Tag archieven: Position

The bobbing  head

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Some riders seem to sit rather well, straight and with their legs in the right position. But then the horse moves and the head of the rider bobs up and down…

What happens is the movement that has to be absorbed in back, hips, knees and ankles comes out in the head. It means there is too much tension in the position of the rider. The spring in the lower back doesn’t work.

Lower back

Does your head bob? You will feel your neck. As you are balanced, you won’t affect the horse in a bad way. But improvement is possible, as you are tensing up. Start with stretching your horse forward and down into a contact, so his back comes up. Keep your head up, but straight above your spine. It should be the top of a pile of blocks. Don’t push your chin up or out. Look where you are going. Now focus on your lower back. Don’t lose the core stability, but feel that you can move your hips and lower back. Try to absorb the motion in your body, by moving with the horse. Follow him. Your lower back should act like a spring. Try to absorb the motion there. Don’t clench your hips. Good riding is about balance and following movement. If you tense up, you tire out your body and you will block the energy flow.

If you have a bobbing head, ask yourself where you can feel the tension in your body. Try to find out why you are tensing up there. You might need help of a physiotherapist. Are you bracing your back muscles because your horse is pulling? Are you forcing yourself because you want to do well? Are you afraid to lose control? Realising what causes the problem is half of the solution.

 

Untwist yourself

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Stand in the school and watch some riders from behind. Are they sitting straight?

A lot of riders lean to a side. Some have a twist in their waist, which means they lower their leg on the other side, while one shoulder is going forward and up to compensate. That downward leg is pushed forward, causing the other leg to be pulled up and back.

Crooked riders create crooked horses

Crooked riders create crooked horses. But the other way around is also true. It doesn’t really matter who started. You are the smart one, you should do something about it. You won’t be able to straighten your horse if you don’t sit straight. As long as you are leaning to one side, the horse will try to step under it all the time. Remember running around with a child on your neck? Try it and ask the kid to lean, so you realize what a crooked rider must feel to a horse.

The problem is as a rider you don’t feel you lean to either side. You get used to a certain way of sitting. And the other problem is, the horse is putting you in that position. Like we, horses are right- of lefthanded. You can feel it, as they turn easier on one side. Most horses bend more to the left and hold on to the right rein. But occasionally you find one that is the other way around. The stronger hindleg goes more under the body, the weaker one steps more forward, but slightly beside it.

Crooked circle

A lot of riders think it’s easier on the side were the horse bends inwards naturally. It feels lighter. But it’s not the bend you want. The horse turns his neck, the hindquarters are not straight and the outside shoulder goes out all the time. He leans on his outside rein. Because of this all, he drops the rider to the inside. A circle will become smaller then you have planned. And if you go the other way, it feels like you can’t turn and he will push you to the outside, which makes steering even harder. Circles this way will get bigger, without you wanting them to be.

Both horse and rider get used to this kind of crookedness. If you don’t correct it, you will make it worse. And it all starts with finding out if you are sitting straight or not. Check the saddle and the stirrups first of all. Are the cushions of the same size? The side you mount the horse the leather of the stirrup will stretch over time.

Feel both seatbones

If it is all straight, get on the horse and sit up. Take off your stirrups, feel your two seatbones equally in the saddle and stretch up from your core. Don’t forget to breathe. Let someone be present to tell you if you are sitting straight or check yourself in a mirror. Then take the stirrups and start riding. Remember to feel those seatbones equally. Focus on your position. Correct yourself all the time.

Have someone in the school with you and ask their honest opinion. Make sure they also check if your shoulders are horizontal, in one line. They will have to stand behind you, while you move in all gaits. A mirror can be of help and videoing is a good idea too. Only it’s better to correct straight away. That way you can try to remember what it feels like when you are actually sitting straight, so you can reproduce it. But it is never a one off. You will have to be corrected many many times. We are creatures of habit and so are horses. So ask if people around you will tell you when you are leaning again. Check yourself while riding. Being aware is half of the solution.

Effort

If you have been crooked for a while, sitting straight feels strange. Also to the horse, who might react in ways you don’t want. He’s not used to you sitting in a different way. So you might get some protest. Don’t give in. Being straight has to start somewhere and it will take effort from the both of you. It will get easier, I promise.

