sore after lesson from 'friend'

[Gemma R]

What a meanie that girl is ;) he he. I had a lesson this morning and I ache already. She made me work on my trot all lesson shortening lengthening no stirrups etc. I SERIOUSLY ache now, BUT I GOT LIBBY TO LENGTHEN - How cool is that :) All the aching was well worth it. I haven't had a lesson for AGES (Couple of years - first proper one on Libby) forgot how hard it was ;) I certainly won't be leaving it that long next time ;)

[maverick927]

I ache after lessons too. They are so intense. In my lifetime off riding (properly for 4 years) i have only had 5 lessons, 4 where privae and one was a group lesson while I was on holiday. i am never really tired after just normal riding but thats because I tend to get only 30 mins each day as i have to share with my sister so time is split. Its great though at the moment as she isn't wanting to do as much riding so i get longer. she much prefares watching from the ground and helping me and i don't complain. well at least when it comes to lessons i have a very experienced pony, as i have had 4 lessons on him but he has been in probably more than 1000 lessons (2 years in a riding school, work it out), but pity he didn't learn anything from them as lessons used to be his sleepy time but not any more!!

[Mehitabel]

good work! petal and i are still working on that bit of it. you think you hurt now, wait until tomorrow morning...

[Gracie]

That great:) Congrats!
Its actually good when your muscles ache because it means you got a good workout!lol!:)

[Wally]

If you are a rider and you really ache after a lesson, you have done yourself damage!

Sorry to be brutal, but sore muscles mean damage, nothing less, nothing more. Completely new rider? okay you have to expect a bit of a pull in places!

To do more than a few short exercises without stirrups when you are not really used to it is worthless. Lots of short exercises of good quality is of value. To to half an hour without stirrups will do you no good at all unless you have worked up to it, and this takes time.

All you will do is make your muscles tired,.... tired muslces are inefficient and will cause the hose extra work. Unless he is fit and used to it he will be unable to carry you well. So nobody will be doing any good quality work of any benefit to either of you!

10 minutes of serious schooling at a time, without stirrups, unless you do it regulary (every day) is as much as I'd reccomend.

I did a 2 day, intensive course with Heather on her huge moving high school horses, she worked us hard, but I cannot say I was sore at all....I expected to be, but I was not. But I benefited from it immensley. Riding should not hurt, if it hurts you it will hurt the horse. In 2 days of intensive training I thing we did no more than 20 minutes without stirups......and I ride every day for maybe 2 -4 hours!

It stands to reason, if you are getting muscle fatigue, you cannot carry yourself on the horse well, so he will suffer too!

[saddlesore]

you can exercise your muscles without bringing them to the point of fatigue and still be sore afterwards. and with relation to riding, if you exceed your normal threshold of activity, as in a more vigorous riding exercise, it would not be uncommon to give your muscles a fair workout. unfortunately not everyone has the opportunity to ride with the daily frequency you do, wally, (very jealous as i would love to be able to, tho) but it doesn't mean you need to be a new rider to qualify for soreness, either.

[Bev Heron]

When I worked in a fitness center, we taught "Go for the burn." That is, exercise hard enough so you start to feel a little pain, and when your muscles start to burn, back off.

Sore muscles are a sign of broken fibers and fibers that break in that way heal in an enlarged (hypertrophied) state stronger than before. (Sidebar: I was always getting "panic value calls" from the local hospital about high creatine kinase levels on my athlete "patients." CK is an enzyme that is elevated in heart attacks when cardiac muscle is damaged and in athletes during strenuous exercise of skeletal muscle. Normal is up to 100 (old units). My patient who was an internationally ranked weight lifter ran CKs of 15,000. Since they didn't know the circumstances, it was the lab techs who had heart attacks.)

I was going to post a rather cavalier (a word that means rather the opposite of what it meant when applied to real cavaliers/caballeros) message about "No pain, no gain" but I am the wiser for Wally's post on the Number One concern of consideration for the horse. So it's important to stretch the envelope of muscle strength without getting so incapacitated that one can no longer support the horse.

There are some wonderful exercises for riders in the book, Getting the Most From Riding Lessons, Storey Books, 1998.

The classic approach to sore muscles is:
1. Take an non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agent like ibuprofen 100-200 mgs 1 hr before exercise and same dose after. (I favor 550 of Naproxen sodium sold as Naprosyn (Rx) or Alleve, over-the-counter in the US. This would be taken as a single dose 1 hour before exercise. Do not repeat the dose for 8-12 hours.) Do not take these medications if you're allergic to aspirin or have a bleeding disorder.
2. Do some warm up exercises before riding, like some gentle jogging or jumping jacks or skipping rope.
3. After riding, do some cool down exercise--same as #2.
4. Soak in a hot bath or whirlpool (Jacuzzi/hot tub). Some people like to ice sore muscles. If you do that, make sure not to apply the ice pack for more than 10 minutes (then do 10 minutes off, repeat for up to an hour.) I have always preferred the hot soaks or heating pad or those flannel-covered seed-filled wraps that you can put in the microwave oven.
5. As muscle inflammation tends to be maximal 24-36 hours after strain, continue the heat and NSAIDS for that amount of time.

