Why The Winter Months Are the Best Time to Build Your Strength for Riding

It’s a very wet & windy old autumnal day & for many of us it feels like the year is really starting to wind down now as we head into winter.

The Eventing season is drawing to a close this weekend, the Summer dressage & showjumping seasons are well & truly done & clinics & camps are starting to quieten down too as the horse calendar starts to get ready for Winter.

Naturally this time of year slows us all down a little but it’s actually one of the best times of the year where you can actually make some of your biggest gains with your own performance away from the horses!

Many riders tend to naturally back off training at this time of year or find motivation dips due to our horse commitments being quieter & riding less but with the evenings being darker, you getting home earlier, having less riding time in the mornings & a bit of a quieter time with less social & family events it’s literally one of the best times to get your own fitness journey & routine going!

This weekend the clocks go back an hour and it’s not a weekend any of us equestrians look forward to, except for the fact that it does mean the mornings will be a little bit lighter in the short term & of course the extra hour in bed!

But then we know it’s going to be a bit of a struggle over the coming weeks to fit everything into our days. With fewer daylight hours through the winter months it can be really tough to find time to ride your horses & keep your riding frequency up as usual but it’s honestly such a great time to focus on some of your own goals.

At this time of the year one of the biggest areas I help my riders work through is keeping a consistent training structure for them as their horse commitments change so they can make some really solid progress on their own strength & fitness ahead of slowing down a bit over the Christmas break. For me, it’s probably one of my busiest times of the year and it is a challenge to juggle and balance everything but training keeps consistent & I always see great progress in this final quarter of the year because you can truly focus in on training & use the time that's normally spent outdoors in the veenings on yourself!

The issue is at this time of the year it can be easier to let your own training slip. The weathers crap, the days are darker & it feels like we’ve got less time. Naturally as you’re doing less with your horses or they have a bit of holiday time it can be harder to keep your own focus with your goals & we can end up getting into a bit of an end of year slump! Many riders will tell me, “I don’t have time in winter” to work on their own fitness but reality is with less riding time & outdoor hours in the winter if anything we actually get more time back now so that I've not got time just becomes even more of an excuse!

You’ll be home earlier after the yard or work, you won’t be able to ride after 5pm in a weeks time so it’s actually one of the easiest times to get going because you get so much time back that is spent indoors at home!

You’re going to be finishing earlier, getting home earlier so why not make good use of that time & get yourself going? 

Rather than losing motivation or focus you want to start thinking about your 2026 goals. I know it’s only October & the New Year may seem far away but over the next 8-12 weeks you could really work on your fitness, strength & balance & set yourself up for next season amazingly & make some big progress! The key is finding some purpose & setting some goals of your own to keep you focused for the coming weeks ahead & give yourself clarity as to what you're doing this for. 

Even if you don’t have any goals set for December or January with your horse yet, think about what you could or want to work on improving in your own riding across the next few weeks for yourself.

This is a great time too, to reflect on how your season & competitions have been, or how your lessons have gone & think about the things in your riding that you now want to work on and improve. Maybe you know you accumulated time faults cross country this season & one reason that happened is because you could have been fitter yourself. So to set yourself up for the 2026 season as best as possible you can start working on your own aerobic fitness now to better your riding stamina for next year.

Maybe it’s been a frustrating year with dressage marks & they haven't quite been where you’d like & you know you could be sitting taller, giving more effective aids & working on that imbalance. So let’s work on setting some goals that get you improving your posture, riding better & get yourself straighter in & out of the saddle!

You might have had a bumpy riding year & have suffered a bit of a confidence knock so maybe you just want to focus on regaining your confidence in your riding. One great way to do that is to focus on getting yourself as strong, straight & as fit as possible so you know you’ll be set up to ride that big stronger next year & feel more confident on your horse because you know your body can handle whatever he throws at you.

Whatever you want to achieve, spending some time to reflect on how 2025 has been is really important to then allow you to be able to get locked in & clear with some goals to make 2026 your best yet!

October, November & December actually give us a great opportunity & chance to work on ourselves. There’s less competing, the horses are doing less, social life is quieter & you have more time back so let’s focus on the 2026 build now!