Obviously, the horse has to become more straight also. Which is not easy. It will take a lot of training to get him more supple on both sides, as that is the answer. We’ll come back to this subject later.

Controlling your lower legs

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Some riders have trouble controlling their lower legs.

In trot a rider goes up and down. The movement of the horse pulls your legs towards him and pushes them away. There is always some movement with your lower legs, which is fine, as long as it isn’t too much and you don’t touch the belly of the horse accidentally all the time. But some riders do. If you are inclined to do so, don’t use spurs.

Too much movement of your lower legs doesn’t look good. And it doesn’t feel good to the horse either. He will tighten his muscles as a defense. Because of that, he stiffens his back and you can’t sit properly, which will make your legs move even more.

If a horse is tight in his back, he will bounce you up and down and you will need to squeeze to a certain amount to stay in the saddle. Squeezing with your thighs will cause movement of the lower legs. So relaxing your thighs helps, but that goes hand in hand with the horse giving his back. It’s very hard to do one thing without the other. The solution to quieter legs could be in getting your horse to use his back properly. We’ll get back to this.

Is it the saddle?

If your lower legs are living a life of their own, you might need to try a different saddle first, as this can make a lot of difference. The way your legs are built, full or skinny, have a lot to do with it. It also matters if the horse has a round ribcage or not. But a good saddle that fits you and the horse, can support you, so you are more comfortable and quiet.

Don’t tie your stirrups to the girth or revert to resin on the inside of your boots (this is being sold in tackshops for this purpose). Tying your stirrups is dangerous and not permitted at competitions. You can seriously damage your ankle joints. And you can’t put your legs back if necessary. Get to the bottom of the problem, instead of finding quick fixes that don’t resolve anything. Same goes for the resin.

It also doesn’t help to forcefully squeeze your lower legs on, in order to keep them more quiet. It takes too much strength to maintain that way for an hour or more. And because of the unnatural tension, you won’t be able to feel anymore and you also tense up in other parts of your body. To a horse, tighly squeezing lower legs give a feeling of restriction. As if you hold back a child with both arms. He won’t be inclined to move freely forward.

Off the leg

Some riders push their horse every step of the way, because it is not moving forward off the leg. It doesn’t matter if you do this on purpose or accidentally, it doesn’t work. If he’s not off the leg, repeating the aid constantly won’t make him more forward. Because of all your movement and shoving in the saddle, he is less likely to move forward. Read the chapter about getting your horse more off the leg.

Stay rising

If a horse tenses his back, you can’t sit properly and there is no point trying. Don’t attempt sitting trot, go rising. Try to let him follow your hand forward and down, so his back comes up more. This is done by feeling the bit in your hands, relaxing a little and using the forward flow of the horse to make him follow the bit. If he isn’t following, take a little more contact and try again. Make sure he’s moving forward. If he isn’t, do a couple of transitions forward and back, to get the flow back. He should not go faster, but just move his hindlegs more under. If he goes faster, use both reins to slow him down. Relax again, don’t keep the pressure on. Try again to get him to follow your hand.

It is like a game: invite him to follow. But it’s the flow of energy from behind, through his back, that makes him want to reach for your hand. Don’t pull his head into a position by using force or drawreins. If you use force, he will still tense up so you can’t sit. If he doesn’t follow or his head comes up, take a bit more contact. If he softens, you soften immediately. The whole idea is that it’s feeling better for him if he softens.

If you feel your lower legs moving again, make the back more supple by working your horse forward-downward again. Go rising until he does. If your horse tenses up because you attempt sitting trot, it is very likely you are squeezing too much. Work on your balance to prevent this. Do only a few steps in sitiing, then go back to rising and so on. Stay close to the saddle while doing rising trot.

The shape of the horses ribs can be of influence

Some riders point their toes out. The knees come away from the saddle that way. It happens when you try to hold yourself with your lower leg. Or when someone wants to push really hard. The shape of the horses ribs can be of influence. If he’s round, your lower leg tends to move forward towards the elbow, because of his shape. It can lead to what is referred to as ‘chair seat’. The heel of the rider should be in line with the hip. Very tall riders on a small horse can have this problem, because there is not enough belly for their legs.

