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| Why We Should Stretch |
You are here: Newsletters > July 2001 > Why We Should Stretch
by Lucy Cook
We have many muscles we use and overuse as riders, athletes and everyday people. Anyone returning to riding can tell you that those muscles ache all over! While there are generalizations that can be made, each person may have a different experience of tightness given their individual body type, postural habits, or even given the specific demands of a particular horse ridden.
The difference here is that muscle tightness causes soreness and pain. If we equate tightness this way - why not stretch?
Still not convinced? Pain causes people to move differently - what we call guarding. Guarding allows more tightness, which negatively affects posture and loads individual muscles with the work that is meant for the whole body.
Stretching is of key importance because it allows us to achieve the positions required of us - positions we need for good posture, effective riding, balancing and many other functional tasks. It helps to prevent stress and injury to the body.
Why not prepare the muscles for the task at hand by stretching? You will be glad when your muscles begin returning to their natural resting length and the achiness dissipates.
For those interested, there will be a featured muscle posted on the barn bulletin board at regular intervals.
Read all about it including how to stretch it!
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