3 things you could start working on through the coming Winter weeks to improve your own riding performance are;

1; Mobility 

Most riders can acknowledge the fact that they often feel stiff, tight & uncomfortable. You might even be experiencing some back & knee pain or suffered with on & off niggles this year & in order to improve your discomfort & aches you need to start working on your mobility!

Feeling imbalanced & wonky when you ride & feeling one sided in daily life activities often comes down to a lack of mobility in the right places & if your mobility through your hips, shoulders & back isn’t good it’s going to massively inhibit your riding.

When mobility is limited, it creates a ripple effect through your entire position in the saddle. If one area of the body is limited in movement where it should be mobile then the body will try to compensate for that by creating movement in other areas that should be stable! This is a common reason poor hip mobility leads to back pain!

Tight hips are one of the biggest issues for riders. Poor hip mobility restricts your ability to move with your horse’s movement freely, causing you to grip with your thighs to find stability or bounce through your seat instead of being able to absorb his movement through relaxed, supple joints.

When your hips can’t open and rotate freely, your pelvis can’t stay neutral, which directly affects balance and core stability in your seat when riding & it can end up with your lower back trying to create movement or brace to account for a lack of mobility & cause huge problems like back pain. 

Limited shoulder mobility also plays a huge role; when your shoulders are tight and rounded from day-to-day posture, it becomes difficult to maintain an open chest, sit tall and keep an elastic contact through the reins whilst you sit tall with relaxed shoulders. This often leads to tension in the upper body, higher shoulders, a collapsed & rounded position, and inconsistent rein aids. 

Poor thoracic (mid-back) mobility prevents you from rotating fully and that means you won't be able to follow your horse’s movement evenly on both reins which often shows up as stiffness, uneven weight in your stirrups, or one side feeling “blocked.” Altogether, these restrictions reduce your ability to stay balanced, symmetrical, and connected, making both you and your horse work harder than necessary & making your aids very hard for your horse to understand!

Often, it’s a case of things you do without thinking daily that can cause a lack of mobility and poor flexibility in the muscles and joints, such as spending too much time sitting or driving but also poor mobility can be hugely influenced by previous injuries! As human beings, we were not designed to sit on our bottoms all day, whether that is on horse, in a lorry or in front of a computer, but with modern life, this is what happens & we can end up tight & stiff!

How we are built of course naturally influences our range of movement & flexibility but these can all be improved if we’re aware of our mobility restrictions & start working on them! So starting to implement 1-2 mobility sessions from home a week where you focus on shoulder, hip & thoracic mobility is key!

2; Strength

As a rider strength training is imperative. If you’re currently doing a HIIT class now & again or you do some pilates or yoga once a week that’s great but it’s not enough to have you riding at your best! 

The only way you are physically going to get your body stronger for the saddle is by doing resistance training. We know this form years & years of scientific studies & in order to increase our strength in our muscles & joints we MUST do resistance training.

Strength training can be done from home or the gym wherever you feel most comfortable to start with is best! And equally what you prefer & suits your days better go with that as in the long term it will be far easier to stick with & be consistent & consistency is the key when it comes to strength training & seeing continual progress.

Strength training isn not about bulking up & as women we do not have the hormonal make up to grow muscle like men so please don’t avoid strength training for the fear of getting “bulky”, honestly it just doesn’t happen yet it's a common myth that can hold so many female Equestrians back from working on themselves. Strength training & focusing on functional training that benefits your riding can help you to build stability, control & power in the right areas to have you riding so much stronger.

And when you start strength riding, feeling & noticing the differences in your riding you'll really feel your hard work paying off, I can promise you that.

When you have the strength to be able to sit deeply, stay well balanced & fully control your horse it’s a game changer. Your horse starts to move with you not against you, your position becomes better. You can finally sit tall & maintain it without slumping through the shoulders or relying on your hands for balance half way through a test or lesson.

Your aids become clearer because you have the adequate strength through your seat & each leg & arm so you can finally give clear, concise aids that your horse truly understands & can respond to because you're able to use each limb so much more effectively. When spooky moments happen or landing after a jump or drop you can finally hold your balance & keep your position because you're strong enough through your lower body to absorb his impact & hold yourself tall through your core as you land together rather than collapsing in a heap!

