The Right Kind of Fit

What forms of exercise will best complement your riding? Three dressage pros share their thoughts.

By Jennifer Mellace

Reprinted from the November/December 2023 issue of USDF Connection magazine.

In past “Rider” columns in this magazine, we’ve looked at ways that dressage riders can hone their fitness, such as through Pilates and yoga (“The Key to a Better Seat,” January/February 2022; “Fitness Beyond the Saddle,” September/October 2022). But what about such conventional sports as running and weightlifting? Can they advance your riding goals, or do they work at cross-purposes to the qualities that
dressage athletes strive to develop?

To find out, we asked three top trainers and competitors to share their thoughts and experiences with fitness routines—as well as favorite workout regimens that might not be the typical ones you’d find in a dressage rider’s toolbox. As is usually the case with horse people, opinions vary!

Finding the Right “Fit”

Multiple studies have shown the health benefits of regular aerobic exercise, such as cycling, running, brisk walking, swimming, and hiking. Cardiovascular exercise helps to improve general conditioning and stamina. But finding the right cardio workout for a dressage rider, we discovered, is a very individual preference.

Addressing the young dressage pros at the 2023 USDF/USEF Young Rider Graduate Program in January, Florida-based 2016 Olympic team dressage bronze medalist Allison Brock put it frankly: “I’m very anti-running for you guys.” Jogging and running, she explained, lead to tightness in the hips and pelvis—exactly the opposite of the suppleness and pelvic mobility that are so important in our sport.

“I frequently tell riders that the only thing they should be doing is Pilates, swimming, or yoga, and to get their cardio by doing barn work,” Brock said when we caught up with her this summer. “I see so many runners and Crossfitters who are so ridiculously tight in their hips that they are completely undermining all of the work they put into riding well.”

Brock herself doesn’t follow a specific exercise routine, but the one thing she is religious about is stretching.

“I stretch every day before I leave my house,” she said. “After putting my sacrum out over the years, repeatedly, I will not get on a horse ‘cold.’ I also have [as students] professional riders who use personal trainers and really tailor their exercise program to creating a more symmetrical, flexible body.”

Other top riders, however, maintain that running is a useful part of their fitness regimens. As 2020 Olympic dressage team silver medalist Sabine Schut-Kery told USDF members in an online interview during the 2021 virtual Adequan®/USDF Annual Convention, she realized that she needed to do more cardio because she was getting out of breath during her dressage tests. Her current fitness routine includes hiking with some running mixed in.

“Running has pros and cons, but running is the best cardio for me,” said Schut-Kery, of Vista, California. To counter the inevitable stiffness and tightness, “I take Pilates classes, and I make sure to stretch ten to fifteen minutes each day. Stretching, as we get older, is so important. It takes an effort to do it, but it is so worth it.”

“Riding FEI tests isn’t easy!” Schut-Kery continued. “I realized that I needed the stamina to keep my body correctly in balance on a horse who isn’t always 100 percent in balance. When a horse wants to be heavy in his front end, I need to give with the rein and teach him how to hold the balance. But when I give the rein he tips forward, so I need to be able to redirect the energy with my seat and body, and teach him to find balance and use his hind end more. To do this, I need the core strength and overall body strength and control to stay in the correct position.”

To that end, Schut-Kery favors strength training, especially bodyweight exercises on unstable platforms such as a Bosu, a half-dome exercise ball.

“Using the Bosu ball really helps strengthen my core,” she said. “One exercise has me sitting on the ball with my knees pulled up so my feet are off the ground. Then my coach or a friend will throw a small ball to the right or left of me, and I have to catch it. The trick is they don’t tell me which side they’re going to throw it, so I need to be ready, just like if the horse is going to swap leads at the wrong time.”

At 55, Schut-Kery says that although she may be past her apex of physical strength, she strives to maintain a baseline level of stamina.

“I work out one to two times a week with a personal trainer. We work on plyometrics, functional and strength exercises, and circuit training. On my own, I do a cardio workout. I will switch it up so I don’t get bored—20 minutes on the elliptical, a 20-minute walk with an incline or backward walk and side to side. I try to make it interesting.”

