce anxiety and stress. This in turn, allows your muscles to properly support the spinal column, reducing unnecessary torque or pulling, an bringing an overall calmness to the pose.

Modifications: Sit with your back against a wall. If your inner thighs are tight, place a block or blanket between the outer thigh and the ground for support.

Dedicating a few minutes before you ride to the key yoga exercises shown above can help open your muscles, improve balance, and focus your mind making the transition from ground to saddle more smooth. Taking small steps to

integrate yoga into your training program can create a rider who is balanced in body, mind and spirit. These are all attributes required to instill confidence, symmetry and focus in your horse. Happy riding! n Volume 44, N o . 12 | 247