Sometimes I feel that, whilst coaching, I become a bit of a broken record. There are a handful of bad habits which 95% of my riders do every time they are on board without even realising.
I'm sure you will have heard some of them being barked at you over your time riding; "Heels down!", "Don't tip forward!", "Keep your hands still!".
My biggest bugbear is riders leaning forward or hunching over because their eyes are focused on something either on their horses neck, ears, or even the floor....
I'm sure you will have heard some of them being barked at you over your time riding; "Heels down!", "Don't tip forward!", "Keep your hands still!".
My biggest bugbear is riders leaning forward or hunching over because their eyes are focused on something either on their horses neck, ears, or even the floor....
WHAT IS SO INTERESTING DOWN THERE!??
I'd love to know as I do feel like I'm missing out on something! I am constantly reiterating to riders of all ages & abilities to "keep your eyes up", "make sure your chin is parallel to the floor", "look where you're going!".
There are 101 reasons to have your head up & eyes looking, and I'll be looking at a couple of these reasons.
There are 101 reasons to have your head up & eyes looking, and I'll be looking at a couple of these reasons.
Take this photo as an example. (Yes, this is me - as I said, 95% of riders...!). I was pleasantly surprised it took a fair amount of scrolling through my vast quantity of photos on my Facebook page before I came across this one of me focusing on my horse's shoulder. Now I know that here I had just come down from canter and I was checking my diagonal - but that is no excuse for my poor position here. Apart from me looking down, what else can you see here?
| Poor position has a lot to answer for our riding & how effective our aids are. How often do you check your position if your horse hasn't done what it's been asked of? |
My horse is a bit of a live wire, and given an inch he'll take a mile. As I said, he rushed away from me not long after this photos was taken (thankfully just in the collecting ring) because he was actually trying to rebalance himself as I hadn't helped him enough during the downwards transition. Horses will always go one way of the other. Some horses will rush off, some will slow down to a stop, and others will fall in or wobble on their line because the rider is influencing their way of going.
| Something that cannot be taught to a rider, and comes purely from experience, is the feel of the horse. If a rider can feel if a horse is unbalanced, rushing, slowing down, under tracking, quarters in etc it will ensure our riding is much more efficient as we can correct it before it has gotten too much. More importantly, we can correct it without looking. Even something simple as being able to tell which canter lead you are on must be achieved without looking at their shoulders. The more you look, the more you are dulling your other senses to determine if the horse is correct or not. Let's use the canter transition as an example. You've chosen where you would like to pick up your canter from trot. You engage the trot & ensure the horse is listening to you. You go into sitting trot in your chosen area and use more leg. The horse goes off in canter and immediately you look to their inside shoulder to check their lead. The horse now either rushes, slows down or even canters towards the inside. Then what? |
You panic and pull them back to trot? You feel frustrated & kick them on harder? You pull them round on a circle to try & make it seem that the angle away from the track was your idea? Instead, why don't we go back to the drawing board & think how our position actually influences the horse. Instead of looking down going into canter (or trot or walk, or over poles or a fence), try to feel if you're on the correct canter lead, or trot diagonal, or stride into a fence. Remind yourself that if you look where you are going you are already helping yourself & your horse by subtly indicating your intended direction.
Take the challenge. See if you can spend the next 2 weeks concentrating on looking up & where you are going. Be strict with yourself & don't allow yourself to look down. If you catch yourself dropping your head, give yourself a forfeit (5 minutes trot without stirrups, for example). See how much difference it can make in your riding & your horses way of going in just a fortnight. Go on, give it a go! |