The Benefits of Strength Training

A combination of cardio and strength training helps many athletes to stay conditioned and injury-free.

“Strength training confers a host of health benefits independent of aerobic exercise,” said Daniel J. McDonough, a researcher at the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health and co-author of a large study that looked at the effect of aerobic and muscle-strengthening exercise on mortality. The study, conducted by the British Journal of Sports Medicine, concluded that adding some muscle improves physical fitness and bone mineral density, and reduces the risk of musculoskeletal injury. Definitely not a bad thing for riders!

USDF gold medalist and dressage pro Ali Calkins began strength training with a coach five years ago. A couple of days a week, Calkins leaves her Mount Airy, Maryland, farm before the sun comes up to get her gym routine done before barn chores begin. Weightlifting—using free weights, never machines—is a large part of her regimen.

“I have always worked with a coach who designs my program,” Calkins said. “I have been working out about one to two days per week; two is my ideal. When I was at my peak strength, I was deadlifting around 145 pounds.”

For some, that might seem like a lot of weight. Heck, it is a lot of weight. But Calkins isn’t in it for bragging rights or bodybuilding trophies: “I find it’s not about how much weight you can lift but the control of your form while doing it that is most important. When those key muscles—such as your core, glutes, shoulders, and legs—are strong enough to hold position, the weight builds up easily.”

Calkins understands the importance of strength and body control in dressage. “Form and position are everything for riders in order to be effective, balanced, and to make yourself an easy load to carry. I have found that weight training benefits riders for many reasons. For one, it balances out your asymmetries.” Everyone has a dominant side, and doing single-sided exercises helps riders to identify weaknesses and then to train both sides equally, she said.

In addition, through weight training “you have the opportunity to not only train muscles that are used in riding, but to train the muscles that surround them,” Calkins explained. “In training these muscles, the rider then doesn’t need to focus so much on trying to engage or activate them; their bodies begin to ‘turn them on’ without their even thinking about it.”

When one of her students also does weight training, Calkins can reference those “feels” during their dressage lessons—saying, for instance, “Think about how your hips push through to your hands in a kettlebell swing” or “Engage your lats like you would in a row.” She’s found that, if the rider can make these connections, they can then access the desired muscles.

Riding dressage requires a blend of strength, stamina, body control, and mobility. That’s why Calkins advises riders who weight-train to balance their workouts with stretching and foam-rolling.

“[Weight training] can have a tendency to make you tight as you put on denser, stronger muscle,” she said. “Mixing in other forms of exercise routines, such as Calisthenics to assist with mobility, has been helpful for me personally. Cardio is also helpful for general conditioning and stamina, but I personally don’t mix much of it in because I’m constantly on the go with barn work and riding six to eight horses a day.”

All riders, Calkins believes, can benefit from weight training. “I realize everyone has their own limitations, but it doesn’t matter how heavy you can go; even body-weight exercises are helpful to develop your own self-carriage in the saddle.”

Don’t Go It Alone

Although our sources each have a slightly different fitness routine and opinion on what’s best for riders, they all agree on the importance of working with a knowledgeable fitness coach.

“Just like when training horses, it’s important to work with a trainer until you know the goals of the exercises and the proper movements,” said Schut-Kery. “You need to know that you are targeting the right muscle groups and accomplishing the goals of the exercise. My coach might move me one inch and I can feel such a difference. It’s really important so you do it correctly and so you don’t get hurt.”

Equally important, Calkins said, is that the fitness pro you choose understands our sport and the physical qualities needed to be an effective dressage rider. When you find that person, “Go over your personal strengths, weaknesses, imbalances, prior injuries, and any health issues, and have your trainer come up with a program. Work with that trainer to hold you accountable for your workouts and also to watch your form through all of the exercises. This is imperative to prevent injury.”

And bear in mind that routine is key—for you as well as for your horse. “It’s hard getting back into it when you have a break, but I love it when I’m back,” said Schut-Kery. “The endorphins really kick in, and it helps my riding 200 percent.”

Jennifer Mellace is a published author who writes about topics ranging from health and wellness to lifestyle and business. She lives in Frederick, Maryland, with her husband, two children, and three dogs. Visit her website at MellaceWrites.com.