How To Relax When Horse Riding

Can you truly relax when you’re horse riding? Yes and no.

If you’re too relaxed, that’s when things can go wrong because you’re not paying attention. You’re not staying present and in the moment.

So you can’t be responsive to what’s happening in the moment.

But you know that riding with physical and mental tension isn’t good either.

Because mental tension also stops you from being present and physical tension prevents you from moving with your horse.

And, tension interferes with not only how well you can ride but also how well your horse can do what you’re asking him or her to do.

So, it’s best for you to have calm focus when horse riding.

Read on for my 3 top tips to help you have calm focus when riding.

Top Tips To Be A Relaxed Horse Rider With Calm Focus

Tip 1: Exhale For Calm Focus When Horse Riding

The fastest and best way to calm yourself down is to make your exhale longer than your inhale. 

It’s the rhythm rather than the length of each breath that is important. So you can count to 3 or 5 or 7 on the inhale and then make your exhale longer  than that number. 

You can do this breathing exercise before you get on your horse, while you're driving to the barn or the yard, and when you’re on your horse. 

And to make it even more effective, open up your peripheral vision at the same time.  So you're taking in more of what's around you in your environment. 

Because using your peripheral vision is a calming signal to your brain. It tells your brain that it can turn off the fear response. 

And you need to get your brain feeling calm in order to help your body relax. And so that you can be focused in the present moment. Because a stressed mind cannot exist in a relaxed body and vice versa. 

Tip 2: Engage Your Core To Be A Calm, Focused Horse Rider

This is another step you can do before getting on to ride your horse, but especially when you're sitting on your horse.

Engage your core!  

Now that doesn’t mean tighten up your stomach muscles so that you cannot breathe properly. 

It's isolating those muscles in your abdomen and engaging them so they support your lower back.

When done correctly, you should be able to talk and breathe just as normally as I am right now.

With your core engaged, you can now centre and align your body.

Practice engaging your core when you're sitting or standing as well as when you’re riding your horse.

Center your body so that your shoulders are over your hips. Take the arc out of your lower back - without tightening anywhere else - by bringing the bottom of your pelvis forward. 

Align yourself correctly over your seat bones so they are pointed down. You’re neither perched forward nor tipping backwards.

You can practice finding and holding this position while you're sitting on a hard chair.

This position gives you a neutral spine. And that neutral spine is really important to allow you to follow your horse's movement. It allows you to be balanced and supple. 

A lot of riders, in order to hold their posture in what they believe is their correct riding posture, will tense up throughout their whole body. And that stops them from moving with - and even feeling properly - their horse’s movement.

But when you have that neutral spine that allows you to feel and respond to your horse’s movement. You can be present and responsive to your horse.

Tip 3: Release Tension To Relax When Horse Riding

When you first get on your horse, plan on spending some time - several minutes or maybe even your whole ride - just at the walk. The walk is the most underutilized and the most ignored gait in horse riding. And yet it is the most important.

The walk is the foundation of everything else. 

So get on your horse.

And walk.

And as your horse is walking you're going to again check that you're aligned. Then start releasing beginning from your toes and moving up to the top of your head.

Just check in as you scan your body. Are you gripping, for example, with your toes? 

At each joint and large muscle group (e.g. calves, knees, thighs, etc.), release tension with your exhale.

If you find it difficult to release tense areas, consciously tense those muscles on an inhale. Hold the tension for 10-20 seconds. Then let it all go quickly on an exhale. You’ll feel the relief of those muscles relaxing.

And as you release that tension, take it one step further by allowing yourself to sink a bit deeper into your saddle. Remember to sit tall, keeping centred and aligned as you do so.

Just take the time as you're walking and throughout your ride to check in and release tension wherever you hold it in your body. 

As you release the tension from your body you'll begin to notice and feel your horse's movement. And you’ll allow your horse's movement to move your body.

And you’ll be able to have your muscles working in a way that they connect you to the saddle without gripping.

You'll feel balanced when you've got it correct. You'll feel that you are plugged into your saddle, plugged into your horse and absorbing the movement.

Give these tips a try and then come back and let me know how it worked for you and which part you liked the most.