FitToBeTied-- yes!! I am a bit ‘stove up’ most days (back surgery, arthritis, badly broken shoulder, 3 knee surgeries, a fused left foot-- all from soccer, life, horses) and I’ll never have proper posture and I hurt like hell after I ride (and during frankly). The advice here is good, but the reality is harder to accomplish. I work full time, have a small farm, commute an hour to ride with my trainer, a husband and a life. I get as much exercise as I can but it might not be enough sometimes. As we age, we compromise. But as riders, we must be fit enough to do the level we choose. If that’s walk and trot, then so be it.
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Calvincrowe - yep. I did my full workout this morning including inversion table. Two iB profen and one baclofen. Then I flatted two horses. came into the house and did ice and TENS. I’m sure my position wasn’t perfect but oh well. Now I have to go out and mow the grass around the house. Then it will be loosening up on the treadmill and elliptical before getting on the inversion table again then on to wine, ice and TENS.
If someone wants to complain about my position I may just hit them with the wine bottle!
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I think there’s a difference. Someone who has been riding forever, is highly skilled, has good balance, but has some position flaws from an equitation perspective that don’t really interfere with their effectiveness. Versus a beginner or returning rider who is tippy and unstable in the saddle.
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This is so true. I have a trashed backed with disks, spurs, osteo, psoriatic arthritis and all the exercise is the world isn’t going to fix that. In fact, some days exercise makes it worse. If I rode today, I’m sure I’d look like a hot mess. I would give anything to get back to riding just at a walk and have a semi-retired schoolie type horse of my own to do so on. but I can’t find an instructor to work with me because of my shortcomings and I’m smart enough not to try to get back into riding on my own.
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I think it’s interesting that people can fight over a question about teaching the senior rider. Good grief!
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I don’t see anyone fighting-- just offering experiences and preferences as well as realistic expectations.
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The OP was saying that she is teaching experienced senior riders who (based on her very extensive experience as an instructor, well-established on COTH) appear to have some deficits that makes her concerned for their safety. She asked for advice and people suggested yoga/balance work/ Pilates/ PT/core work, and also filming the riders to give them some off-saddle feedback. Nothing was meant as a personal attack.
No one said that exercise can cure every ailment of aging, or that every older woman is resistant to exercise, or doesn’t do physical work. The OP was sharing her experiences with her riders, and some of us chimed in (including myself) saying we’d seen some of these issues in ourselves and other older riders. This doesn’t mean this is true of every person who is getting older. But I don’t think just because exercising won’t cure EVERYTHING doesn’t mean it isn’t helpful for a lot.
I ran my 3rd marathon two weeks ago, and PT was enormously helpful getting me into shape when I had some issues in the middle of my training. I am 50. I also just finished mowing my lawn! But I also know that if I didn’t do a lot of that fiddly PT work, I couldn’t do “the big stuff” I also do. It would be so easy for me to say, “I run XX miles a week and do my own yard work, I don’t need no stinkin’ PT or yoga, how dare you say I need more exercise,” but I’ve found there are little imbalances and things that actually get worse rather than better with repetition. And the older we get, the more repetitive movements have become ingrained.
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Perhaps fittobetied was joking. If so, my mistake.
Not getting into the semantics of it all. Unquestionably getting older affects your ride. You lose muscle mass. (Despite working out). You have skeletal changes in hips and shoulders and spine. So you try harder. Both in and out of the saddle. But I’m sorry. You will never ride like you did when you were 25. It’s just the nature of the beast. Let people assume their own risk. Walk back the level of riding they’re doing if you see danger. No matter what … straddling a 1300 animal and asking it it work will always be a bit dangerous. I don’t care if you are 18 or 80. Just ride.
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I think that is where I am struggling to find resources - good explanations on HOW the body changes with age and specific exercises to help with it.
For example, in my shallow pool class, we practice tipping forward (or back) and then righting ourselves to address balance issues/reflex issues as we age, we also do a lot for the hamstrings and shoulders. There just doesn’t seem to be much specifically for teaching aging riders and addressing those changes.
I do do things like riding with one stirrup, and rotating between sitting, posting and two point to work on balance, but I need more ideas. Lunge line lessons would be ideal…but along with aging riders, I have aging horses, and they don’t deserve to spend much time on a circle.
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So much can be done at the walk. Proper lateral work, pole work, getting the horse up under itself (with or without collection)… Similarly at the trot. Helping develop (or maintan) your schoolies with correct work can also be rewarding.
But yes, there’s not much for aging riders. We’ll just have to develop it!
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I agree that there’s a real lack of resources specifically geared toward the aging rider. Over the winter, I went down a bit of a rabbit hole myself and came across a handful of articles in the Journal of Aging and Physical Activity , but most of what I found was focused on equine-assisted therapy rather than active/independent older riders.
For the few “more mature” riders I work with (and those dealing with physical limitations like advanced scoliosis), diving deeper into biomechanics than I ever used to (Sally Swift, Mary Wanless, etc) has made a big difference.
I’m sure you all are already doing all of this yourselves, but for me it was kind of a light bulb moment. I also realized how many of those small position tweaks (pelvic tilts, breathing adjustments, neck placement, etc) can be done/practiced at the walk (= low-impact for schoolie and rider).
Honestly, I probably should’ve been paying more attention to that stuff years ago rather than mainly replicating my own “muscle through” w/ willpower cavalry education. Better late than never, I guess? 
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It’s complicated because “aging” isn’t a single thing. In general, it exacerbates the limitations you had in middle age. Then, there can be specific injuries or damage like discs, knee or hip replacement etc. Also overall cardio and strength fitness. So it could be useful to get a physiotherapist workup to see where your mobility issues are. I have a friend who only found out in her 30s that she had scoliosis which had an impact on how her legs draped and made it harder to get her leg under her. From looking at her you might think it’s tight hamstrings but the issue is further up the body.
So until you know the actual issue, it’s hard to target exercise. And there are things that can be improved with exercise, and things that will remain a workaround. There are things that are a workaround, and there are things that cause pain and even further damage.
So “aging” isn’t a single thing.
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