A personal trainer based in the Cotswolds is offering free fitness workouts geared specifically towards riders.
The sessions, which top eventers such as Kitty King, Laura Collett and Owen Moore have used, are designed to help make riders better prepared for the strains of competition.
Calum Taylor, who runs the classes from his base at Shilton in Oxfordshire, said that he was offering the training for free as he felt that there was a real need to help people who are often strapped for cash and time.
During the day he runs Taylor Made Training, a fitness and rehabilitation centre, and runs these free workouts after hours.
He explains that the hour-long Monday night sessions, which have been running for 10 years, focus on three key areas: “When competing cross-country, riders hearts are working very hard — therefore we do cardio work to replicate this.
“Another issue is regular riding in cross-country length stirrups — this can lead to a shortening of your hamstrings — so we do a lot of work on stretching them.
“Lastly we work on core stability to help keep the rider in the correct position.”
Calum was inspired to run these free sessions when he attended events with his fiancée and “saw a lot of riders huffing and puffing their way around the courses.”
He then bought himself a horse to understand better how riders muscles are affected and now competes at intro level.
Two-star event rider Michael Jackson has been going to Calum for five years.
He said: “Calum is brilliant at what he does as he really understands the riders needs, being one himself.
“I find the core fitness and stretching work to be very beneficial — it is something that every rider should do, but very rarely actually gets around to doing.”
For more information visit www.calumtaylor.com or tel: 07717 125326
