I am rather fat and currently on a diet so I can ride my horse and wear cute clothes. It dawned on me to ask for suggestions for the best forms of exercise to get me back to riding fit. I like weight training, swimming, walking and stretching. I have over-use and abuse injuries to nearly all of my major joints and am in my fifties. My current fatness is due to over-eating to cope with something awful. Not the best solution I know, but I shrug my shoulders and figure that there are more debilitating things that I could have done to myself and I didn’t. Your suggestions will be keenly appreciated. Although I have joined only recently, I have read this forum for a few years. To have so much wisdom and knowledge in one place is really cool.
Find a lesson program - start with a few private lessons and then when your riding enthusiasm catches up with you ~ transition to a group lesson - just do it !
You’ll be so surprised at how much riding makes you feel better about yourself
and
motivates you to drop your weight 
Good Luck !
- actually I rec finding two places to ‘lesson’
to compare and contrast which place is the ‘better fit’ after a handful or more of lessons ~
Enjoy your journey back to riding ~ best activity I know !
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At the risk of sounding like an idiot, what is a lesson program please? I am Australian and am unfamiliar with the term.
So you want to get fit and lose weight before you get on a horse?
Maybe feel too heavy for your horse, unfit in a way that you may hurt yourself getting on and riding and getting off?
Can you access those Pilates videos?
They are very good to get back in general good shape, with a firm core, while losing extra weight.
Can be done once a day for a few weeks at home, along with some basic weight bearing exercises with a can or a full bottle for resistance.
For leg strength that applies to riding, sitting in a chair and squeezing a ball between knees can help.
You could also be running with your horse on lead, both of you so getting conditioned.
All that could be part of losing weight and getting back in the saddle safely.
P.S. Also listen to Zu-Zu, she knows about being off and regaining fitness.
She helped me thru shoulder surgery, always grateful for that.
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oh ! Sorry.
I’m referring to a hour of riding instruction - a professional gives you instruction on a safe ’ lesson horse’ - her horse & her tack -
You set a apt to ride - private 1-1 lessons and then transition into a group lesson - several
students learning to ride / refine their skills.
Admitting I have zero knowledge of riding programs in Australia …
I say - be positive - empower yourself and your body image by riding -
- under the guidance of a professional a rider should be able to
mount
RIDE
dismount safely … :yes:
why wait for weight loss ?!??
get back on and improve your self esteem and that will motivate your weight loss IMHO
Get the basics back - Get on with your plan
ENJOY ! ASAP !!
Find two barns and get riding !
- if one sets an apt to ride at another barn that is sometimes an easier way to start …then ride your own horse once your back in the swing of riding … use a safe lesson horse and having a professional’s eyes on you will help immensely in getting you re-started in a safe way - IMHO
It’s about rebuilding ones confidence after an injury - physical or emotional ~
One step at a time - a set lesson makes one show up and not use an excuse that can easily be found at home with ones own horse . Like Im too tired or the cat barfed :winkgrin::lol:
I am too heavy for my horse. Too heavy for a riding school horse. I also need to up my question asking talents as I can see that my original post was not as informative as it could have been.
The situation as it currently stands is that I need to lose weight and get fit, work on my horse’s head shaking issues and break him in. Although I know how to lose weight and get fit, I have never done anything specifically for my riding and need some suggestions please.
I truly appreciate the wonderful suggestions that have been offered.
ok … I’m off base - never-mind
deleted what I could
good luck ~
Thank you. It’s my fault that you were off base. Sorry about that. My first post should have been much more informative.
Swimming. It builds core strength and endurance without putting undue stress on your joints. When I’m swimming regularly, I also ride much better! I don’t know if you’re up for it but I joined an adult swim team (Masters). That helped improve my technique and also made me work a whole lot harder.
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If you like swimming, definitely do that…easy on the joints, too. I’d had two days of weight lifting to 3 days of swimming of swimming.
The best workout is the one you will stick with 
My suggestion is that since you enjoy weights, swimming and stretching, is to join a gym and get some a personal trainer that can customize a program that’s specific to your goals and to your past injuries. The trainer can incorporate things like swimming and whatever else on the days you don’t meet together. Plus your gym may have some group fitness classes that you could enjoy on other days.
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Agree with the above. A good physical trainer can help you develop a balanced workout that will improve cardiovascular fitness (which will help with weight loss), core strength and general muscle tone and strength without putting undue stress on your joints. Actually using proper form and gaining muscle strength will help your joints and take stress off of them. Proper form is everything for any training with weights so getting professional guidance, at least to start, is very important.
Focusing on improving core strength – not just abs but also obliques and back strength – will be an important part of getting fit for riding.
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This is so true. And you already do a lot of things that you like to do–keep on keeping on! Mortifying to admit, but at age 49 it is easier for me to lose weight now by eating less, not by exercising more (or even at all! When I was younger, I stayed thin by exercising. Now I appear to need to eat very little–no matter what movement I do.). However, I am not fit enough to ride my 1 3rd level horse if I don’t also exercise. YMMV! lol
p.s. I have a joint disease and mainly do off-horse exercise by swimming, walking and yoga + pilates at home.
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Sadly I’m not doing any of it at the moment except walking, housework and looking after my horse. Cleaning the poop from his private paddock with nothing more than my hands (wearing rubber gloves) and a small garden barrow is a lot of work.
There was a time in my thirties when I thought that I might be using a walker by the time I reached my fifties and here I am aged fifty three and no walker. My doctor told that I couldn’t take killers for the rest of my life and so I would have to learn to live with it. That’s what I have done. Fitness is a big help. Fingers crossed for you.
