Support Your Back when Riding Horses

in your back and shoulders as you ride in order to create stability to protect your spine. Tightness places strain across joints due to pulling on the ligament ends of muscles. When it comes to your back muscles affected include large movers as well as all kinds of smaller muscles engaged in supporting the spine itself and your ribs.
Tightness also reduces mobility. So if you get tension in your shoulders when you are tired and your shoulders tense in your ride the reduced ability for your upper back to properly absorb motion will result in excessive strain to another part. Often riders experience low back pain due to excessive motion in the lower spine motion that part of your back was not designed to handle all on its own. 
I often see cases where a rider is receiving treatment for strain in an area such as the lower back when the cause of the problem is actually related to shoulder tension or hip mobility.  Going for treatments to relieve pain and strain in the lower back in cases like this could actually make the problem slightly worse increased softness in the area affected could further reduce resistance to the excessive motion and allow more negative load on your skeletal structure such as the disks in your spine.
Helping your back work like it should to maintain balanced posture will reduce your risk of injury through strain and perhaps even through sudden accident since improved posture also improves your balance and seat.
Since it is a busy time of year Id like to share a few simple exercises that you can do anywhere anytime to help maintain elasticity and supportive strength in your back.
Strength Opposite Arm Leg Raise
Start on all fours with your stomach pulled up to support your lower back. Your back should be level with the floor. Reach one arm straight forward and up while you lift the opposite leg. Tighten your abdominal and waist area as you do so in order to prevent your lower back from sagging in. You should be able to do 30 repetitions for each side without strain. You can work your way up to the number gradually. If you find it is easy hold weights and do several sets of fewer repetitions with a break in between.
If you have knee issues or other reasons why supporting your body weight on all fours would be difficult