Fitness for Kids

With the sedentary lifestyle we have created, children who are only interested in activity when they are actually in the saddle will miss out on important windows of opportunity in their growth phase to lay a foundation for later in life.

You do not need to sign your child up for three nights a week of other sports in addition to riding. However, you can help her general health and wellbeing by using riding as an avenue for improving transferrable physical skills. Building as wide a physical vocabulary as possible creates a broad range of “motion possibilities” in the body. Just think of how difficult it is for a middle-aged adult to catch on to a new sport activity. Part of that difficulty is related to things like muscle tone and skill, and part of it is related to diminished neuro-muscular connections.

Since riding a horse moves the body on several planes, better riders have a wide movement vocabulary. They can operate in a wide range of unbalancing situations and have an accurate reaction because they have a good sense of where their body parts are both within themselves and in relation to external objects such as obstacles, trees, or the horse.

Variety is the key. Transferrable skills that directly help your child have better balance and control in the saddle include:

• Flexibility
• Balance
• Ability to do multiple things at once
• Strength for carrying her own bodyweight
• Core engagement and strength
• Cardiovascular ability

You can help your child fit up for riding by putting together a well-rounded weekly plan that incorporates activities that touch on each of these areas. While the main idea is to get your child to learn motions different from riding, you can also use some exercises to help work on riding-specific problems and issues when she can’t actually be on a horse. I frequently use a fitness ball as a “horse” when working on learning how to hold and use the body more effectively while in riding position, without actually having to be on a real horse.

Children can build strength and stamina safely with bodyweight exercises or exercises using resistance tubing. Resistance tubing or bands are frequently used in cross-training programs in dance and skating for children. Bodyweight exercises are a basis for gymnastics, skating, and hockey.

Exercises for kids should be kept fun and fairly light. Keeping active on a daily basis and creating healthy habits are more important for younger children than the actual workout. The earlier in life children can be encouraged to try new things, the better. When training children, it’s important to encourage the process of exploration and discovery, and to celebrate achievement. Many of the kids I have worked with are very serious little athletes who sometimes need to be reminded to have fun and give something a try without worrying about being perfect.

Unlike training for adults, children should not work to a point where they are stiff and sore the next day. Children should not do a lot of repetitions of exercises at one time. A good idea might be to set up a little circuit in your basement or other open area. Use pictures of your child doing an exercise as visual cues for what exercise happens at each point in the circuit. It’s even better if you can also do the exercises with her. If you are not a rider, you can have fun letting her correct your riding position if you are using a riding-specific exercise.