You Are Half the Equation: The Rider as Athlete — Fitness, Nutrition, and Physical Preparation for Horse Riding

Ask any rider in Jordan what they did yesterday to improve their performance and the answer will almost always be about the horse. The training session. The jump height. The farrier visit. The new bit they are trying.

Ask them what they did to improve themselves — their balance, their strength, their cardiovascular capacity, their nutrition, their recovery — and the answer is usually silence, or a laugh.

This is the most widespread blind spot in equestrian sport worldwide, and it is especially pronounced in Arabic equestrian culture: the systematic neglect of the rider's own physical preparation. We spend enormous resources on our horses and almost nothing on the bodies that sit on them.

The science does not support this approach. A 2023 review published in the journal Nutrients — one of the most comprehensive analyses of rider physiology ever conducted — concluded that "equestrian sport is under-researched within the sport science literature, creating a possible knowledge vacuum for athletes and support personnel." The same review confirmed what experienced riders know intuitively but rarely act upon: the rider is an athlete, the sport makes genuine physical demands, and performance — both the horse's and the rider's — is limited by the rider's physical preparation.

This article closes that knowledge gap. It covers what riding actually does to your body, what physical qualities the research identifies as most important for riders, how to build them, and how to eat and recover in a way that supports sustained performance.

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Part One: The Physiology of Riding — What Your Body Actually Does

Riding is Not Passive

The most persistent myth in equestrian sport — and it is stated constantly by non-equestrians — is that the horse does all the work. The rider just sits there.

This is false, and we now have the science to prove it precisely.

Research measuring riders' heart rates and oxygen consumption during riding consistently shows that even walk-trot-canter sessions produce cardiovascular demands equivalent to moderate aerobic exercise. During active competition — show jumping rounds, dressage tests, endurance rides — these demands escalate significantly.

Studies measuring heart rates in show jumpers during competition have found average heart rates of 160–180 beats per minute during jumping rounds, with peaks exceeding 190 bpm. For context: this is in the range of what a recreational runner would experience during a moderately hard run. The horse is doing the jumping — but the rider's cardiovascular system is working almost as hard as if they were running alongside.

In endurance riding, the picture is even clearer. A rider completing an 80-kilometre endurance race may spend 4–6 hours in the saddle. The continuous postural demands, balance corrections, and communication with the horse across that duration constitute a sustained athletic effort that rivals many endurance sports.

What the Muscles Are Actually Doing

Riding requires a specific and unusual combination of muscular demands:

Continuous isometric contraction. Unlike most sports where muscles contract and relax in clear cycles, riding requires large muscle groups — the adductors (inner thighs), core, and postural muscles of the back and pelvis — to maintain continuous low-level contraction for the entire duration of the ride. This is called isometric work, and it is metabolically demanding and produces fatigue in a different way from normal exercise.

Constant micro-adjustments. The horse's movement creates constant perturbations that the rider's body must absorb and respond to — thousands of small balance corrections per minute, executed through the core, the hip, the leg. Research using electromyography (EMG — measuring muscle electrical activity) has found that during rising trot, riders activate their core muscles continuously and at high intensity.

Asymmetric demands. Most riders are dominant on one side, and most horses have a preferred direction. The result is that riding frequently creates asymmetric muscular demands — one hip more flexed, one shoulder more forward, one leg working harder. Without deliberate training to address these asymmetries, they compound over time into postural problems, rider crookedness, and eventually problems transmitted to the horse.

Grip and contact maintenance. The hands and forearms work continuously to maintain soft, consistent contact with the horse's mouth through the reins. This sounds minor but produces cumulative fatigue across a session, and in horses that pull or lean on the bit, the forearm work can be substantial.

The Core: Why It Is Central to Everything

Modern equitation science — and the coaching methodology of the world's top trainers — places the rider's core at the absolute centre of riding performance. The core here means not just the abdominal muscles but the entire system of muscles that stabilise the spine and pelvis: the deep abdominals (transverse abdominis), the pelvic floor, the multifidus muscles of the lower back, and the diaphragm.

Why does core matter so much to riding?

Stability enables softness. A rider with a weak core cannot maintain an independent, stable position without gripping with their legs or hands to compensate. Gripping the horse with the legs sends unintended signals. Gripping with the hands creates harsh contact. The horse, receiving conflicting or tense signals, cannot perform freely. The rider's core weakness directly limits the horse's freedom of movement.

