Meeting with a specialized healthcare professional
Vincent Rogine is a Mézières method physiotherapist
A branch of the profession that specializes in muscular chains. It focuses on postural work to correct static disorders, learn how to properly control the body, and work on muscular chains. We got his contact thanks to our ambassador Felicie Bertrand and discovered that he regularly treats riders.
Based at the Hauts Vents stables, in the heart of Normandy, it was natural for athletes from the region to turn to him. Through his experience and by working with all kinds of riders, Vincent Rogine has his own view on horse riding and its impact on the body.
So our riding: good or bad for health and for the back?
Horse Pilot: Which muscles and joints are the most stressed in horse riding?
Vincent Rogine: What is stressed the most is the pelvis, the ankle and knee joints, and the back. From a muscular point of view, the abductors are problematic, as well as retractions (shortening or decrease in volume of a tissue) of the posterior chains, which are limiting.
That means that if you have tension in the calves and therefore in the posterior chain, it can be an obstacle to having a correct position on horseback.
HP: And are there pathologies that appear more frequently among riders? Does it depend on the disciplines?
Personally, I am more familiar with dressage and show jumping. The main problem we encounter is tendinitis and tears of the abductors or the inner thigh muscles, either for traumatic reasons or due to chronic tension that becomes painful.
In general, patients who have back pain are not made worse by riding. When they ride correctly, they are rather improved by horse riding.
One could say that the two best sports for the back are walking and horse riding. What makes back pain worse are falls and all the related activities; if you clean stalls, carry poles, spend time bent forward to pick out hooves, fit studs, and so on.
HP: You anticipated another question that concerned the related tasks of horse riding. Working in a stable means holding a pitchfork, a broom, with one hand up and one down, often always the same way!
V.R.: Yes, because when you are right-handed you are unable to hold the pitchfork any other way than with the right hand on top and the left hand below. You cannot do the opposite. So you twist your back.
The benefit of horse riding is that it is a symmetrical sport, where you study your position. In terms of body awareness and working on symmetry, it is interesting because you try to be symmetrical in what you do, both for the horse and for yourself.
To my patients, I never advise against riding. On the other hand, I tell them, you ride with a helmet, a protective vest, or even better, an airbag; protect yourself as much as possible because it is when you fall that you will get hurt.
To prevent health issues linked to practicing our sport, warm-ups exist, too often neglected in horse riding
HP: What advice would you give, simple and quick movements to adopt to get ready before effort and to maintain physical condition?
V.R.: You need to do fundamental work on body positioning and stretching; that cannot be done in five minutes. If there is one thing to do before riding, it is to warm up the hips and the abductors. This is really the muscle group that is used cold; suddenly using the thighs can cause tears, so if there is one thing to do, it is to warm up the hips and the abductors. There are not many options!
HP: Could you describe these movements?
V.R.: Of course. When the rider is standing, they place the right heel, leg straight, on a stool. They bend the left leg and put tension on the abductors by lowering the center of gravity slightly. The right leg stays straight while lifting the toes into a flex position to stretch the posterior chain, the back of the leg.
So there is no need for complicated equipment; a stool, a hay bale. You can also work by spreading your feet slightly on the ground and gradually lowering the hips while opening the legs.
You should not get on a horse feeling stiff and blocked; you need to warm up. Ideally, go see someone who can advise you and give you a daily program so that you can be warmed up forty five minutes to one hour beforehand. Preparation is what matters.
Another key element to understand well is the quality of muscular relaxation
We look for relaxation in the horse; the rider must have the same. We are stiff because we are tense in our mind. I treated a rider named Christian E. who is very stiff. But when he rides, you cannot tell because he rides relaxed; it does not hinder his riding. Relaxation is fifty percent physical and fifty percent mental. It really makes the difference.
HP: How do you find the right balance between relaxation and tone?
V.R.: The right balance is learning proper body alignment. It does not require strong muscular action. It is about being positioned above your feet, aligning your masses properly; ankle, knee, pelvis, shoulders, and so on, as we are taught. The correct distribution of the body and its center of gravity is not about muscular effort, quite the opposite.
You need to be able to do this while being as relaxed as possible, with just the right amount of muscular tension. We do not ride horses to do bodybuilding!
Being able to keep ease and fluidity in your body, without locking anything
From the moment you lock your body, the horse locks up, and then it is over. The key is the mental control you have over your posture and your musculature, and being able not to block your breathing. Yoga is good for this; there are many breathing exercises.
Try not to have short, shallow breathing, but rather belly breathing, regular and calm. Do not stop breathing, inhale deeply, relax. As long as breathing is blocked, nothing else can work. Breathing allows you to work on everything else afterward.
HP: I would like to come back to something you mentioned earlier: one of the best sports to complement horse riding is walking. Could you expand on this idea?
V.R.: Yes, quite simply. Walking with walking poles, Nordic walking, is not traumatic; it works the whole musculature and trains breathing, which can be lacking for a rider.
Since courses last seventy seconds in show jumping, it would be good to find a slightly more intense activity where you can train to provide effort for one and a half minutes without being completely exhausted after forty five seconds.
So you need to do either swimming, if practiced correctly, or cycling, being able to withstand intense effort for two minutes. Training with short and intense efforts will be important. When you do not have this kind of training, you are in the dark at the end of your course or even your dressage test, because you are no longer breathing.
There is always a way to find a sport you enjoy, but one that you need to do whenever you can, cycling, swimming, step training.
