Back to riding after ten years and I'm so old and unfit

KarinUS

KarinUS

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May 20, 2001
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I've been on ten year break and just had my first lesson Wednesday.
I'm taking western lessons this time around but still posting trot etc.
I rode for over an hour and I barely made it to the end. It's almost Saturday and my thighs are still so sore.
I'll be taking lessons once a week.
How do I rebuilt those riding muscles?
I'm 52 now, 20 pounds heavier and so out of shape.
What would build posting trot muscles at home?
 
You'll be ok, when I got Buddy i hadn't ridden for 8 years and was like a sack of spuds, but it came back. Lessons are harder work than hacking out, so you might do some of that initially if they will allow that, just to get you going again. I was able to get up to 2-3 hours eventually with nothing other than hacking out.
 
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As @Jessey says Pilates will help overall. Those specific muscles will be helped by squats, but the best bet is just more riding. Could you do two half hour lessons rather than one hour? And warm up before and stretch out and walk off after.
 
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Don't forget the stretching or your tight muscles will just get shorter and sorter. Forward bends for your lower back, seated wide-leg forward and sideways stretches for those pesky adductors!
 
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I took a 21 year break from riding and came back to it aged 42. I had a 45 minute lesson which was mostly trotting and couldn't really move for a week 🤣 But I couldn't stop smiling either. Stick with it.... your muscles with loosen and remember.

I'm now 61 and retired from horse-ownership. I never thought I'd fall out of love with it all but you can just never predict these things 🤷
 
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I was told to go down on my knees and hands and then pull my tummy up. But to be honest I dont think one needs athletic fitness to ride a horse, indeed it could be an obstacle. A horse needs to move forward freely. A rigid human in the saddle will prevent the hind legs moving freely. The tension in the rider acts like a brake.

One does need to have strong ankles to ride and uness you have a high level RDA mounting block you need a strong left leg to lift you into the saddle,

I started riding aged 61 and in those days one just sat on the horse and was lunged.

Like you my main problem has been weight gain. And it is 5 weeks since I last rode
 
Skib said:
I was told to go down on my knees and hands and then pull my tummy up. But to be honest I dont think one needs athletic fitness to ride a horse, indeed it could be an obstacle. A horse needs to move forward freely. A rigid human in the saddle will prevent the hind legs moving freely. The tension in the rider acts like a brake.

One does need to have strong ankles to ride and uness you have a high level RDA mounting block you need a strong left leg to lift you into the saddle,

I started riding aged 61 and in those days one just sat on the horse and was lunged.

Like you my main problem has been weight gain. And it is 5 weeks since I last rode
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I think for me it is muscle fitness. Sure if you're the perfect rider your body likely will just be lifted from the saddle naturally to rise to the trot.
But I'm not. I need to use core to stabilize and thighs to lift me for rising trot.

But I have heard that in best case scenario rising trot is effortless.
However I'm not the best case scenario when it comes to riding. Lol
 
Rising trot is effortless only if the horse has a trot bumpy enough to lift the rider out of the saddle. My current and beloved share, Ella, is known to be a bumpy ride. One cant sit her canter unless one slows it right down.
As I have posted before, the movement of the trot is a side to side one.
As an adult learner I was taught many many differrent ways to ride rising trot but the one I found easiest and still think of is to imagine my hips rolling a ball forward between my two hands.
Your hips lift and move forward with the horse.

I love Western jog trot and my old RI taught classical sitting trot.But I remember in that Western lesson, having to ask the horse for and teach it a smooth jog trot and it was the same with Maisie my old favourite, I taught her to do it.
I havent taught it to Ella. She is a very safe horse ridden by many different novice riders and she knows what she is doing.
 