The pelvis is the conversation. The rider communicates with the horse through the seat — through the pelvis, which sits in the saddle and transmits subtle movements to the horse's back. A rider who cannot isolate and control pelvic movement cannot give precise seat aids. Core stability enables pelvic control; pelvic control enables communication.

Absorbing movement without tension. The horse's back moves in three dimensions — up and down, side to side, and rotating. The rider must absorb this movement through a relaxed, mobile spine while simultaneously maintaining stability. This paradox — mobile yet stable — is only possible with a trained core and a relaxed body. A rider who is tense, weak, or fatigued will stiffen against the movement, blocking the horse's back.

Balance, Proprioception, and the Rider's Nervous System

Balance in riding is not static — it is dynamic. The rider is balancing on a moving surface that changes direction and speed unpredictably. This requires highly developed proprioception — the body's sense of its own position in space, mediated by sensors in the muscles, tendons, and joints.

Research comparing experienced and novice riders has consistently found that expert riders have superior proprioceptive sensitivity and can make finer, faster position adjustments than beginners. This is not just a matter of practice on horseback — it reflects the genuine development of the proprioceptive system through training. Activities that challenge balance and proprioception — pilates, yoga, balance board training, riding without stirrups — directly develop the neural pathways that make a rider more sensitive and adaptable.

Cardiovascular Fitness and Recovery

A rider's cardiovascular fitness affects performance in two ways that are rarely discussed.

Direct performance. A rider with a higher aerobic base will have a lower heart rate for the same workload, meaning less fatigue, better decision-making under pressure, and more capacity to focus on the horse rather than on their own physical effort.

Recovery between efforts. In show jumping competitions with multiple rounds and classes, or endurance competitions with multiple checkpoints, the rider's ability to recover quickly between efforts directly affects later performance. A well-conditioned rider recovers between efforts; a poorly conditioned one accumulates fatigue across the day.

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Part Two: The Physical Qualities Every Rider Needs

Based on the available research and the demands described above, the physical qualities that most directly determine rider performance are, in order of importance:

1. Core Stability (Not Just Core Strength)

There is an important distinction between core strength and core stability. Strength is how much force a muscle can produce. Stability is the ability to maintain position under perturbation — which is exactly what riding requires.

The most useful core work for riders is not crunches or sit-ups (which train the superficial abdominals in a movement pattern irrelevant to riding). The most useful work trains the deep stabilisers:

• Dead bugs — the exercise most specifically mimicking the dissociated movement required in riding: stable core, moving limbs
• Planks and side planks — building endurance in the stabilising position
• Bird dogs — diagonal limb extension from a stable core
• Pilates-based exercises — the entire Pilates system was developed partly around the principles of core stabilisation that underpin riding

A well-conditioned rider's core should be able to maintain a stable, neutral spine position for the duration of a riding session without significant fatigue. If you feel your back or pelvis "collapsing" in the second half of a ride, your core endurance is the limiting factor.

2. Hip Flexibility and Mobility

Tight hip flexors are the single most common physical limitation in adult riders. The hip flexors (primarily the iliopsoas) connect the spine to the femur. When they are chronically shortened — as they almost always are in people who sit at desks for hours each day — they pull the pelvis into anterior tilt (tipping forward), hollowing the lower back and creating a tense, braced seat.

A rider with tight hip flexors cannot:

• Sit deeply into the saddle with a neutral pelvis
• Follow the horse's movement through the hip
• Give effective seat aids without hollowing the back

Hip flexor stretching and hip mobility work should be a daily non-negotiable for adult riders. The most effective approaches include:

• Kneeling hip flexor stretches held for 2–3 minutes per side
• 90/90 hip mobility exercises
• Yoga poses: pigeon, lizard, low lunge variations

Hip adductor flexibility (inner thigh) is the second most important mobility target for riders, who need the hips to open around the horse's barrel.

3. Spinal Mobility and Thoracic Extension

Many riders, particularly those who spend hours at desks or screens, develop excessive thoracic kyphosis — rounding of the upper back. This creates a collapsed chest, rounded shoulders, and a forward head position. On horseback, this manifests as a rider who cannot sit tall, tends to tip forward in front of the saddle, and loses independent shoulder position.

Thoracic extension — the ability to extend and rotate the upper back — is essential for the upright, open-chested position that allows the arms and hands to work independently of the body and that gives the horse a clear channel of communication through the reins.

