003 – Dressage Rider Hip Flexibility

Understand why dressage rider hip flexibility is something to be taken seriously if you are wanting to enjoy your riding in many years to come.

Today on the show I discuss your hips and why they play such a pivotal part in your riding.

Your hip joints are ball and socket joints. This means they move in a variety of ways with the range of motion varying based on your flexibility and lifestyle. As a dressage rider, a good functioning range of motion is crucial to shock absorb your horse’s movement and to direct that force efficiently through your body.

To do that optimally, your hips need to be correctly positioned and properly aligned. The saddle, the horse’s width and your mobility can all affect that alignment. As such, a rider may have good alignment on one horse, but poor alignment on another.

Just like our horses, we’re all built differently, so it’s important to understand how to foster good balance regardless of what horse you’re riding.

When a rider’s hips are balanced and evenly aligned with the pelvis and spine, full range of motion is available. When that range is limited due to seat position, the rider’s ability to absorb the horse’s movement is compromised.

Understanding this and working on your hips routinely will help keep them healthy and mobile. Tune into the episode and learn how you can improve them today and be sure to download the free guide here to get some hip stretches to get you started.

Tune in here or where ever your favourite source is at youtube, itunes, podbean, stitcher or spotify. My aim is to bring you an episode a week, so if you have any thing you would like me to discuss please do let me know.

I look forward to bringing you what I can and helping you improve your health and wellbeing as a rider, so you can enjoy it even more.

 

Want more articles on this topic? Try these out.

4 Stretches To Help With Hip Mobility In Dressage Riders

12 Stretches to Release Lower Back and Hip Pain In Riders

Improve Hip Mobility With These 6 Stretches

How To Keep Your Hips Healthy And Mobile As A Dressage Rider