Breathing and Riding

We need air to breathe, and yet, when we get on a horse, we often forget to breathe. Whether this comes from nerves, concentration, or muscular effort, it can cause a lot of problems. At best, we can become tense, at worst, we can risk getting dizzy.

But how we breathe makes a difference. Shallow breaths fail to give us enough oxygen to properly supply our muscles with energy as well as introduce tension into the chest and shoulders. However, we have a couple options for deeper breathing:

Diaphragmatic breathing is breathing down into the belly, letting the belly go slack to maximize the lower parts of the lungs. This is the kind of breathing singers use to maximize breath.

Intercostal breathing is breathing more into the back and sides, expanding the ribcage while allowing the abs to stay toned but allowing for a large breath. This is more of the kind of deep breathing used by dancers.

Now, it is impossible to use purely diaphragmatic breathing or intercostal breathing, but the key is the different focus.

So which do we use for riding? The answer is both! We can use diaphragmatic breathing to help release tension, or we can use intercostal breathing to keep abdominal tone and even help improve posture (there is actually a version of this used for helping correct scoliosis called Schroth breathing, which can also help improve crookedness!). To start getting the feel for these breathing styles, you can place your hands on your belly for diaphragmatic breathing, aiming to expand your fingers by your breath as if you belly is a balloon, or you can place your hands on your ribcage for intercostal breathing and try to expand your fingers there.

There are a couple methods for integrating this into your riding practice. My personal favorite is to inhale and exhale over the course of so many steps of the horse. So if you’re trotting, you could inhale with a “rise-sit” phase and exhale with a “rise-sit” phase. The beauty of this approach is it also connects you with the rhythm of your horse, and over time, it will become automatic. You don’t have to do it every single moment of your ride; you can add it in as you pass certain letters or landmarks, and then as you remember (remember, learning is like the Fibonacci sequence!).

As far as what kind of breathing you use, experiment! If your horse is wired or you feel a bit tense, try diaphragmatic breathing. If you feel like you need to support your posture more or perhaps slow your movement, try intercostal breathing. However, feel free to experiment and play around with different types of breathing and see what it does for you and your horse.

-Emily Wright

Wanting more hands-on assistance with breathing and other lesson topics? Reach out to us about lessons! Lessons available virtually, in-person, on your horse, or on one of ours.