Targeted exercises include:

• Foam roller thoracic extension (rolling the upper back over a foam roller)
• Cat-cow with focus on upper back extension
• Thread-the-needle thoracic rotation
• Band pull-aparts to strengthen the muscles between the shoulder blades

4. Leg and Glute Strength

The legs provide stability in the saddle and the means to give clear, consistent leg aids. The gluteal muscles (particularly the gluteus medius) control the position of the pelvis in the frontal plane. Weakness here produces a rider who tilts to one side, whose hips collapse when the horse moves sideways, and whose leg aids are inconsistent.

Effective leg and glute training for riders:

• Single-leg exercises prioritised over bilateral. Riding is asymmetric — single-leg squats, single-leg deadlifts, and lunges are more relevant than bilateral squats
• Hip abduction work (clamshells, lateral band walks) to strengthen the gluteus medius specifically
• Romanian deadlifts for posterior chain development (hamstrings and glutes in their role of stabilising the hip extension position in the saddle)

5. Cardiovascular Base

Riders — particularly those competing in jumping, endurance, or mounted games — benefit from a genuine cardiovascular base. The minimum recommended is three sessions per week of 30–45 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise at a heart rate of approximately 130–150 bpm.

Running, cycling, swimming, and brisk walking are all equally valid. The goal is not to become a distance runner; it is to lower the baseline heart rate, improve recovery between efforts, and reduce the cardiovascular fatigue that clouds decision-making in competition.

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Part Three: Building the Rider's Training Programme

Weekly Structure for a Competing Rider

This is a realistic weekly structure for an adult rider competing at club or national level, with 3–5 riding sessions per week:

Day	Off-Horse Training	On-Horse
Monday	Core + hip mobility (30 min)	Flatwork session
Tuesday	Cardio — 35 min run/cycle	Rest
Wednesday	Core + lower body strength (45 min)	Jump training
Thursday	Yoga / mobility (30 min)	Flatwork
Friday	Upper body + posture work (30 min)	Competition prep
Saturday	Rest or light walk	Competition
Sunday	Full rest	Rest

Key principle: Off-horse training supplements riding; it does not replace rest. Riders who are already fatigued from riding should reduce off-horse volume before reducing riding volume.

Exercises Specifically for Riders

The Dead Bug

Lie on your back, knees bent at 90 degrees, arms pointing to the ceiling. Slowly lower one arm overhead and the opposite leg toward the floor while keeping the lower back pressed firmly to the ground. The key is that the lower back does not arch. This teaches the dissociation between limb movement and core stability that riding requires. 3 sets of 8–10 repetitions per side.

The Rider's Plank

Standard plank with focus: breathe normally (riders tend to hold their breath under exertion — a habit that translates directly to tension on horseback). Hold 45–60 seconds × 3. Progress by adding a single arm or leg lift.

Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift

Stand on one leg, hinge at the hip to lower the torso toward the floor while the free leg extends behind. Return to standing without letting the hip of the standing leg drop. This trains the gluteus medius of the standing leg — directly relevant to preventing hip collapse in the saddle. 3 sets of 8 per side.

Pilates Roll-Down

Stand with feet hip-width apart, roll the head forward, then the upper back, then the lower back, until hands are near the floor. Roll back up vertebra by vertebra. Develops spinal segmental awareness — the ability to feel and control individual parts of the spine — which directly improves seat quality. 5–8 repetitions.

Hip Flexor Lunge Stretch

Kneel on one knee, the other foot forward in a lunge. Push the hips forward gently until you feel a stretch in the front of the kneeling hip. Hold 2–3 minutes per side. Non-negotiable for desk workers who ride.

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Part Four: Nutrition for the Equestrian Rider

The research review cited at the opening of this article notes that equestrian athletes tend to prioritise their horses' welfare and nutrition over their own. This creates a situation where riders are often, nutritionally, the least well-prepared athletes in their sport.

Energy Requirements

Estimating a rider's caloric needs is complicated by the fact that riding's energy expenditure depends heavily on the discipline, the level of work, the horse's quality of movement, and the ambient temperature.

