The TSE Membership is designed for horsewomen who wish to ride longer, stronger, and in greater comfort while properly supporting their equine partners. Our members are committed to building their personal fitness alongside their horses’ fitness, and we support each other in building the physical and mental toughness that commitment requires. We approach fitness with longevity in mind, always focused on the strength we’ll need to care for our horses in our later decades of life.

Yes, all active TSE members get access to both the Essential Equestrian Fitness program and all three annual TSE Triple Crown challenges.

Members also enjoy additional rider fitness and nutrition resources as they are released.

Inside the membership, you’ll take a simple questionnaire to determine your workout style and starting level. If you ever have questions, you’re invited to email me directly for guidance. And since you have access to the Leg Up Library for additional personalization, you can’t go wrong!

TSE members join at all different fitness and ability levels. Our current membership includes horsewomen in their mid-seventies, former Ironman triathletes, riders recovering from major injury or illness, riders combating menopause-related decline, parents getting fit while balancing families and horses, and more.

If you are currently able to ride short distances and perform the basic tasks associated with horse care, you are fit enough to start the Essential program. If you have a solid fitness base already and are looking to level up and target rider-specific needs, the more advanced levels are perfect for you.

It’s okay if you’re working through some physical challenges, including past injuries, bodyweight struggles, or plain old aging. As long as your doctor has cleared you to get started, you can do this!

The TSE Membership is different from other fitness programs. It doesn’t just assign workouts and leave you to implement them on your own. You’ll be surrounded with motivation, accountability, and support. 

Inside the membership, you’ll find an active community, an engaged trainer, and educational resources to keep you encouraged and informed about why the exercises are relevant to you, as an equestrian.

The TSE Triple Crown Challenges are our members’ favorite way to stay motivated. Just when you start to slack off, there’s a new challenge about to start!

As a TSE Member, you will have access to the Essential Equestrian Fitness Program and all other membership benefits, including active challenges, for as long as you remain a member.

Essential Equestrian Fitness offers flexible workout programming. You can choose to work out from two to seven times per week, and the program will help prioritize which workouts to do accordingly.

The workouts in the beginner and intermediate levels are about 30 minutes long, while the advanced workouts range from 40-60 minutes.

The process of conditioning our horses does, indeed, make us more fit for the sport. However…

Horses don’t require as much exercise as humans do to maintain optimal fitness. Most of us – yes, even 100-mile competitors – simply don’t ride long, hard, and often enough to maximize our fitness through horse time alone.

Additionally, the very nature of riding creates muscle imbalances that must be counteracted with different fitness activities. If you work at a desk to pay your feed bill, those imbalances are only getting worse!

Most of the time, riding is not intense enough to improve cardiovascular fitness and strength beyond our current levels. This goes for daily barn chores, too.

None of us are getting younger. Unless we take action to counteract the loss of muscle and bone that comes with age, we’re accepting increased injury risk and decreased longevity in equestrian sport.

Consider: Are you fitter now than you were six months of riding and farm chores ago? If not, doing more of the same won’t lead to change. You have to shake things up.

The Essential Equestrian Fitness Program and TSE Triple Crown Challenges are designed to use minimal, inexpensive equipment that you can use at home. You might have some of it already!

The full equipment list for the early phases of Essential includes: resistance bands (loop style with removable handles and door anchor); stability ball (optional); yoga mat; and foam roller.

For the more advanced phases, you’ll add some dumbbells.

You’ll also need a good pair of shoes and a few household items.

Your membership quick-start guide incudes a shopping list with links to each item, so it’s easy to get exactly what you need.

Yes. Simply download the free Teachable app on Android or iOS. When you log in, it’ll take you straight to your Sweaty Equestrian membership content.

No.

The Essential program is designed to elevate your cardiovascular fitness benefits beyond what walking, riding, and barn chores can provide.

Running is the simplest, most efficient method for most people, and it is a useful skill for trail riders in particular. For this reason, the Essential program includes a very gradual walk-run program that will prepare you to run 2.5 miles in 30 minutes by the end of 16 weeks.

However, many riders are unable to run for various reasons, or simply prefer other types of exercise. Essential also includes a detailed cardio option that uses rucking (walking with a weighted pack) as an excellent alternative to running.

The more advanced phases of the Essential program build on your running or rucking base  to include interval, tempo, and endurance workouts. These workouts can be performed either through running or on a stationary bicycle or elliptical machine.

The TSE Membership is so much more than just a fitness program! 

Essential Equestrian Fitness is designed specifically for horsewomen who need to be able to maintain good riding posture for very long periods, plus be able to mount from the ground, hike out of a sticky situation, trot out for the vet, and handle unwieldy objects like portable corral panels and buckets of water.

Most of our members are 40+, and The Sweaty Equestrian addresses challenges like aging and menopause head-on. We emphasize the importance of building extraordinary fitness now so we can continue to manage ordinary horse chores well into our later decades of life.

Most other rider fitness programs focus heavily on flexibility and core strength. Essential certainly includes those elements, but also focuses on:

• Counteracting common muscle imbalances that cause discomfort for both horse and rider
• Building cardiovascular fitness so you use up less energy while riding for hours at a time
• Increasing strength to support good riding posture and reduce delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS)
• Training your neuromuscular system to react appropriately to sudden challenges, like stepping in a hole or sticking a “teleport” spook

Absolutely.

Although Essential Equestrian Fitness was originally designed to target the needs of endurance riders, it is highly applicable to all kinds of equestrians. If you want to feel stronger, more balanced, and more energetic for anything from trail riding to dressage lessons, Essential offers the foundation you need.

We welcome horsewomen from all disciplines. A few of our members don’t ride at all, but are supporting their equestrian friends and family.

Probably!

Very few of us – even “gym rats” – regularly engage in all aspects of fitness (strength training, cardio, plyometrics, mobility, and balance) that riders need. Even fewer do that in a thoughtful, progressive manner designed to promote longevity in equestrian sport. The TSE Membership fills those gaps.

Current moderate exercisers (like those who take daily walks in addition to their barn time) will absolutely benefit from the equestrian-specific nature of the Essential program, which targets the exact needs of distance riders.

More advanced athletes can use the Sustainer phases of Essential to continually improve their strength endurance, muscle mass, and rider symmetry.

No. The Sweaty Equestrian Membership is a personal fitness membership designed to complement your riding. The Essential Equestrian Fitness Program will not teach you to ride, but will lay the foundational balance, mobility, strength, and cardiovascular fitness you need to ride stronger in a day and longer in your life.

The Essential Equestrian Fitness Program is not specifically designed for the purpose of decreasing bodyfat. However, the physical activity it prescribes – especially resistance training and cardio intervals – supports the metabolic environment needed for fat loss if combined with appropriate nutrition.

The membership does not include personalized meal plans, but it does offer recommendations for appropriately fueling your rider fitness, and nutrition is a common topic in the members-only “Crew Area” on Facebook. Additionally, two of the three Triple Crown Challenges include a significant nutrition component.

The TSE Triple Crown is a special award (yes, one you get the actual mail!*) for completing all three major challenges in a year:  the Leaner Stronger Rider Challenge at the New Year; the Sweaty Summer Challenge in June and July; and the Rider Reset Challenge in October.

This is an award that can’t be bought…it must be earned!

TSE Members get tickets to all three Triple Crown challenges for free. Challenge tickets may also be purchased individually by non-members.

*Physical awards can be mailed only to the lower 48 United States.