If your toes are out because you squeeze too much, it can cause tension in the horse. Or, if he gets used to it, he won’t react to your leg anymore, as it is there all the time. You don’t want him to be insensitive to the leg. Someone with this habit should not wear spurs, as the constant rubbing can cause bold patches.

Repeat, repeat, repeat

It takes a lot of self-control to change this. It’s hard to change habits. You will have to get back into the proper position, but in the beginning you will go back to your old way of sitting, so you’ll have to repeat it a million times. Again, let a good saddlefitter take a look at yours. It’s easier to sit the right way in a dressage saddle. With a multipurpose saddle or a jumping saddle, the hook of the stirrup is placed more forward, which will make it harder to keep your heels under your hips.

Breathe in, stretch your core up, balance your head on top of your spine. Take your legs slightly away from the horse without tensing up. Put them in the right position, knees turned towards the saddle. It feels a little like you turn your heels outwards. As if you are sitting more on the front side of your leg muscles then the backside. Relax your bum so you can feel your seatbones. Your heels should be in line with hips and shoulders.

Don’t force it

A lot of trainers yell about keeping your heels down. They should be slightly down as to prevent your foot from sliding forward in the stirrups. But don’t use force to push them down, as it will push your lower leg forward at the same time. Heels down should come from relaxing the ankle joint, so it can act as a spring.

For some people it works to push their small toe on the stirrup. It tilts your foot in such a way your heel turns away from the horse.

Don’t look down

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Humans have hands and use them for almost everything. And as our eyes are in the front of our head, we like to watch what we are doing.

One of my cherished trainers, John Lassetter from England, once let a group of pupils dismount during a clinic and crawl through the school on all fours. They obediently did what he asked, expecting it to be some sort of exercise. When they reached the end of the school, he asked if they had found it yet. Confusion all over. ‘You were looking down all the time, so I presumed you’ve lost something. And because you kept looking down so persistently, I thought you wanted to look for it first…’

Headposition

Riders look down a lot because we are used to process information with our eyes. And we are obsessed by the position of the head and neck of the horse. The proper position of the head of the horse should be the end result of good riding, hindlegs under and back moving up. But a lot of the time riders tend to pull the head into a position and try to adjust the frame, which is the wrong way around. It tightens the back and stops the forward flow of energy.

Balance

The human head is a substantial amount of the total weight of a rider. If you look down all the time, you disturb your own and the horses balance, so you will be tensing up in your back to stop you from tipping forward with your upper body. It doesn’t look good and it is bad for your neck muscles. And if you don’t sit in a balanced position, you can’t feel properly. Try sitting on a skippy ball without your feet on the ground. Now look sideways. You won’t be able to keep your balance. But this is what we expect our horse to do… We are not helping him!

Feel what you are doing

You don’t need to look at the head and neck to get it in the right position. That’s done by stimulating the hindlegs to go more under the body and at the same time controlling the energy this generates with an elastic contact. It is not only better to feel what you are doing, it’s faster if you want to correct something. If information needs to go from hands to eyes to brain to hands, it takes more time then straight from hands to brain and back. And you can use your eyes for better things. Looking where you go, for instance, so you don’t bump into other riders. And so your horse feels by the position of your head where you want to go. That might sound a bit far off, but he does. Ride down the centre line and keep looking forward if you get near the end. Don’t indicate in any way which way you want to go. What happens…? Your horse can see the end of the school and starts to wobbly left and right, asking you to pick a side. If you want to prevent that, look to the side where you want to go a few meters before the end. He will feel it and turn that way, without the wobbling.

When you are riding, you are in charge of the horse. For him to feel secure, you will have to act as the leader and keep an eye out for predators in the bushes. You can’t do that if you are looking down all the time.

Bad habit

Looking down is a bad habit. Don’t do it. Make it a habit to feel instead of watch.

If you catch yourself doing it, regain your position. Stretch up in your core, but keep breathing. Your spine is a pile of loose blocks. Don’t let them drop. Carry your head. Pretend your head is fixed to the ceiling by an elastic cord. Sit proud and feel that way.

If your horse behaves, let the reins go for a minute. Or ask someone to hold him for you. Roll your shoulders back, stretch your arms out to the side and feel where your shoulderblades are. Sit up, without holding your breath. Drop your arms and take hold of the reins, your arms relaxed.

