Horse riding, pains afterwards help?

Okay, to cut a long story short, the day after i ride I get really bad pains. If im doing something easy like trotting then im fine, but once I start jumping or vaulting (gymnastics on the horse for you guys who don't know what that is) then after wards my whole body aches and it hurts whenever I move. My joints feel sore and my legs have a dull ache over them, plus they feel heavy. Normally I would just ignore the pain and get over it. But it lasts for about 3 days and my riding lessons are closer together now...so the pain has started to affect the quality of my riding :/ Ive tried hot baths and stuff to make it go away faster. but ideally I don't want to get the pains in the first place. Any tips? Thanks|||Try asking this in the horse section (in the pet's category), you will get better answers and better help! :)|||Well my best guess is that your legs hurting is a normal thing after doing vaulting. Got a couple of questions for ya tho: How long have you been vaulting? How long of you been doing horse riding in general?. If you just started vaulting i would say that this is perfectly normal! Staying on your horse while jumping over things has to have a tol on your legs since it takes some strength to stay in place and on top of the horse. I would also say that you should talk to your instructer to see what they say! Im sure they would know alot about this!|||Unfortunately, it's normal. Horseback riding is exercise. The fact that you feel pain for a couple days after riding means that you're doing it right... you're using muscles that you don't often use or using them in a different way. The reason that they ache for the following couple of days is because your muscles are getting stronger.





Some people say that if you stretch before riding, your muscles hurt less afterwards, but I don't think it makes that big of a difference. You could try it though.





Honestly, the more often that you ride, the less you will ache afterward, so work though it. I don't have the funds to ride more than once a week, so I know what you're feeling. But I used to have access to a horse that I was allowed to ride every day. When I'd ride two days in a row, my legs would ache a little at the start of my ride on the second day, but I'd feel much better afterwards.





The more you do it, the better you'll feel... I promise!