General estimates from the research:

Activity Level	Estimated Caloric Expenditure
1 hour light riding (walk/trot)	200–350 kcal
1 hour active riding (canter/jump training)	350–550 kcal
Competition day (multiple rounds)	500–900 kcal from riding alone
Endurance ride (80 km, 4–6 hours)	1,500–2,500 kcal from riding

These figures should be added to basal metabolic rate and non-riding activity to estimate total daily caloric need. Many riders — particularly those trying to maintain a certain body weight for aesthetic or cultural reasons — significantly under-fuel, leading to chronic energy deficiency that impairs recovery, reduces concentration, and ultimately limits performance.

Macronutrient Balance for Riders

Carbohydrates are the primary fuel for the isometric and cardiovascular demands of riding. Riders who under-consume carbohydrates will find their concentration declining in the second half of sessions, their leg and core muscles fatiguing faster, and their mood and decision-making deteriorating.

Practical recommendation: base every pre-riding meal on a moderate portion of complex carbohydrate — rice, bread, potatoes, lentils, oats. Avoid high-sugar foods in the hour before riding (spike and crash effect).

Protein supports muscle repair and maintenance. Riders doing additional strength training need adequate protein to adapt to that training: approximately 1.4–2.0 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight daily. Practical sources in the Jordanian diet: eggs, labneh, chicken, lentils, hummus, fish.

Fats provide sustained energy and are essential for joint health and hormone function. Olive oil, nuts, and fish (if available) are the most useful sources for riders.

Hydration: The Rider's Most Neglected Need

Riders working in the Jordanian summer heat — particularly those who must wear helmets, body protectors, and riding boots — can lose significant fluid through sweat without necessarily feeling thirsty. Research has found that fluid loss of just 2% of body weight reduces cognitive performance and coordination — precisely the functions most needed for riding.

Practical rules:

• Begin every riding session well-hydrated (urine should be pale yellow, not dark)
• Drink 300–500ml in the 2 hours before riding
• For sessions over 45 minutes in heat, drink 150–200ml every 20 minutes
• Rehydrate within 30 minutes of finishing, replacing approximately 150% of estimated sweat loss
• In summer heat and after hard work, add electrolytes to post-ride recovery drinks

Pre-Ride Nutrition Timing

2–3 hours before riding: Full meal with complex carbohydrates and moderate protein. Example: rice with chicken and salad, or whole wheat bread with labneh and eggs.

30–60 minutes before: Small, easily digestible snack if needed. A banana, a handful of dates, or a small portion of oats. Avoid high-fat or high-fibre foods that slow digestion and may cause discomfort in the saddle.

During longer sessions: For sessions over 90 minutes, consider a small easily consumed carbohydrate source. Dates are ideal — culturally familiar, easily carried in a pocket, and rapidly absorbed.

Within 30 minutes after: Recovery window for protein and carbohydrate. A glass of laban with a piece of fruit, or eggs on toast. This window is when muscle repair and glycogen replenishment are most efficient.

Weight Management for Riders

Weight is a sensitive topic in equestrian sport, and the research is clear that it must be discussed carefully.

On one hand, horse welfare requires that rider weight be considered in proportion to horse size and fitness. A significantly overweight rider on a small, unfit horse creates a welfare concern. General guidelines from equine welfare organisations suggest that the combined weight of rider, saddle, and tack should not exceed approximately 15–20% of the horse's body weight.

On the other hand, restrictive dieting to achieve a certain appearance — which is cultural pressure in some equestrian communities — is the leading risk factor for Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S) in riders, a syndrome in which chronic under-fuelling impairs every system of athletic performance and health. The Nutrients review specifically highlighted that riders, particularly female riders, are at risk of disordered eating and RED-S, and that this risk is underrecognised in equestrian communities.

The correct approach: maintain a healthy weight through consistent, well-fuelled training rather than through restriction. A rider who eats adequately, trains consistently, and builds fitness will naturally reach a body composition that supports both their health and their horse's welfare — without the performance and health costs of chronic under-fuelling.

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Part Five: Recovery — The Component Most Riders Skip

Athletic adaptation — the process by which training makes you fitter, stronger, more balanced — happens during recovery, not during training. Training is the stimulus; recovery is where the adaptation occurs. Riders who train hard and recover poorly are not getting the full benefit of their training, and are at higher risk of overuse injury and burnout.

Sleep

Seven to nine hours of quality sleep is the single most effective recovery tool available and costs nothing. Sleep is when growth hormone is released (essential for muscle repair), when the nervous system consolidates new motor patterns (including riding technique learned during the day's session), and when the immune system catches up.

