Perimenopause and Horse Riding: How Staying Active Helps

A global survey presented this month found that women who moved on more days of the week had milder perimenopause symptoms, especially low mood and anxiety. If you plan to keep riding for decades, it's a strong case for protecting your daily routine. Below is more on perimenopause and horse riding.

Ask most women how long they want to keep riding, and the answer is usually some version of "as long as I possibly can." Midlife is often where longevity in the saddle gets tested. Sleep gets worse. Joints start to ache. The canter that used to feel fun begins to feel scary or out of control. Researchers are paying attention to those shifts, and the latest reports suggest that one of the best ways to protect your riding is simple routine.

The new study

At The Menopause Society's 2026 Annual Meeting in San Diego (October 20 to 24), a team from the women's health app Flo presented a poster titled "Physical activity frequency and perimenopause symptom burden: Global insights from the Flo app." They surveyed 1,808 women in 87 countries across six continents. Everyone was 35 or older and identified as being in perimenopause, and the average age was 45. Women using hormonal contraception or hormone therapy were excluded, which keeps those medications from muddying the results.

Participants reported how often they were physically active, from "not physically active" up to five or more days a week. They also completed the Menopause Rating Scale, a standard questionnaire that scores symptoms in three groups: somatic (hot flushes, joint and muscle complaints, sleep problems), psychological (low mood, irritability, anxiety, exhaustion) and urogenital (bladder, sexual and vaginal symptoms).

The pattern was consistent. Women who were active more often reported lower symptom scores in all three groups. The average total score fell from 17.46 among women who weren't active to 13.77 among those active five or more days a week. The link held after the researchers adjusted for age, body mass index, smoking, other health conditions, access to healthcare and the development level of each woman's country.

Presenting author Dr. Liudmila Zhaunova, Flo's director of science, said "the benefits of physical activity seemed to be strongest for psychological symptoms like low mood irritability and anxiety." Dr. Stephanie Faubion, medical director of The Menopause Society, commented that "women who are more physically active may experience a lower burden of perimenopause symptoms" and called regular activity "a low-risk strategy."

This was a cross-sectional survey, a snapshot taken at one point in time, so it can show a link but not prove that exercise caused the milder symptoms. Women who feel better may simply find it easier to get moving. Activity was self-reported, everyone in the sample was an app user, and a poster hasn't yet been through full peer review. Flo, the company behind the app, ran the study. Still, the results fit well with a large body of earlier research on exercise in midlife.

Why riders should pay attention to symptoms during perimenopause and horse riding

Confidence is where many midlife riders say they struggle most. In June 2026, a UK team led by Joanne Prescott published a study in Sport Sciences for Health that surveyed 613 women riders with an average age of about 53. Almost all of them (611 of 613) reported at least one menopausal symptom. Two in three said they felt less confident riding during the menopausal transition. Brain fog, hot flushes and anxiety were all more common in women aged 45 to 54, the age group with the heaviest overall symptom load. The authors concluded that coaches and sports bodies need to offer targeted support and education to keep women in the sport through midlife.

An earlier conference poster from the University of Gloucestershire, which surveyed 1,629 women from a range of disciplines, painted a similar picture. Three-quarters of respondents reported a drop in riding confidence, especially when jumping or riding at speed. Around half of the jumpers and eventers in that survey had switched to a less risky discipline or cut back on intensity. That work was preliminary and not peer-reviewed, but riders will recognise the pattern.

Put these studies side by side and the takeaway is encouraging. The symptoms that wear down a rider's confidence, such as anxiety, low mood and poor sleep, are the same ones the Flo data linked most strongly with being active more often.

Frequency over heroics

The Flo study measured how many days a week women moved, not how hard they trained. That's helpful for equestrians, because it suggests a steady routine may matter more than one big weekend.

Riding counts as activity, and so do mucking out, hauling water and walking out to the field. Many riders lose that routine during busy seasons, injuries or the long dark months of winter. Keeping something in place on most days is a realistic goal.

The gap is in strength work. At the same meeting, Dr. Amy Comander of Mass General Cancer Center pointed out that only 7% of midlife women routinely meet physical activity guidelines and just 24% strength train twice a week. Muscle and bone both decline through the menopause transition. A stronger body also makes it easier to stay balanced through a spook and to recover after a fall.

Sleep is part of the story

Poor sleep came up again and again in the rider surveys, and it deserves its own attention. Research from the long-running Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN), presented at the SLEEP 2026 meeting, found that sleep disturbance affected midlife women's physical role function, emotional wellbeing and energy more than hot flushes did. Dr. Pauline Maki, who presented the analysis, summed it up: "sleep has a bigger effect than hot flashes." For riders, a tired body and mind can show up as slower reactions and less patience in the saddle.

The bottom line

Perimenopause looks different for every woman, and symptoms such as heavy bleeding, persistent low mood or new joint pain deserve a proper conversation with a doctor, ideally one with menopause training. If symptoms are getting in the way of riding, an appointment with a specialized doctor is recommended.

What the research does offer is a hopeful for women 35+. Staying active on most days of the week is linked with fewer and milder symptoms, especially the emotional ones that can chip away at a rider's confidence. For many women, the barn is where they get their routine movement.