The Riding Doctor

After leaving horses behind for many years to pursue her medical career, Dr. Beth Glosten decided it was time to ride again only to discover that, as a middle-aged woman, she struggled with tension, awkwardness, and an aching back. Dr. Glosten’s own frustration with riding prompted her to apply her clinical research skills to figure out what it would take to not only create the harmonious picture of horse and rider moving together, but also feel good while doing it.

The result is The Riding Doctor, a book that sets itself apart with its remarkably clear and understandable explanations of riding anatomy and what our bodies “do” on horseback, as well as its applicability to riders of all ages, abilities, and equestrian disciplines. Dr. Glosten knows how our bones and muscles move and react when we communicate with a horse from the saddle. She is familiar with our compensatory patterns and movement tendencies via both her medical background and her own riding experience.

“I wear the label ‘riding doctor’ when I work with riders and evaluate their balance and functional challenges on horseback,” explains Dr. Glosten. “I do not diagnose medical disorders, but I use my background in medicine, movement, and riding to identify postural and muscle imbalances that can preclude effective riding, and cause or contribute to injury.”

With sections based on Dr. Glosten’s Five Rider Fundamentals—Mental Focus, Proper Posture,Leg Control, Arm Control, and Understanding Movement—readers are introduced to a sensible system of organizing the human body in the saddle. Throughout, “Rider’s Challenge” case studies provide a glimpse of the kinds of problems commonly faced and how to best solve them.

Then, Dr. Glosten—who is also a certified Pilates instructor and founder of the RiderPilates LLC fitness program—provides over 50 step-by-step exercises geared toward further developing the riding skills we need to be balanced, effective, healthy riders, now and for years to come.