Improve Balance to Prevent Riding Falls As You Get Older

As the risk of falls increases with age, find out what you can do to improve balance and stay in the saddle.

“When you are young and fall off a horse, you might break something. When you’re my age and you fall off, you splatter.” So said Roy Rogers, the King of the Cowboys.

While every rider fears falling from a horse, any tumble anywhere at any age can be dangerous. While trips and falls are generally not a big worry for younger people, the risk increases dramatically as we get older.

Hazards of Falls

About 30 percent of Americans over the age of 65 fall each year. That equates to nearly three million emergency room visits. To be even more gloomy, complications from those falls are the leading cause of injury-related deaths for that age group.

The normal changes in our bodies as we age set us up to lose balance and coordination. Weakening muscles and bones, poor posture, declining vision and hearing, and aching joints all conspire to throw us off balance. The result is often an unintended and disastrous collision with the ground.

Understanding how this happens and how to adapt to these physical changes improves your daily life and, as a happy additional benefit, improves your riding.

Balance & Posture

Balance dictates your coordination and ability to stand, walk, stoop, and turn without toppling. “Proprioception” is the scientific term for how we sense where we are in space.

Nerve endings throughout your body deliver an ongoing play-by-play to your brain of where your body is and what it’s doing. Your brain analyzes all the input as fast as a wizard kid solving a Rubik’s Cube and signals your muscles to react and keep you anchored.

For example, as you walk around the barn, you step on many different surfaces: the hard center of the barn aisle, the soft bedding in the stall, the rubber mats in the wash rack, the grass in the pasture, and the sand in the arena. You might be aware of the changes in the surfaces, but probably not of the changes your body makes to adjust your footing on each of them.

Balance depends on core, leg, and ankle strength. Strengthening muscles and developing good balance can slow the inevitable decline. If you already have balance troubles, exercises and behavioral changes help correct them.    

It starts with proper posture. The ideal posture is also what you want when sitting in the saddle: level shoulders and hips; ears, shoulders, elbows, hips, and ankles in a straight line; looking ahead, your toes and chest are pointed in the direction of travel. This lets you move easily and flexibly so you can react quickly to what is happening around you.

Maintaining that position depends on a strong core. You’re not looking for six pack abs, but deep inner muscles that create a steady support. Standing in the correct position automatically requires you to use your abdominal muscles so you’re essentially doing mild crunches all day.

Strong leg muscles and ankles add even more support. All this is great for riding, since it makes you more secure in the saddle.

Bone Density & Vision

Another factor is bone density. Bones regenerate somewhat when you’re younger, but once you hit 50, bone loss outpaces formation. This means a higher chance of breaking something.

Strength training and weight-bearing exercises both help to slow bone loss and increase bone density. Posting while you ride counts, as does walking after a horse that doesn’t want to come in from the pasture.

Vision is also vital. As you age, you lose your peripheral vision. It happens so slowly that you may not even realize it. As your range of vision becomes smaller, you unconsciously shift your focus to compensate. You look at the ground a yard or so in front of your feet when you walk, which means you tilt forward, shifting your center of gravity. If you stumble, you can’t immediately compensate and right yourself.

There are plenty of ways to improve balance, coordination, and peripheral vision. The simplest is training yourself to stand and move in the correct position. Instead of looking down, focus forward on where you want to go, like looking ahead when approaching a jump.

Develop ever better balance by walking on uneven terrain (chasing that horse again) or riding a bicycle. The gold standard for developing core strength, posture, strong muscles, and flexibility is Pilates. Gyms, the YMCA, and senior centers offer balance programs, while internet videos are good alternatives for home workouts.

Exercises That Help with Balance

Here are some simple exercises you can do on your own. Try doing them without holding out your arms for balance.

• One-leg balance: stand with your feet hip-width apart. Life one foot off the ground for 30 seconds. Switch sides.
• Tightrope walk: Walk in a straight line, placing one foot directly in front of the other, heel-to-toe, as though walking on a tightrope.
• Flamingo stand: Lift one leg to a 90-degree position. Hold for a count of 10. Repeat on the other leg.
• Ankle strengthener: While sitting, push your foot as though you are pressing on the gas pedal of your car. Do this 10 to 12 times, then rotate your foot in each direction 10 times. Finally, shift your heel 10 times in each direction.

This article about improving balance to prevent riding falls as you get older appeared in the October 2024 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!