It’s very hard to work on your position in the saddle when you feel tired or you have aching muscles. It shouldn’t be a struggle. Dismount and try again some other time.

On your toes

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‘Heels down’. I wonder if this is the most made remark in dressage training. And I think it is completely useless. But I’ll come to that.

If you stand on your toes in the stirrups, your upper leg and knee will come away from the horse. This makes you unstable. Some riders think dressage is all about long stirrups, so the longer the better. That is not true. A stirrup should support your foot, so your leg stays in the right position and your ankle can act like a sort of spring. You shouldn’t have to reach for the stirrup. Take them off, put your leg in the right position, move your toes up a little bit and there should be your stirrup.

Force

If an instructor shouts ‘heels down’ at you, you are very likely to use force to do so. By which you block your ankle joint. And you will probably move your lower leg forward. A better way is to relax your lower leg and remember to absorb the movement of the horse in your ankles. If the stirrups are of the right length your heels will go down naturally.

Off the leg

If horses do not move off the leg, some riders dig in their heels by pulling them up. It won’t work. If he hasn’t learned to be off the leg, he will close himself off for strong ‘aids’ like that. And by it you unbalance yourself, so he’ll go even slower. He needs to think forward again, to which I’ll come back later.

Don’t squeeze

If you squeeze too much with your knees and tighten your thighs too much, your heels go up as well. To be in the right position means you have to relax your muscles, use core stability and try to balance yourself by following the movement. It’s very much like yoga. You will have to work on an independent seat. It’s logical that you grab the steer when you learn to ride a bicycle. But once you can, you don’t have to hold it as firm anymore. Same goes for the horse.

If you stand on your toes, try to correct it by taking your leg away from the saddle for a minute. Stretch it out sideways from your hip down. Relax your buttocks. Feel your seatbones in the saddle. Put your legs back gently. Take the stirrups and relax your ankles. And when you move forward, try to keep thinking of your ankles as springs.

Leaning backward

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A lot of dressage riders are leaning backwards. Some of them do it all the time, some just in the extended paces or a transition.

There are trainers who tell you to sit back more. And when you are tipping forward they are probably right to say so. But not further then the upward position, where your spine is like a pile of loose building blocks balancing upon eachother, with the feeling your head is tied to the ceiling by an elastic band.

Now why this backwards leaning occurs? There are several causes. Sometimes riders try to push a lazy horse forward with their seat and legs. They use their backs for more force. Which doesn’t help, because it makes the horse tight in its back too as a reaction, so he is even less likely to give you more.

Don’t block your back

There are riders who try to get a horse more up in the front, to balance the weight on the hindlegs. They use their body and the reins to force the horse upwards, which isn’t working either, as you block the back this way. Riding upwards is done by making the hindlegs step under more, so the hindquarters lower. We’ll get back to how you do this later. But stop pulling and pushing the horses front.

Some riders lean back in extended trot as to emphasize the paces. But in that way you are not moving forward with the horse, so you actually restrict his movements. Same happens when you sit back too much in a transition.

Leaning back also occurs when a rider tries to control a lively horse by the reins constantly. But horses get used to a constant pressure. And they are a lot stronger then you. The restriction will be uncomfortable for them, so they want to go even faster.

No harmony

Like I said, leaning back too much blocks the back of a horse. If you sit this way, you are always behind the movement of the horse, he has to pull you with him. You don’t move in harmony.

If you are in the right position, your lower back acts like a spring. Combined with the movement of your hips, the movement of the horse is absorbed here in a way that keeps you in a balanced position, without blocking his energy. If you lean back and tighten your back, the spring isn’t working. The horse will feel you as a restrictive force on his back and tighten up, so his hindlegs won’t be able to move forward under the body. If you sit this way, you won’t be able to feel anything that is happening underneath you.

Be aware

Do you know if you are leaning backwards? Because it’s hard to realize when you are used to a certain position. Being aware of the way you sit is one step in the right direction. If you don’t know, you can’t do anything about it.

Ask people that are watching you and that will be honest. Let someone make a video and see for yourself. Mirrors in the school can be helpful too, although it is not a good idea to look sideways into it all the time, as that changes your balance and influences the horse as well.