That's wonderful. Sounds like a great horse!
My lesson horse for Western does not have a smooth enough trot for me to sit to so I do choose to rise and I do have to use my own muscles to control my body movement so I am gentle on his back coming down etc.
Just finished listening to the Mark Rashid books and one of the things he said I found so true is this: "we have such high expectations of our horses' fitness but we don't have the same expectations of ourselves. We should."
So to be the best rider I can be not just for my lesson horse but also in the future for Minnie and Smokey at home I need to regain my own fitness so I can control my body and movement properly.
That's my goal. 😊
 
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domane said:
I took a 21 year break from riding and came back to it aged 42. I had a 45 minute lesson which was mostly trotting and couldn't really move for a week 🤣 But I couldn't stop smiling either. Stick with it.... your muscles with loosen and remember.

I'm now 61 and retired from horse-ownership. I never thought I'd fall out of love with it all but you can just never predict these things 🤷
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Oh I remember you!
So good to see you.
With Minnie now being 19 I actually specifically searched for a second horse (17) around the same age with the idea that we would all put another ten years into it and then retire and quit together.
I was worried of taking on a longer commitment
 
You wouldnt expect a UK horse to stay well and active that long. My old share died at 24 which was considered a great age. Maisie died at 16 of melanoma. Retired cavalry officers aimed to ride at least till their age plus the age of their charger totalled 100. I thought I might stop riding when Ella and I got to that point but the weather was nice so I didnt.
 
Skib said:
You wouldnt expect a UK horse to stay well and active that long. My old share died at 24 which was considered a great age. Maisie died at 16 of melanoma. Retired cavalry officers aimed to ride at least till their age plus the age of their charger totalled 100. I thought I might stop riding when Ella and I got to that point but the weather was nice so I didnt.
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What?! I know, and have known, plenty that are still in regular work at that age. Sure, they aren't going round Badminton, but then they wouldn't have done in their youth either and anyway their riders wouldn't want to do that either. Possibly the oldest knew to still be in work was 41, he still hacked on average three times a week and could cause more trouble than many young horses if life wasn't to his liking 😂 . Yes he was the exception, but mid 20s in regular work aren't anything unusual.
 
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I think I'm just basing the age estimate on DJ who had to be euthanized at 29.
It's my experience with my horse and of course no guarantee.
My point was just I wanted one similar in age to Minnie so that they could age together along with myself.
I didn't want to start over with a younger horse because who knows what the future brings. Will I still want to trim feet and stack hay when I'm 70?
I don't know.
And plenty of horses are in bad shape here too at a lot younger age.
There's a real cute grey rescue horse at the place we take lessons at and he's only 12. Completely worked into the ground. Sound for walk trot only.
Minnie and DJ had a very relaxed life with me for two decades. Not sure how much Smokey's hard use in earlier years will affect his longevity.
 
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I've seen plenty of people on the Facebook Between The Ears group (hacking porn really) saying goodbye to their hacking horses in their late 20s.

I certainly hope to have another 10 years of Sid, who is 15.

I would have thought horses would live longer when they have been kept solely for pleasure riding, rather than for a "proper job" - Army, Police, competition (any kind), hunting.
 
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I do think there's a big difference between riding and owning as you get older, particularly if you're DIY and even more so if it's your own property. Just riding you have less commitment so if you feel unwell you can cancel, and you don't have the heavy work either.
 
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Jess is just coming back into work at 21 (after lameness issues), she certainly doesn’t look or act old! My old boy phoenix lived into mid/late 30’s, he was a rescue so exact age unknown.
My friend ran a RS, they had several ponies work into their 30’s and live into their mid 40’s. I think late 20’s isn’t an unrealistic expectation, though we all know things can go wrong at any age.
 
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carthorse said:
I do think there's a big difference between riding and owning as you get older, particularly if you're DIY and even more so if it's your own property. Just riding you have less commitment so if you feel unwell you can cancel, and you don't have the heavy work either.
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Oh yes. Honestly though having them as companions living with me is a huge part of my enjoyment of them though.
I don't know that going riding someone else's horse would give me the same.
Knowing them and having a relationship with them is the best part.
 
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