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How and where you sit in
the saddle is very important in
determining how your horse will perform.
For instance, if you sit
too far forward with your legs sticking
out, the net result is that you will put
the horse onto it's nose (forehand) and
this will make everything, if not down
right impossible, then very hard indeed.
Remember that we are trying to change
the shape of the horse's back to a
"bridge" so that the horse can carry us
better.
Legs that don't touch the
horse's sides at all are a waste of
time. I sometimes read problems from
people who say "When I out my legs on,
the horse charges off". Well, that's not
so surprising really if you think about
it - the horse is shocked and outraged
that you have used your legs.
If your legs are on all
the time , the horse gets used to them
being there and then it's only a case of
fine tuning the use of your legs to get
a response or give a signal or an aid to
do something. It's the surprise that the
horse cannot cope with.
So it's important to sit
upright, on the triangle of your pelvis,
neither too far on the fork of your seat
not too far back onto your bottom which
pushes you back onto the cantle of the
saddle which makes you lean back and
pushes you behind the movement of the
horse. There are lots and lots of books
and magazine articles about this and I
am sure that you all have at least one
book on riding so I am not going to
start drawing little matchstick men !!
Your legs should hang
from your hips, putting the weight into
your stirrups. The ball of your foot is
in the iron which naturally drops the
heel downwards.
Your arms should have a
natural bend at the elbow and your
shoulders should follow the horse's
shoulders.
A really common problem
that creates stiffness in the best of
horses is that most of us are far from
symmetrical and we sit to one side or
the other. Those of you who read my
articles regularly will know that I have
had this problem and I have worked very
hard to rectify it but I really have to
concentrate on sitting to the right.
Be critical and look at
yourself in a mirror (if your school has
mirrors) or ask a friend to tell you
which side is the weaker side and then
try and rectify it gradually by
consistent reminders to re-position
yourself.
And when you re-position
yourself, make sure that you haven't
just moved your shoulders (like I used
to do) and then land back in exactly the
same spot !
If you have trouble
changing direction on your horse, then
it's usually because you are not sitting
in the correct position. If you are
turning right, the weight should be in
the right stirrup and the shoulders must
follow the horse's. The horse must be
bent right with the flexion in the atlas
and axis (behind the ear) to the right.
Don't try and turn right with a left
bend - it can't work ! Don't try and
compensate in the right turn by sitting
left - it just unbalances the horse.
There are one or two
queries on the site at the moment about
cantering and I think most canter
problems come from the following
things.
-
The horse does not
understand the riders aids.
-
The rider does not
understand what the horse recognises
as the canter aids.
-
The horse has never
been taught the correct canter aids
in the first place.
-
Some horses are
actually trained to trot faster and
faster until they canter because
they have no choice - they will fall
over if they don't and so they
become scared of cantering because
they don't like the sensation of
thinking they will fall over .
-
The rider is
unbalanced in the saddle and instead
of cantering off an aid, the horse
just trots faster and faster until
it "breaks" into canter. This is of
no use really because the canter has
no impulsion and cannot be
maintained. The horse's outline
becomes too long and unco-ordinated
and the horse breaks back into trot.
-
The rider that leans
forward into the transition,puts his
weight onto the front end of the
horse which puts the horse onto the
forehand which unbalances the horse
and the canter cannot be maintained.
-
The rider grips up
with the legs, hangs onto the reins
and the horse cannot canter because
the rider says "go" with one aid and
"come back" with the other and is
therefore confused.
Now, I can't tell you which of these is
correct in individual cases but I can
tell you that it is always rider error
that causes problems and it is not the
horse being bloody-minded !!
Other canter problems can
arise because people lean into the
canter instead of sitting down on the
back side which means that their seat,
which should drive the horse, can't do
it's job because it's hovering six
inches out of the saddle. Some times,
people lean forward and pull back on the
reins and this obstructs the forward
motion. No horse will want to move
forward if he is going to get a smack in
the teeth for his pains.
If you have a canter
problem, be very , very analytical about
what is happening in every stage of the
process (or ask a friend to watch) and
then try and break down the problem into
bite sized bits to improve it.
(My canter
problem is that MGB gets long and
unbalanced sometimes and that's entirely
due to the fact that I should tap her
with my whip to keep her going instead
of driving her with my legs which takes
my legs off her side and unbalances both
of us. I just don't like that
horrible lurch that I sometimes get that
feels uncontrolled if I tap her behind
when were motoring but I know it's the
only way to solve the problem in the
long term.)
I will re-iterate again
that what happens in the walk, reflects
in the trot and the canter so if you can
improve the walk and trot, the canter
also improves . Walk -trot-walk
transitions help the horse to balance
itself and why not try cantering from a
good walk instead of going through all
the trot rigmarole ?
MGB can do it so younger,
fitter more beautiful horses (ARE there
any more beautiful than MGB !) most
certainly can learn and it makes for a
less traumatic transition.
The canter transition I
use is ; Left Canter, from trot, half
halt on the outside (right rein) and
re-balance with seat, ask for bend to
the left with the rein (inside) put the
right leg flat and back behind the
girth and using the inside (left) leg,
turn the toe outwards and tap with the
heel lightly. Let the hands move
forwards, almost lean back into the
movement and push with the seat and the
stomach muscles forward.
Oh heck - this was
supposed to be a seat lesson not a
canter lesson !! Never mind - it's all
relative really.
Really advanced riders (
and sometimes even me) can use quite
refined weight aids to move the horse
around but the simplest example of an
unconscious weight aid is this one; if
you look where you are going i.e.. rein
change across the diagonal H-X-F - you
will get there easier than if you are
busy looking down to see where the
horses' head is. This is because by
looking in the direction of travel, you
will , without even thinking , position
your body effectively to travel in the
right direction. Cantering quite small
circles is easy if you forget the
"trying to steer with your reins
rubbish" and just LOOK at the circle you
are cantering - it works, trust me , I
am an accountant !!
Anyway, I have been sat
in front of this computer for two hours
now and so I am now going to pour a
glass of wine and chill out for a bit.
If you want any
individual advice, please email me via
WoH and they will pass them to me.
MGB has got a new haircut
today ( and a new and very lovely next
door neighbour). Warella is a German
warmblood , very chestnut, very fire-ry,
very girly, very opinionated and VERY
loud and good at flouncing in a dramatic
manner and with a German accent which
gets right up MGB's nose because she has
difficulty understanding it and
apparently gets woken up all times of
the day and night with Warella's
guttural offerings and complaints
about...
"Hay vitch vas not up to scratch" and
...."rude und undisciplined geldings vat
vas barging awound und awound ze indoor
school und zwying to knock me offa ma
hooves" and....
"vicked, vicked girl grooms who vas
not brushing ze face wis da korr-ect
brushes" and... quite frankly was ,
according to MGB totally intolerable ,
boasting about the German Horses
legendary prowess , and being scathing
about the Brits.
But I think it all went
quiet when MGB started chanting "5 goals
to 1, 5 goals to one" . MGB wouldn't
know a football if it bit her in the bum
but she knows how to wind up Warella.
Think I'll have to buy her a telly for
the World Cup !!
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