Horse Illustrated Magazine

These three winter fitness tips for equestrians will help keep your body strong and limber even when the weather may put riding on the back burner.

For many equestrians, winter means a change in routine. Bitter cold winds, freezing hands, thick mud, and icy roads can have the potential to make riding dangerous, inaccessible, or just downright miserable. Even those who live in more favorable climates may find the dwindling daylight cramping their riding schedule.

And saddle time is often replaced with extra-grueling barn chores. Aside from making sure our fur babies are taken care of, it may be tempting to put all unnecessary movement aside and curl up under a thick blanket and wait for spring to come. But neglecting winter fitness could mean increasing your chances of injury and setting you back on your riding goals come spring.

What is Injury?

In the equestrian world, the word “injury” may conjure up frightening images of fractures and concussions, but small muscle strains are also a type of injury. These tears are sometimes caused when too much force is exerted on a weak muscle after a long period of inactivity.

These sorts of injuries can affect even those who are committed to a regular fitness routine. It can feel like a sudden pain in your back after bending the wrong way or reaching up too high.

Particularly in cold temperatures, blood tends to leave the extremities to keep the core temperature regulated, decreasing the pliability of ligaments and increasing the chance of a tear. These injuries can also pop up when the weather warms again if we’ve been inactive and our muscles have become weak.

The good news is that these imbalances can be avoided with a bit of body awareness and a few changes to your routine. If you apply these guidelines to your day, whether at home or at the barn, you will achieve a more balanced musculature and decrease chances of injury during the colder months.

Equestrian Winter Fitness Tip 1: Always Warm-Up

Just as it’s important to warm your horse up prior to any exercise, warming your own body up before activity helps avoid injury.

While “warming up” is a bit of a misnomer since your internal temperature is already warm, doing gentle cardiovascular activities, such as walking in place, further increases blood flow to your muscles.

This is important for everyday activities like bending down to unload the dishwasher in the morning, but even more so with activities that require more force, like lifting a 50-pound grain bag.

A great starting point is a brisk three-minute walk or jogging in place, followed by gently mimicking the motions you will be performing later.

Equestrian Winter Fitness Tip 2: Recognize Your Dominant Side

If you do your own barn chores, winter signals the return of certain tasks. While it may have been months since you’ve done these chores, your body’s muscle memory enables you to pick up those activities where you left off. This is great for getting the job done quickly, but bad for creating muscular balance and avoiding injury.

If you tend to rotate to the left to shovel a frozen pile of manure into a wheelbarrow, one side will become very strong, and the opposite very weak. But even if you don’t do barn chores, using your non-dominant side during everyday activities will promote balance.

To put this into practice, start by recognizing your dominant side when you open a door, throw the ball for the dog, carry groceries, or groom your horse. Then switch to the other for a few repetitions or minutes, slowly building up frequency over several days.

Equestrian Winter Fitness Tip 3: Keep Moving

You’ve probably heard Sir Isaac Newton’s first law of motion, that a body at rest tends to stay at rest, and a body in motion tends to stay in motion. He was talking about physics, but the idea holds true with our health habits.

Winter can be a time where we not only fight the weather and shorter days, but sluggishness and holiday overindulgence. If we set very small goals to stay in motion throughout the day, we are more likely to continue with even more movement and not sink into sedentary habits.

Using larger, oxygen-hungry muscles throughout the day not only promotes good circulation with nutrient rich blood, but it helps improves your mood, energy levels, and sleep quality throughout the winter. Staying active can be a challenge for those who have more sedentary jobs, but it doesn’t require much time. Scheduling several short three-minute walks around the office building is one way to keep your body in motion.

Key Takeaway

You may not be able to control the changing seasons, but you can control decisions regarding your health. By making these simple changes, you will increase your body awareness, decrease potential injuries, and—who knows—you may even find yourself looking forward to next winter!

This article about equestrian winter fitness tips appeared in the November/December 2023 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!