Reposition

How do you position yourself the right way? Breathe in, lift your ribcage and sit up. Use core stability, but let go of any tension. Take your legs off the horse. Hold the reins, but relax, until you only feel the weight of the bit. Don’t use the reins to balance yourself. Ask someone to tell you when you are in the right position, close your eyes and try to remember the feeling. It might feel different from what you are used to.

Now when you start moving forward, try to move with the horse. Not more then he’s doing, but certainly not less. Don’t go too fast. If a horse is too forward, he doesn’t have the time to move his hindlegs more forward. He’ll push himself onto his frontlegs and will start to lean on your hands, pulling you. A normal response would be to pull back, making you lean back again. Try to sit upright while going slow for a while. If you can do that, then go a little bit more forward, while maintaining balance. If you lose it, go slower again.

Don’t try too hard

If you try too hard to maintain the right position, you will probably tighten your muscles too much, which can lead to a hollow back and stiff shoulders. What happens is you don’t feel anything anymore, let alone move with the horse. In sitting trot and canter you’ll be bouncing in the saddle, because you are squeezing yourself out of it. And you can’t give light aids this way.

If this is you, try to breathe by using your belly instead of the upper part of your body. Breathe in and out through your nose. Feel your tension and try to let go, but without losing posture. Let your horse move slow, so it’s easier for you to relax. Feel your seatbones in the saddle. If you tense up, you can’t feel them.

Practise

Posture and seat are things that need constant attention. How do you expect a horse to understand you and move freely, if you are all over the place. Even top dressage riders train this a lot. Riders of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna are on the lunge line every day, the first year of their education. It’s easier when you get good instruction at a young age. But even when you are older you can still learn how to do it. It might take some more practice, but everyone can improve if you really go for it. But you’ll have to stay on top of it.

Find the balance

It definitely pays off to find a good trainer to help you with this. Have lessons on the lunge line, use a reliable, well trained horse and a proper dressage saddle. You will also need sidereins. The horse will have to give his back for you to sit comfortably. Even the Olympic champion can’t sit to a horse that’s going around with his head up in the sky. The trainer should keep the horse in one tempo, so you don’t have to think about that. Concentrate on releasing the tension in your muscles, without holding reins and with no stirrups. Follow the movements of the horse. Start in walk. Only if you are comfortable, do it in trot, while holding the saddle first. If you feel you are balanced enough, let go of one hand, then the other. Do the same with the canter.

If you can do all this, you can add some exercises. Rotate your arm, rotate the other one, do both at the same time. Rotate your head. Lift your legs. Main thing is that you try to follow the movements of the horse. If you can and you stay balanced, you don’t need to squeeze anymore to stay in position. Then it will be easier to maintain in the right frame for dressage. And if you can sit this way, you won’t accidentally use your hands when you give leg aids or the other way around.

Leaning forward

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Some riders lean forward. It’s not as bad as leaning backwards, but I’ll come to that later.

If you sit forward too much with your upper body, you can’t absorb the movement of the horse with your lower back which in turn will stiffen his back.

Sometimes it´s the saddle. A good dressage saddle is designed to help you to stay in a balanced vertical position. Jumping saddles have a different purpose, which is to support your knees when you are out of the saddle in a jumping position. So if you are serious about dressage, invest in a good saddle, that fits you and the horse.

Squeezing

Some riders are leaning forward because they are afraid. If you squeeze too much with your knees to stay in balance, you will actually push yourself out of the saddle a little, tipping your upper body forward and your lower legs back. The tension and the feeling are unsettling for a horse, so he might even speed up, making you even more unsure. If you are afraid, try to do something about it. Have lessons on the lunge line to work on your seat. Find a trainer that can help you with this. Gymnastics without reins and stirrups will help you to learn how to follow the movements of a horse with your seat, without clenching or gripping with your knees or upper thighs. Find a nice and quiet schoolmaster horse to work on, until you are more experienced.

Focus on your breathing. Stretch your core, without holding your breath. Take your legs away from the horse, really sitting on your backside. Feel your two seatbones evenly in the saddle. Try to stay on the backside of your leg muscles, not the front side.

Core stability

Some riders tip forward in a downward transition, when their back and belly muscles are weak. Don’t try to tighten your back to stay in position. You need core stability, but stiffening your spine prevents movement of your hips, which is necessary to follow the back of the horse. There are good fitness trainers that can help you develop your body. But make sure to find someone who’s familiar with horse riding. If you work the wrong muscles, it could get in the way.

