Dance mums - is horseriding compatible with ballet?

[Ladyofthemanor11]

Dd wants do horseriding twice a week... Could this hinder her ballet? I'm not thinking from an injury point of view more turn out, carraige & turnout?

Horse riding will improve her balance and core strength for sure. I know zero about ballet so don't know if those things will help/hinder her ballet.

But surely if she wants to do it and would enjoy it, that's most important 😊

I worked as a riding instructor, one of my colleagues had been a professional ballet dancer and she always said she had to choose between dancing or riding as the muscle development was different, I imagine in riding it is the back of the leg which needs to lengthen, whereas in ballet you would be on point. No idea if this is correct, but if your daughter is serious about dancing and wants to go professional it may be a consideration.

Yes her plan is to study dance in uni, she's very good but always had to work hard on her turn out, placement and flexibility. I'm just wondering out loud if all her hard work would be undone with the riding? Took alot of blood, sweat & 💰💰 to get her this far..

I was told the two use very different muscle groups and that you should really only do one of them if you want to do either to a higher level.

Just read your last message-I would say avoid horse riding at all costs!

Ballet is toes out and riding is toes in. I recall a riding instructor telling me that you couldn't do both 'well' and you could always tell a rider that also did ballet.
I imagine you definitely could do both things, but I'm sure it would make things harder.

If she’s old enough to have dance at uni as an achievable ambition, she should do her own research into the effects of taking up horse riding.

If she’s a beginner at riding I shouldn’t think there’s much to worry about initially. If she gets serious about it then she’ll have a choice to make.

Different sets of muscles. In ballet you are turned out. In riding you are not. I did did a couple of contemporary dance classes and one riding lesson a week in my 20s and it hurt. If your daughter is serious about ballet then riding is not going to be easy.

She's only 12 yet but has her heart set on dance. She wants to go twice a week with her best friend... We can afford to send her but don't want it affecting her dancing..

They use very different muscles in different ways. I used to do a lot of ballet and a bit of horse riding and I found dance lessons agony after riding especially pulling up onto pointe. But maybe you get used to it if you do both regularly.

Thanks for all the advice, I'm still learning about the dance (I've no background!) & I'm clueless about anything equistrian!

she’s 12. Let her do horse riding with her best friend.

if she is good at dance it won’t be long before it takes over her life and she has to pretty much give everything else up anyway. Let her do it now while she has the chance.

i rode and did ballet/gymnastics as a kid. Never noticed it have any adverse effect physically, it was more I couldn’t spare the time, especially as school ramped up for GCSE’s. My flexibility was always fine, and riding needs hip turnout- although toes are in in both riding and gymnastics it’s not the direction of the feet, it come from the hips.

it may be difficult at first as she will be stiff from using different muscles, but as with everything it will ease.

i gave up a lot- no can’t come shopping, got dance practice. No can’t hang round after school, got dance. No can’t come to x, y and z, got dance practice. Even as I got older and friends went clubbing and the like it was can’t drink, got to be home as up for dance etc.

long term too if she injured and ballet doesn’t work out for her as a career, will she regret having given up social time and other activities?

let her try it and see :).

I tried ballet for a while as a young child but was also an established rider and it did hinder the ballet. Totally different muscles and positioning. Ballet teacher basically told my mum that it wouldn’t ever work 😆

Let her ride.

Like your daughter, at 12 I had my heart set on going to ballet school and danced to a very high standard. I also rode to a very high standard and by age 14 I had my heart set on a career as a riding instructor in the forces and competing nationally in x-country and dressage.

As it turns out, I took an entirely different path as illness struck and I had to give up both... but those years dancing and riding to a standard that could have led to a career in either of those directions stood me in good stead for so many things and I enjoyed every single minute.

I'll have no idea if I'd have been a better dancer without the riding, or vice versa, but nobody in either camp ever worried that this would be the case.

When you say she wants to study dance at uni, what sort of dance does she want to do, and does she want to teach it, study it academically or does she want a career as a professional dancer?

She wants to study it as in all forms of dance.. She also wanted to go to Perm in Russia for a year before uni to train with the Perm State ballet company, but can't see that being an option now!!

@Ladyofthemanor11 How many hours ballet training a week is she doing, and what grade level is she currently at?

She's RAD grade 7, she currently does 4 classes a week & 1 contemporary class. She also does & stretch/mobility class in the studio..

From my experience, I would expect her dance teachers/s to be dead set against it. Maybe get your daughter to ask them, so that she gets the response directly from them

She wants to go twice a week with her best friend

Does she want to go because she loves horse riding or just because her best friend goes?

She loves all animals & has never ridden before.. Her ballet instructor is not the most appropriate so I thought I'd ask on mumsnet before broaching the subject... I told dd that it might hinder her ballet & she doesn't want to risk that as she has had to work so hard over the years on her turn out & mobility...

Horse riding and ballet at that level are not compatible at all, sorry. The muscle groups are totally different, particularly when it comes to turnout, and the risk of injury is too great. She's at an age where difficult decisions need to be made when it comes to the level of dedication she is prepared to give to dance, and the sacrifices she is prepared to make.

Is she doing any vocational grades or pointework yet? She should be really, if she wants to make a career out of dance. She probably needs to get onto an associate programme as well.

@taxi4ballet she's been doing pointe work since January, thanks for the detailed reply, I'm learning on the job!

Maybe see if English Youth Ballet are holding auditions in your area some time over the next year or so. It would be worth a go.

I would let her try the horse riding and see what she thinks of it. Just because she has always done ballet doesn't mean she will do so forever - she may prefer the riding or find that she loves the animals and wants to be a vet...