An investigation into the exercise habits and perceptions of Australian equestrian riders

Rider performance research explores key factors influencing equestrian athlete performance, including discipline-specific physiological demands and rider perceptions of themselves as athletes. This research complements the extensive history of equine performance research. This study aimed to investigate the unmounted exercise habits of Australian adult equestrians and the perceptions they have about themselves as athletes and fitness in relation to riding performance within the disciplines of dressage, show jumping, and eventing. A 25-question anonymous online survey yielded 454 complete responses, from dressage (n = 332, 70.9%), eventing (n = 80, 17.6%), and show jumping (n = 52, 11.5%) adult riders across all levels of experience and competition (including non-competing individuals). Overall, 78.4% (n = 356) participated in regular exercise; however, of these only 58.1% (n = 207) engaged in rider-specific exercise. A chi-squared analysis revealed significant differences between the proportion of riders who engage in rider-specific exercise (χ²(2, N = 356) = 6.42, P = 0.04) with 62.3% dressage riders and only 47.2% and 47.6% of show jumpers and eventers, respectively. However, due to the conservative nature of the post hoc comparisons, no significant differences could be ascertained. 70.3% of riders agree or strongly agree that they consider themselves as athletes, 96.9% agree or strongly agree that their fitness impacts their riding, and 66.5% consider themselves physically fit. These findings demonstrate that while most equestrians do exercise, the exercises are more generic in nature rather than for riding-specific purposes. Furthermore, perceptions of athlete identity and importance of fitness for riding is incongruent with the reported exercises habits.