Tipping forward can also happen if the horse is not reacting enough to the leg aids. If you are pushing him forward and therefor you are doing the work he should be doing, you are getting in front of him. Remember that about 70 percent of the horse has to be in front of you. More tips about how to get him off the leg later.

The weight should be transferred to the back

A lot of riders are leaning forward because the horse puts them there. Especially young horses tend to push the rider forward. If you are on a young horse, slightly leaning forward is not a bad thing. It means you are not that heavy on its back. But as they develop more, the weight should be transferred to the back.

If you look at a horse in the field, a substantial part of his bodyweight is on the forehand. It’s where the grass grows. Very inefficient, because his ‘engine’ is actually behind. You can see this when something spooks them and the start to run all of a sudden. They lower their hindquarters to catapult themselves forward, jumpstarting into a gallop.

When we sit on their back and add our weight, horses go on the forehand even more. So a horse that moves on the forehand pulls the rider forward, which makes the horse go more on the forehand and so on. It is an important task of a rider to get the weight transferred to the hindlegs over time. It saves the frontlegs from too much wear. Some vets are convinced that leg problems like navicular are caused by riding on the forehand too much. Transferring the weight to the back makes the horse easier to ride, as he will carry himself and not lean on your hands. If you manage to get him on his hindquarters, he will carry his own head and he´ll be able to lift his frontlegs more. Later on I’ll explain how you can work on this. But it all starts with realizing you tip forward. There is no point in doing exercises if you sit on the forehand. The horse might put you there, but you will have to be the one that changes the situation. You’ll have to work yourself into that vertical position again. Ask people around you to warn you if it happens. Problem is that we tend to get used to a certain way of going, so we don’t even realize what we are doing, unless we are told. Repeatedly. Even I need someone on the ground that reminds me all the time.

 

Follow the horse

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It all sounds so easy: follow the movement of the horse. And when you see Olympic riders it looks easy too, even though their horses move off the ground so much. But how do you do it?

A couple of things are needed. Stamina, a supple back and loose hips. You need to be able to let go of tension in your body, without losing posture. But all this is very well, if the horse keeps his back rigid, no one can sit on it without squeezing.

Tension

Tension blocks all movement. A horse tenses his back if he has a physical problem or feels uncomfortable. If you restrict or hurt him by holding the reins too tight or pulling them constantly or if you are bouncing on his back or squeezing with your legs too much, he will tighten his back. But if he is, you will bounce.

So what comes first?

You know what? It doesn’t matter. It’s up to you to change the situation. So don’t blame the horse, work on yourself. Punishing the horse won’t make him soften his back. This needs training. And it might take a while before it pays off. You need patience and consistent training. Work on your position. Go to the gym. Have special lunge lessons to develop an independent position. We’ll get back on how to train a horse so he softens his back. Start with yourself.

The importance of the right position

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The right position for dressage is not something that has been invented at random.

Riding horses started a few hundred years before Christ. Before that we just ate them. Since then man has developed the position in such a way it’s easy to maintain for a human being, while at the same time signals can be given to the horse that make sense to him. The way to sit on a horse properly hasn’t changed for ages. And it’s important. Why? Try running around with a child on your neck. If the kid is waving its arms or leaning to one side, you’ll have a lot of trouble keeping your balance and stay on a straight line. Same goes for the horse.

Practise

As it is the easiest way, why is it so hard to maintain that position or to stay in it in the first place? Everything you want to be good at, you’ll have to practice, to develop muscles at the right places. In the old days, horses were means of transportation or used for war. Long days in the saddle. Nowadays we rush in after work for an hour at max, while sitting in offices or classrooms for most of the day. Not the same. But it’s worth to work on it. How can you ask your horse to execute difficult body movements when you are on his back like a sack of potatoes? How can you give your aids so light and specified, if you don’t have control over your limbs? Are you sure your hands are not moving involuntary while you do something with your legs?

Fitness training

Good riders always work on their position. Sitting lightly but upright, balanced, hands and legs quiet without squeezing. It’s not a bad idea to have special lessons for seat and posture once a week. Specialized fitness training can help to overcome certain problems with position. Flex chair sessions or rein tension devices can be of use, to make you more aware of what you do with your body.