As I am moved to return the favo(u)r of having gotten so much from New Rider(s--and old) on this list for the month I've been lurking, anyone on the list is welcome to e- me w/ sports medicine questions.

Beverley Kane, MD
California, USA
Dip Sports Medicine, London University
(Thanks, Rayne Institute)
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First post to NR

[Gemma R]

wow some serious responses here from what was meant to be a rather light hearted thread!!! Ho hum!!!

I don't feel the need to justify myself about what I wrote and if you look at the thread again you will see I was talking about the DAY AFTER ache!!!! I know EXACTLY how far I can push myself adn how far I can push my horse!@@@ I know our limits!!!!

no matter HOW long you have been riding you can still ache after it if you have asked yourself and your horse for more than usual!!!!! I bet John Whitikar gets a few aches and pains after tackling the Derby!!!!!!!!!! Besides if we ALL worked to our 'limits' none of us would progress - would we???

[lamprellsarah]

i did't feel sore after my lesson just weird, like i was still on the horse, and a numbness so that was weird because u had never had a lesson ride about 5 times a week.
but this lady made me do 30 mintues no stirrups 15 mintues of just trotting and 15 mintues of jumping!!

[Tumbleweed]

The object of any exercise is to get or keep your body in condition for the its purpose, by pushing yourself until your muscles become sore, even the next day, is doing too much. This happens when you get tired and carry on, but if you work hard up to getting tired, then you will develop the right muscles and not damage them. The exceptions are people riding for the first time or when they haven't riden for a long time, the position on the horse will put your legs into a postion that you body is not used to.

I had a total hip replacement last October and I am back riding. I used to be a strong rider, but not now. I am having to build them up gradually, and if I go over into the sore stage, then my muscles are damaged and I have put myself back a couple of weeks instead of building the muscles up.

Apart from the damage to your muscles, you cannot keep your postion in the saddle or give the correct aids because your muscles are tired and getting overworked.

Yes, it is nice to ride every day, and not many people can, but that is no excuse to damage your muscles. I ride for half an hour a week now, if I go to more my muscles won't take it, but it I had the money I would ride for half an hour a day.

[Razzer]

You think that's bad - last week, after 30 mins of trotting and cantering without stirrups - when asked if I was tired, I stupidly replied "no I could do that again". So this week I'm gonna have to trot faster with no stirrups. My instructors attitude was, if you're not a little sore (and also clearly not an expert rider), then you are just not trying hard enough.

Me and my big mouth - I hope she's forgotten about it :( :D ;).

[Tumbleweed]

"My instructors attitude was, if you're not a little sore (and also clearly not an expert rider), then you are just not trying hard enough."

This attitude is very old fashioned, been there, done that and wore the tee shirt, and also spent weeks recovering from the damage caused.

When you are tired and sore you cannot ride properly, nor can you use the aids or help your horse. Muscles get pulled which take a long time to heal, and the majority of falling off is when you are tired.

Also, what does riding without stirrups for the full lesson achieve? You don't need to do this to develop a deep independent seat. Again, in my teens I done this, but I was allowed time with my stirrups to warm up and cool down which reduced the possibility of damaging my muscles.

There are other ways of developing your riding without this, and a good instructor will develop your riding in a more natural way.

[Tumbleweed]

"Believe me none of my latest message are coming across wrong - just the first one on this thread!!! I'm certainly not having a bad hair day - I don't get them - sorry, narked - now I get that when people start telling me I was feeling something i wasn't and take thing wrong!!!!"

This is exactly what I mean, I never mentioned it was you getting it wrong, I was talking about everyone and we all misunderstand at times. We all post messages and sometimes it comes over in a way that is different to what was intended. You are taking this personally and reading into the messages what isn't there.

As far as I read the messages, no one was having a go at you but they were stating their opinion. When you post your opinions on message boards you should expect others to post theirs and not take offence if it doesn't agree with you.

As I said in my last message, lets agree to disagree and finish on a good note and not a bad.

[FreedomStar]

I know how y'all feel after a nice long lesson with no stirrups. My lesson is an hour group lesson, and my instructor made us do no stirrups for 45 minutes!!! sitting trot, lengthening, ouch, shortening, cantering, ouch, trotting, ouch, more trotting,