Strength training helps to reduce fatigue when riding too as the stronger your muscles become the longer they’ll be able to work & ride for without getting fatigued so things like 2 point position suddenly become way easier & you'll notice it suddenly feels like your muscles can just keep going rather than them giving out on you!

If you’ve got niggling or annoying old injuries that come & go strength training will hugely help you to rebuild that weakness or imbalance & that will have a huge impact on not only how you’re able to ride but how your body feels day to day. If you have any previous injuries from falls or horse-related incidents you need to be strength training otherwise you'll find yourself stuck with imbalances & struggling with weaknesses for years!

That annoying knee pain? Once your glutes are stronger, you work on strengthening the hamstrings & quads you’ll suddenly notice your body has so much more strength & control & all of a sudden because the muscles have become stronger & can do their job to support the joints you’re no longer in pain. The same thing with back pain or soreness, weak glutes & a lack of core strength do not help back pain so the more you can work on it & the stronger you get, the better!!

In short the stronger you are off horse & as long as the strength training you do is riding specific the more effectively, effortlessly & more confident your riding will be. Your horse will feel it, his performance will improve & so will your marks & competition results as well as your partnership!

Start with 2-3 Strength training sessions a week, if going to the gym feels daunting then begin with sessions at home or in the yard. There's loads you can do from home & exactly where I & many of my clients have started our own journeys.

3; Accountability

Accountability is defined as; “The obligation or willingness to accept responsibility for one's actions and to be answerable for the consequences".

But as humans sometimes being accountable to yourself can be tough! That's one reason I personally love having a coach & working with one because you have that extra level of accountability. Accountability for us as individuals is essential & it’s so easy to lose motivation when the weather turns & we go into the winter months. And that’s actually why winter can be such a powerful time to build & get yourself accountable because it’s often the season when it’s hardest to stay consistent. 

Dark mornings, short days, torrential rain and less daylight can all chip away at our motivation. Having a coach or a community to check in with can make a huge difference to keeping yourself on track & showing up as you promised yourself you would!

A good coach doesn’t just write your training plan, they help you stay on track when life gets busy, or energy drops & remind you of the bigger picture on those harder days, help you to find a way of keeping consistency that works for you and celebrate the wins you might otherwise overlook.

For me I love having a coach as answering to someone else especially at the end of the week when you said on Monday you were going to train 3 times is a great way to make us follow thorough but with that said, there are also loads of ways to hold yourself accountable. 

Setting clear, realistic goals for yourself through the winter across each month & day is something I'd highly suggest you do. When you know what you're working towards it's far easier to follow through. Tracking your sessions, adding up your sleep hours, ticking runs off a list are great ways to give yourself accountability & start creating motivation and this will help you to be able to create a routine you can actually stick to!

Even something as simple as ticking off your workouts on a calendar each day or sharing your goals with a friend can build massive momentum! Journalling each evening & maybe highlighting one thing you did to improve your riding that day can be hugely motivating or recording any differences you physically feel when you ride or train are all great ways to keep yourself accountable, give you that awareness things are improving & keep you moving forwards because the progress is motivating!

Ultimately, accountability is what turns good intentions into progress. So whether it’s through a coach keeping you focused or you taking accountability of your own journey & setting up systems to keep yourself consistent, maintaining ownership through the winter is what ensures you come into spring stronger, fitter, and ready to perform your best, both in and out of the saddle.

So either start working on hold yourself accountable & taking ownership or your journey or if you've tried that maybe it's time to start working with a coach who can help you!

These are exactly 3 of the biggest areas I’ll be focusing on directly with my clients inside their 1-1 programmes across the next 2-3 months to help them keep consistent, remain focused as we head into winter & most importantly keep their bodies moving freely, feeling good, riding at their best & seeing amazing progress to go into 2026 with! 

So if you do anything this winter pick one of these 3 things & start focusing on that to improve your riding!

If you want some ideas on mobility flows or specific strength routines & exercises to do that will directly improve your riding then you can sign up to the FREE 30 days mini rider coaching series here to start your own journey!

Focus on these 3 things & let’s have a great winter!

Katie