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FEBRUARY 2014 THE RIDER /23 Fitness For Riders: Improving Your Balance to Help Your Horse


put a little more weight in the inside stirrup on a small circle. The goal is not to have more weight on the inside stirrup or seatbone. From the point of view of finding balance over the horse’s spine, the goal is to counter-act the natural shift to the outside which occurs with cen- trifugal force acting on the rider’s body. By resisting being thrown to the outside, the rider assists the horse in staying ‘straight’ and balanced as he moves around the curve of the circle. A rider who simply lets themselves get thrown to outside, will throw the horse to the out- side. Drifting or tension in one side of the horse’s back are common results.


Hitch Hinge Balance Challenge


balance range from standing on a balance board, BOSU or other similar training tool, to standing on one leg. Your creativity is really the only limit if you start think- ing about the ways you can challenge your balance. Find soft things to stand on such as tennis balls, rolled up towel, pool noodle or cushion. Remember to bend your knees and hip (or knee and hip if you are standing on one leg), and have good ‘riding posture’ in your body with softness in your joints. The key to balance is being able to stay aligned with softness. The more you chal- lenge yourself on the ground and train yourself to main- tain balance while simultaneously staying soft in your joints, the more automatic this pattern will be for your body, and the easier it will be for you to follow your horse’s motion without thinking about it. You have so many other things to think about up there.


balance through tension and rigidity. In doing so, they tend to create tightness in their hips, legs, back and shoulders which is counterproductive. Some simple ideas you can use for improving your


and forward/back. On a horse, balance is a dynamic state- a little like staying upright on a windsurfer or with both feet on a skateboard. Many riders make the mistake of trying to create


you expect of your horse. Balance and self-carriage go hand-in-hand. As the leader between the two of you, you are more responsible for self-carriage. Balance on the horse is in two directions: left/right


or worse- uneven wear and load on joints, back and legs. 4. His rhythm improves because he is comfortable, and able to move symmetrically. 5. When he has relaxation, rhythm and suppleness, he has better contact 6. You can see where this is going: when he has relax- ation, rhythm and even, consistent contact, you will be able to achieve impulsion, straightness and collection. You must have at least the same degree of balance


create uneven muscle memory,


achieve correct movement with- out having to use compens a t ing patterns in his own body, which


benefits for your horse, of you rid- ing with more balance: 1. He has less tension, because he feels more sure of his foot- ing and his abili- ty to manage your weight. 2. He can move more correctly because you are not throwing him off. 3. He


can There are many


even between both seat-bones and both legs, there are moments in a ride when maintaining balance may require activity on one side more than another, or a feel- ing of putting weight on one side more than another. For example, some instructors will tell a rider to


bution are much louder to him, than what you do with your legs and hands. Though the ideal is to keep weight distribution


mirror. You have probably heard of this concept referred to with expressions like ‘it’s a rein issue’ or a ‘breeches problem’. These and similar expressions are intend- ed to make the point that the horse will reflect what you tell him physically. He does not read your mind. He reads your body. Within that vocabulary, your pos- ture and weight distri-


Your horse is a


in the saddle for Dressage, and have had so little practice jumping over the past decade, that my personal challenge is to find more balance when my seat is out of the saddle in a jumping seat. So I like to stand on a BOSU or balance board in ‘two point’, and lightly bounce up and down. When it is easy, I introduce arm movements or head movements to mimick rein aids or looking around a jump course. Shifting your head can throw you off if your balance is not good, but the balance board will hit the ground if you allow upper body shifts to throw you off. So I practice maintain lower body position, with some movement in the upper body. The photos show some easy balance exercises you can do on


soft surfaces.


© Heather R. Sansom About Equifitt and Heather: Equifitt training draws on multiple sport and fitness disciplines to help riders of all ages and types balance their bodies and reach their riding and fitness goals. Heather is a certified personal trainer, Level 1 Centered Riding® Instructor and Equine Canada Competition Coach. Heather does rider fitness coaching with clients around the world via Skype- bring the trainer to you.


For me personally, I am so used to riding with my seatbones


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