Hunter rider here that takes a weekly dressage lesson! I’ve noticed lately as we’ve been asking for more contact and my horse is giving me a more uphill canter which is requiring a lot of balancing half-halts that I’m sore in my triceps after my ride. He’s a heavy, semi-downhill horse which probably contributes but I want to be sure I’m not doing something incorrectly.
Usually my legs and core are sore after dressage lessons, but honestly any muscles you don’t frequently use (either riding or working out) can get sore when you ride a different way. Make sure that you aren’t stiff in your arms as that can cause your muscles to become tense and that would make them sore… but your trainer should be able to identify and tell you if that is what is going on. Since dressage is new for you I would hedge my bets that your muscles are just being used in a different way and the soreness will settle down soon.
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I would wager being sore in the arms is a rider or heavy horse issue. If your horse has a tendency to be downhill he may be leaning or pulling on you. The answer to that is more seat and leg to push him up into the bridle more. Easier said than done and you may be sore for a bit.
Whenever my arms are sore, it is always from the horse pulling or leaning. I ride a lot of green/retrain horses so their balance isn’t always there but enough seat and leg fixes that then they start to go correctly without help. Timeline varies depending on individual horse.
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This makes sense. Like I said, we’re asking for more contact, he’s used to going like a hunter - very light contact. Now, we’re asking him to really step under himself which is hard for him and he does tend to lean when he gets tired. He used to feel like this at the trot, but that has drastically improved and now he is very light and soft in the trot, so we’ve started working more on his canter and I’m noticing the sore arms again! I’m hoping as he gains strength and balance he’ll start feeling lighter at the canter too, but for now I feel like I have to constantly remind him to come up to me instead of leaning on me. We’re both loving the dressage lessons though, he’s turning into a different horse - so cool!!
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Honestly to me this is a bit of a red flag. I know people who have sore arms and hands after riding dressage lessons, including one who ultimately quit riding because the pain became to intense.
Every single one of them was riding with a crank and spur coach who had them put maximum weight on the reins.
I have never heard of people who ride correctly getting sore triceps.
That said, if you are tense through your shoulders you can get upper back pain, if you’re susceptible to it (as I am) but the key is staying relaxed, elbows at your side and hands carried.
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After years of riding, I’ve finally discovered why my triceps were sore. Short answer: my elbows were in front of my body and I wasn’t using my core to ride.
I did a lunge line lesson so I could focus on my position and the biggest take I got from it was that half halts come from the seat, not from my arms or fingers only. To do this, I had to not only bring my elbows back but also use my lower trap. Here is a video that really explains it well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eb3J7lMNZfs
Around the 1:50 mark the guy explains how it isn’t just your shoulders back, but your shoulder blades need to go down as well.
Now, my lower traps are sore because these are muscles I don’t use often, especially since I sit at a desk all day. But, my upper arms are now working a lot less because I am using my abs, lower back, and lower traps more instead of being heavy handed.
When I think about lower my shoulder blades and keeping my elbows at my side, my body can’t help but sit up straighter and not lean forward.
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Yes great points! I now have a name for my area of weakness, the upper and lower traps!
I have one guy I ride who seems to make my arms and hands really sore. He tends to want to throw his head up and get strung out. He’s a big 17.3hh KWPN.
I haven’t been riding him as often lately, but I have noticed that he is happier and less bracey (combination of training and supplement and pain management changes) the past couple times I was out to see him.
I think it’s interesting that not just bracing, but also rider position might be playing a part. My trainer I ride with out there is not the special equipment type, though she also isn’t afraid to use something if it’s needed. She is more focused on my upper body position, arms, hands, etc. And she brought the concept of hands more forward to help encourage more core engagement. So it could be that. It could also be the saddle. It’s an equipe and I sit so differently in that saddle than any other saddle I’ve ever ridden in.
Normally though, I do NOT get sore. Ever. even if we are doing a lot of sitting trot. It sucks. It might be my home workouts.
:yes: I KNOW I’m weak there and tend to use my arms instead of my core when I start to get tired. I had been on vacation for a week prior to my last lesson which didn’t help with the soreness! Good points!
@Scribbler I hear you loud and clear on that - don’t think that’s what’s happening in my situation though! I definitely have more weight in my hands than I do around a hunter course, but my arms and hands are still soft and following for the most part. I wouldn’t be “crushing baby birds” or anything like that :lol: I know during jump lessons when I get tired I stop using my core and compensate elsewhere so I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m doing the same during my dressage lessons.
This is an interesting point to note. I’m also not sore after every ride, but usually after we ask for something new or when we are working on fixing an issue.
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In order to use your core you have to have a SEAT.
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I don’t tend to get sore often either… unless it is after an intense workout at the gym and my muscles are already fatigued or if my trainer is working with me on position (a lot of that is no stirrups and getting on my seat and relaxing my inner thighs - not the no stirrups that makes me sore but the re-positioning of my leg while no stirrups) because I am training my muscles to move a different way. However, just like when someone first starts working out muscles will be sore. It is totally normal when you use your muscles in a different way than you are used to.
That is a good point on the half halts. I’ve got a 17.3h long backed guy who was a dressage horse (before turned to hunter - but still love dressage so we do both) and is very responsive to the seat. Try to half halt with the hands and he will just get heavier and will absolutely lean on your hands all day long. Half halt with the seat and it is like magic. I’ve not had my arms ever hurt with him, but I did used to get really fatigued before we started figuring each other out.
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If you are asking (and getting!) a new level of connection and effort from your horse, and having to develop a new ride yourself, I don’t think sore triceps are totally out of line. As other posters have stated, when I started getting to the point with my current horse where my arms needed to come back to the proper position and he could carry himself better I was a bit sore in the upper back and triceps. I had become accustomed to riding a bit in front of the vertical and with my hands too far forward while he was green. It was a phase we needed to progress through, and since I am a one-horse rider, I lost the fitness I needed to carry myself more correctly. When my instructor told me to bring that posture back and elevate his frame more it was hard! I struggled for a couple weeks and felt it after my rides. The mental image that @mydogs used is exactly what I use/was taught - lower the shoulder blades and the upper arm comes to my sides and the torso becomes more vertical.
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There is a simple test when you take the reins does he give or lean and pull.
If he gives you are on the right track. If he leans and pulls it is time to change everything.
I had to google images to locate my triceps. Ewww! Yuck! Blech! Body builder pictures.
LOL They think they are so attractive to women…
not!
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Keep in mind it isn’t just you using new muscles. I have been frustrated by coaches in the past who just want my horse to suddenly go with a different posture rather than using exercises to help the horse slowly build to the new way of going. So if you are sore from a new method…likely so is your horse. Something to consider.
I’d be pretty alarmed if my triceps were sore after riding, especially if it were correlated with the horse moving in a more uphill fashion. I’ve never had tricep soreness with any of the green or forehand-heavy unbalanced horses I’ve ridden, which is not a small sample. Abs, on the other hand…
Is it possible that your arms are “floating in space” a bit? I tend to keep my upper arms stable against the sides of my torso, and use my core and seat much much much more than my arms in rebalancing aids. Which means I recruit abdominal and back muscles and maybe sorta shoulders (rhomboids, some trapezius) for this, but not really triceps, biceps, forearms so much. The only times I notice arm muscles engaging are the moments when I find myself getting a bit against my horse. I could imagine, though, that my triceps could get recruited a lot more if my arms were being used very independently of my core and seat.
Have you told your trainer this is happening? Might be feedback that would help her/him to help you develop your position and aids. Good luck and I’m glad you’re having fun with your dressage lessons!
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