Losening Your Stiff Lower Back

Loosening Your Stiff Lower Back

Stiffness in the lower back is a common ailment for many riders. I see people riding with a “stiff” or rigid back in my clinics all the time. I hear people talk about being sore after riding. I have news for you -- you aren’t supposed to be especially sore or stiff after riding. Your lower back shouldn’t bother you. Now naturally, if you haven’t ridden for a long time or you suddenly go from riding 30 minutes twice a week to riding four hours straight without dismounting, then yes, you might be a little sore from using your riding muscles longer than you normally do. However, for the most part, riding shouldn’t stiffen your muscles excessively. If anything, it should help to loosen them.

I think riders who end up at the end of their ride with stiff muscles in the lower back do so because they’re trying too hard for a “position” on the horse or are pumping the horse with their legs and back too much. This is more pronounced for dressage riders and jumpers than for many western riders. However, it affects riders in all disciplines. Trying to sit in a perfect equitation position or executing the many half-halts that are employed in dressage often leave riders with stiffness. Trying to over-influence the horse with the back also causes this problem for many jumpers. Many western riders end up with the problem because they don’t sit correctly in the saddle. The truth of the matter is that riding should help to loosen your back -- not stiffen it. If your back is tight at the end of the ride, I can imagine your horse’s back probably is, too. After all, horses usually mirror their riders.

Before we talk about the cure, let’s discuss the cause of the ailment. It seems to me that when you’re a new rider, one of the earliest lessons you’ll receive from your teacher is how to sit on the horse. You will hear instructions like, “Sit up straight,” “Heels down,” “Look where you’re going,” “Tuck your chin,” “Shoulders back,” “don’t move your hands,” “keep your legs against the horse,” “keep contact with your knee” (or the infamous, hold this dollar between your knee and the horse while you ride), “maintain a straight rein line between your hands and the horses mouth,” etc. Oh yes, I almost forgot the last instruction: “Relax”. Right. Relax.

A beginning rider hears all of that and can’t even come CLOSE to relaxing. A more advanced rider who learned to ride like that can’t relax either. They’ve just learned to do it that way, and either suffer from lower back stiffness when riding, or perhaps have given it up.

Many horses have learned to live with the stiffness in riders, too, and they often have stiff lower backs (in the loin area) and frequently rebel when pushed too hard.

Why do you think kids who ride bareback do so well? They hop on their horse and simply ride. They relax and ride. Remember when you did it that way? Remember when you could gallop your horse bareback and not fall off? I hear you saying, “Oh, that was wonderful. But I was a kid then and we didn’t really know what we were doing -- we just rode.” Read that last sentence again…especially “we just rode.” You see, one of the reasons for all of the stiffness, is that we aren’t just riding anymore. We’re trying to assume a position. And we’re trying too hard.

Don’t you think it’s odd that when someone starts a new horse they let the horse go in any “frame”, “position”, “manner”, “gait” or “style” that the horse can manage, just so long as the horse isn’t bucking. As the horse gets stronger and understands the signals better, the trainer asks for a little more frame. Slowly over time the horse is “collected”. But this happens over time as the horse gets stronger and becomes accustomed to carrying the rider’s weight. Why don’t we teach riders the same way? Let them get on and begin riding relaxed, in any position, so long as they aren’t literally falling off. While I think we need to give some instruction as to position of hands and legs, I believe we need to give more coaching in feeling the horse and relaxing our back to move with the horse. Just as the horse will begin to “shape” up as we ride and strengthen it, so will you the rider “shape up” as your riding muscles strengthen.

One of the ways to accomplish this sort of natural balance and feel is with a good bareback pad. When a horse has bad habits, I usually go back to the basics with him. Since moving with the motion is a basic riding premise, then why not go back to basics with the rider, too? A constantly stiff lower back is a sign of not moving with the horse’s motion. This is generally caused by those preconceived notions of riding in a particular position instead of riding relaxed. Now remember, riding relaxed doesn’t mean slumped in the saddle. Many Western style riders get their stiff lower back from doing the opposite of the English group -- instead of sitting up very straight, they slump and lean back on the cantle.

How do you use the bareback pad to improve your seat and loosen your back? Simple…. strap it on, climb aboard, and ride. Ride with your toes hanging down. Ride with your back slightly rounded, leaning forward and your hands resting on the horses withers just in front of the bareback pad. Naturally your reins are also in your hands at the withers with just enough length to give you control should your horse decide to pick up speed. This doesn’t mean ride with lots of contact, it just means don’t ride your “off the track thoroughbred” with six feet of loose rein. [Folks, if your horse isn’t easily controllable, please don’t try this alone. Get someone to help you and have them lead the horse for you while you simply feel and let your body move with the horse.]

Now that you’re in this position, what do you do? Nothing. That’s right -- do nothing, just ride and relax. Let your horse wander wherever he wants. If he goes over to the gate to hang out, start bumping him with your legs until he goes somewhere. Don’t sit up and start jerking on him, kicking wildly or getting upset. Relax. Ride.

Concentrate on the movement of your horse and feeling him move your hips. Your hips should feel like they’re moving in time with your horse. They don’t move back and forth in a pumping motion, or side to side in a rocking motion. They move alternately up and down and slightly forward at the same time. Notice I said alternately. Right hip, left hip, right hip, left hip. Does your horse bring both hind legs forward at the same time? Of course not. Therefore, the movement of his body can’t actually make you bring both sides of your hips forward at the same time. That’s something we do to ourselves.

I will grant you that there is not a lot of movement to your hips. However, if you really think about it, when you walk your hips don’t move a lot either (unless you’re a runway model). However, your hips DO need to move and need to move alternately – in time with your horse’s stride. Relax and ride and before long you’ll see that I’m right. You can’t force this movement. If you force it, you’ll only get out of time with your horse and both of you will become stiff in the lower back again.

Give it a try. Let your horse walk with you like this for ten to fifteen minutes and see how much his stride changes, how much he relaxes and lengthens it, how his head goes down. You’ll feel yourself do the same thing. Doing this at the beginning of a ride for ten minutes and again at the end of a ride for ten minutes will do wonders for both of you. Remember to relax and feel the movement.