Hey everyone! I have had some mental health issues and I went through a six-week program... but you don't need to know that. AAAAnyways, I am starting to get back into riding now, the last time I rode was late December(?) or early January(?), I am not positive. I was wondering if there are any exercises to help me work on the weird muscles that you use when riding a horse. I have tried to find some, but they feel weird, I have looked since I started riding and I have not found one that feels like it is working the right muscles. I was wondering if anyone more experienced than me has any suggestions.

Don't have suggestions, but good work getting back into it. All the best to you!

If you are getting back into riding, I suggest focusing on learning how to ride and getting back into the routine and not worry about which muscles you are using.

Edit: I misread the original post, and what I posted wasn't particularly useful!

I would recommend a yoga ball. You can find all sorts of riding-related yoga ball tutorials online. But just sitting on it and squeezing with your legs is really useful IMO.

Well, not riding for a few months is really not long enough to lose that much muscle, is it? I mean, assuming that you were still active?

I was bedridden for several months, then had a very long/slow recovery. Before riding again, I worked mostly on my inner thigh muscles (I used to have an instructor who called them your "stick to the saddle" muscles) by pressing a ball between my knees (a medium-sized playground or soccer-sized ball).

I had also lost a lot of upper-body/back strength, so I did modified "push-ups" by standing in front of an open door, with each hand on each door jamb (sides of doorframe), with my feet 2 feet away and pushing against the doorframe, like a push-up. You can play around with the distance of your feet and the angles of your arms (elbows down vs out to the sides) to work different muscles. you can also hold the position to "plank".


Good luck and enjoy getting back into riding!

I wouldn't worry about it - just take the saddle time. Make it a bit harder by doing more two-point in the beginning, so you build muscle faster.

However, consider this: When you started riding, you were super inefficient, which made riding that much harder. Now, your experience, muscle memory, and reflexes will be eliminating much of what tired you out as a newbie, even if you lost all your muscle back to that level. Which you wouldn't have.

I am surprised to see someone not encouraging exercise/cross training. It does not have to be a long workout to be beneficial. To the OP, as suggested a yoga ball is incredibly versatile. Squats and lunges are great leg exercises. I like Spanish Rider’s doorframe exercise and I’m going to try that one myself.

Welcome back to riding.

I like this