Riders who consistently sleep less than seven hours show reduced coordination, slower reaction times, and worse mood — all of which directly affect riding performance.

For riders in Jordan: the Islamic tradition of adequate rest, the Quranic emphasis on the body's rights over the self, and the Hadith regarding maintaining physical wellbeing are all aligned with the scientific evidence for recovery. Taking rest seriously is not a Western performance concept — it is both religiously and scientifically grounded.

Active Recovery

On rest days from hard training, gentle movement — a 20–30 minute walk, a yoga session, light swimming — promotes blood flow, reduces muscle soreness, and maintains the movement patterns being developed.

Warm-Up Before Riding

Many riders mount their horse without any physical preparation of their own body. This is a mistake for two reasons: it reduces initial performance (cold, tight muscles cannot function as well as warm, mobile ones), and it increases injury risk (tight hip flexors and thoracic extensors under the sudden demands of rising trot are a common source of lower back pain in riders).

A 5–10 minute pre-ride warm-up for the rider — not the horse — should include:

• Leg swings (front-to-back and side-to-side) to open the hips
• Hip circles and hip flexor stretches
• Thoracic rotation
• Shoulder rolls and arm circles
• 2–3 minutes of brisk walking or jogging to raise heart rate and body temperature

The Rider's Common Injuries and How to Prevent Them

Research on rider injury patterns consistently identifies the following as most prevalent:

Lower back pain — the most common rider complaint. Caused primarily by weak core, tight hip flexors, and the isometric demands of riding. Prevented by the core and hip work described above, and by ensuring the saddle fits the rider (a saddle that pitches the rider forward causes constant back compensations).

Knee pain — often from gripping with the knee rather than the upper inner thigh, which drives the knee into the saddle. Prevented by improving hip adductor control and learning to apply leg pressure correctly.

Shoulder and neck tension — from bracing the arms against a horse that pulls or leans, or from a rounded upper back position. Prevented by thoracic mobility work and by addressing horse-related causes (saddle fit, bit choice, training).

Wrist and forearm pain — from maintaining rein tension over long periods. Prevented by forearm flexibility, correct rein length, and horses that respond to light contact.

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Part Six: Rider Fitness at Different Career Stages

The Young Rider (Under 18)

Young riders are in a developmental phase where their bodies are still growing and their motor patterns are being established. The most important investments at this stage are:

• Correct fundamentals in position — every bad habit established now becomes harder to undo
• General athletic development through varied sport (football, swimming, gymnastics) rather than sport-specific training
• Adequate nutrition for growth — young riders should never be dieting
• Sleep, sleep, sleep — adolescents need 8–10 hours

Specialised strength training for young riders should wait until physical maturity (approximately 16–18 years).

The Adult Amateur (18–45)

The adult amateur is the largest segment of the equestrian market in Jordan and faces the specific challenge of fitting training into busy lives. The key realities:

• Hip flexors will be tight from desk work — this must be actively counteracted
• Time is the constraint, not motivation — 20 minutes of targeted work 4 times per week is far more valuable than a 90-minute session once a week
• Recovery is more important than volume — at this level, the risk is not undertraining but overtraining combined with under-recovery

The Masters Rider (45+)

Older riders face specific physiological realities: slower recovery, reduced muscle mass if not actively maintained, decreased flexibility, and higher injury risk from falls. The strategies that matter most:

• Strength training becomes more important, not less — resistance training to maintain muscle mass is essential after 45
• Flexibility work is daily, not occasional
• Recovery periods between hard sessions lengthen — this is not failure; it is physiology
• Fall prevention through balance and proprioceptive training

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Conclusion: The Half of the Equation You Control

Your horse's genetics are fixed. Its temperament is largely fixed. Its conformation is fixed. What you can change about your horse — through training, management, and care — requires time, money, and expertise.

Your own fitness is different. It responds directly and efficiently to consistent effort. Core strength builds in weeks. Hip flexibility improves in days. Cardiovascular base builds in months. The return on investment from improving yourself as a rider is faster and more within your control than almost any other intervention you can make in your equestrian performance.

The riders who consistently improve — who move up the levels, who build partnerships with their horses that last years, who compete well into their forties and fifties — are almost always the ones who understand this. They train themselves as seriously as they train their horses. They eat to support their performance. They recover deliberately.

You are half the equation. Start training that half.v