Riding necessitates balance and coordination. The movements required to cue a horse take strength and body awareness. Riding also uses many muscles; most importantly the leg, abdominal, shoulder and back muscles. Riding does not depend on strength alone, but strong and flexible muscles aid in stability and coordination.
Improving your balance may not be number one on your priority list but maybe it should be. Many of us don’t actually do exercises to improve our balance. If you exercise regularly, you already work on your balance without even knowing it. But, just because you exercise doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement.
The aids are divided into weight, leg and rein aids and they need to be systematically learned by heart. You know, of course, that all these aids have to be harmonized with each other, and that this intricate interplay of the aids is called the “feel of the rider.”
For a rider to apply a correct weight aid, rhythm, balance and suppleness are of fundamental importance. They have to be worked on and maintained in movement together with the rhythm, balance and suppleness of the horse. If the rider comes ahead of or behind the movement, this can have an extremely disturbing effect on the balance of the horse. His natural rhythm will be interrupted.
Lateral weight changes are equally bothersome. The horse has to respond to this new balance situation and does so by stepping laterally underneath the weight or avoiding the weight by escaping to the opposite side. Looking at it from this point of view, riding is a major balance game. When the rider alters his weight, even minimally, the horse has to react.
To begin adding this body awareness balance exercise to your routine, you should start slowly and build up. You may find initially that you cannot control your body, your ankle begins to wobble, your knee rotates, and your upper body sways. You may find your balance is not what you thought. If this is the case, you may want to begin with simple one-leg balancing until you can stand on one leg for 30 seconds. While performing this exercise, you will be developing the smaller stabilizing muscles. After several sessions, you will find your balance.
One-legged exercises typically target the lower back, glutes and hamstrings. If you have any back problems or feel any abnormal pain in the lower back, skip this and work on strengthening the lower back before trying it again. In these photos, Kate Rhamey from NewMarket Inc. demonstrates how to perform this exercise:

1. Stand with feet about hip-distance apart and hold a light medicine ball or free weight in front of chest.
2. Keeping the shoulders back, abs in and the back straight, tip from the hips and lower the weights toward the floor while extending your arms straight in front.
3. Lower as far as your flexibility allows. You can bend the knees slightly if you need to.
4. Push into the heel to go back to starting position.
5. Do one to three sets of 10-16 reps.

Tips:
• Don't round the shoulders forward. To keep your back flat, look up as you lower down.
• Don't bend the knees as you lower down. This is not a squat, but a move that comes from the hips. Keep your knee at the same angle throughout the movement.
• Use light weights.

Fit To Ride columnist Sylvie Quenneville is the founder and head trainer at Equestric, an equestrian athlete fitness company in Rancho Santa Fe. She may be contacted by email:
info@equestric.com or by visiting her website: www.equestric.com.