Online Riders Pilates Session

Why Pilates?

Your position in the saddle has a huge influence over your horse’s way of going. It affects the quality and freedom of pace, and the ability to perform happily. However, many of us struggle to change or ‘unlock’ the stiff and stubborn areas of their body, or break bad riding habits due to posture/weakness/imbalance they may have acquired.

By learning to perform a subtle range of exercises, you can develop symmetry in the saddle and build a strong, central ‘core’ that supports your spine and improves shock absorption. Greater awareness of your body will enable you to isolate muscles, releasing tension that could potentially limit your horse’s movement. How many times have you heard an instructor say: ‘Use your core!’, but without knowing exactly what that means or how to do it?

Pilates aims to address key areas of weakness and restrictions in movement that may cause problems. For example, where there is a weak or misaligned area in the body, you will over-compensate or over-develop in another area. The focus must then be on correcting this misalignment and re-educating the body to avoid recurrence of injury.

As a performance enhancement and physical wellbeing tool, Pilates can offer benefits in every discipline – whether that’s some extra marks in a dressage test; a more balanced round of show jumping, or simply being able to hack out in comfort! 

Learn the basics of pure Pilates that you can practice at home or in the yard before or after you ride.