3 Exercises to Help Nervous Riders Relax and Sit Up

As riders, when we get nervous or anxious, our first human instinct is to lean forward, grip with our knees, and clutch the reins (or the saddle horse, or the horse’s mane!).
This is not a secure, let alone effective, position for riding.
What I want to do in this video is to give three exercises to help you feel more relaxed, balanced, and able to give clear directions to your horse.
The order of these exercises is not random as we will be following the Structure Your Ride Formula from my NEW book, Stay in the Saddle.
We will begin with a Warm Up exercise to release any tension or gripping, then do a Rider Skill Building Exercise to teach you a specific movement to counteract leaning forward, and finally, I will show you how to ride a classic training exercise for your horse, and why this particular exercise can be so calming.
To create hundreds of exercise combinations like this one, check out Stay in the Saddle, 67 Exercises for Horse & Rider: www.horseclass.com/book/

[@BricesMice]

At 70 years old, I’m just starting to begin riding for the second time in my life. I rode a little bit when I was younger, but I’m glad for your videos to help get me going again! Thanks!

[@heatherh3457]

You go girl!!!! Best of success and joyful journeys . I am in the same age group and wondering if it makes sense to restart. You inspire me to try.👍❤

[@AlmaVidaHorseRanch]

Great tips, I'll remember these next time I'm teaching a horseback riding lesson with a nervous rider.

[@wendylow5748]

Sweet vid well presented.

[@taylora7397]

this was so helpful! i get a little nervous before shows and i really reallyyy need to be calm for my horse, this calmed me down and gave us both the confidence to have an awesome ride!

[@ursulakitshoff3711]

Thanks so much it really helps me because I fell off not to long ago and I'm just scared to ride again but you gave me a lot of help thanks

[@helenazigi7317]

i loved the video thank you!

[@rmsventureindia2444]

Great tips

[@astriddenelle3897]

That is what I need now, you are the best...Thank you so much!

[@philippcheyne9987]

I found this really helpful, thanks Callie

[@passionatehorsemanship3334]

That was a nice exercise thank you

[@staufferfamily9629]

I can be a bit of a nervous rider,so I definitely will try these next time I ride! Also could you do a video on how to keep your stirrups at sitting trot. I always seem to lose mine when trotting. 🙂

[@kmiklaszewski]

Lots of riders go through this with the sitting trot. Tension in any of the joints inthe legs (hips, knees and ankles and even the toes) can cause an interference. Gripping or pinching with the knees is what most commonly causes the rider to loose the stirrups. When you grip with the knee, the entire leg rises or shortens enough to loosen the foot in the iron. Not having your seat centered in the saddle or sitting more to one side and leaning with an uneven seat can also do it. When I’m riding, I like to picture and think of myself riding with my skeleton. It helps me to picture what my bones and more importantly, what joints are doing. If you have tightness in any of the joints in your legs, you are going to create tightness/stiffness/tension in the other joints of the leg or at the very least you create it in the hip as well and the hip is part of the seat and then there is quite a bit of tension and interference. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction!! This is so true in riding. The sitting trot well requires no tension in the joints of the legs and lower back or the joint in the lower spine so the rider can move her/his seat (that is in contact with the horse’s back) to MATCH AND GO WITH the up/down, forward/slightly back and side to side movements of the horse. I hope this helps a bit. Here is a great visual of the rider in sitting trot lesson to so the matching the movements. Pay attention to the ips, lower back and knees and ankles. Practice pelvic tilts and look for videos on how to engage the correct abdominal muscles and pelvic floor muscles. If a rider does not use the core correctly or not strong enough, the rider will usually have a head that will bob or nod in trot and canter but especially in sitting trot. m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/eHSngZmbec-Jj6s I can try to find you a core video and I do know that CRK TRAINING HAS A GREAT ONE WITH WENDY MURDOCH AND THE BLOOD PRESSURE CUFF. I LOVE TGAT ONE AND USE TGAT NETHOD TO TEACH RIDERS TOO. You can also do a warm up while you are in the saddle and walking your horse yo help center your seat, access your core and get your body parts/skeleton independent by doing exercises that an instructor would do with a rider on the lunge line. These are ridiculously helpful when done correctly. When you are riding in any gait you can also “Breath” your legs. This is when you slightly lift your legs off and away from the saddle from the hip all the way down to the foot to make sure you are not gripping with you knees or legs. It’s just a quick quiet little flop open with the leg away from the saddle and almost like a small frog leg movement.

[@kmiklaszewski]

Here is the CRK TRAINING video with Wendy Murdoch using the blood pressure cuff to access the correct core muscles and using the pelvis and back. It’s so good. m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/h3Otg41neamYrKc

[@staufferfamily9629]

Ok thanks! I will have to try that next time I ride.

[@victoriaabildskov6505]

I get super nervous riding around others and is so close to a mental breakdown so often. I've told my trainer but he dosent really seme to understand why i can ride around others. But when its just me and my trainer or just one other person im calm and ride fantstisc its just riding around others makes me lose focus wich i allready do pretty easely so others just makes it worse.

[@CaesarInVa]

I am stuck in a rut. I've been riding for 20 years and I seem to be either stagnating or going backwards. I used to be a very confident rider and did mild jumps (maybe 2-foot Cavoletties, etc., nothing impressive) but something happened and I don't know what....i've had some minor incidents, but nothing to explain my nervousness and tenseness. I'm actually thinking about chucking the whole thing in and taking up a new sport, like rowing or golf. Any suggestions? Oh here's something, so I tried riding at a different stable and was cantering and jumping on my first lesson. When I went back to my normal stable, I was fine for a few days, maybe a week, but then the nervousness and tension came back...wth?!?!

[@Kelly_Ben]

Did you such with it? It sounds like a change was just what you needed, whether it was the horses, barn environment, instructor... sometimes a change makes all the difference! Best wishes!

[@lcristy91]

I cannot find Korea when I get order a book.

[@soleilequestrian8856]

Did CRK training change its name?

[@SC-tr4ss]

The audio is only on one side

[@mohd9870]

Do you have international shipping?

[@HorseClass]

Yes we do and right now you can get free shipping worldwide!

[@marciamcgrail5889]

imho, Ellie does not look totally comfortable in that (in trot most noticable) her left hip drops more than the right, with an occasional head dip off the leading leg. It has been shown that nearly half of all ridden horses have some degree of lameness or kissing spine.