Fitness for Of The Month: Steps to Better Posture & Hands By Heather Sansom.
Riders who are searching for better posture and hand posi- tion can sometimes feel like they are looking for the Holy Grail. Whether a person is standing on the ground, seated in a chair or sitting on a horse, good body usage is very tied to good posture. When the human frame is properly aligned, it can work efficiently. When it is not, it creates compensating patterns, or workarounds to achieve what is asked. Patterns repeated over time become muscle memory. Movement, stimulation of the muscle, and loading of the tis- sues over time creates strength patterns which may re-inforce the postural alignment issues. It is a little like the case of the chicken and the egg. After a while, it can be difficult to tell how much of the riding habit comes from body shape, and how much of the body shape comes from life and riding habits. After a long time, bones can even fuse or become shaped to the posture they have become used to. Your grandmother’s advice not to slouch or you would get stuck that way, is basically true if given enough slouching, and enough time. For example, a rider with shoulders that roll forward and down may also discover that
they tend to drive and sit with a slouch in their upper body. Because such a slouch tips the rider ‘on the forehand’, the body has to compen- sate by leaning the shoul- ders back. The rider’s head often looks like it is poking forward, and a hollow is created in the lower back. The forces and pulls through the back tend to drive the pelvis to a tipping for- ward, which virtually shuts down the lower abdominal and lower back sup- porting muscles.
on the upper trapezius muscle between the neck and shoulders, which much then contract and even thicken and develop stiff- ness to continually hold up the head and keep the body upright) 4. Loss of ability to have a driv- ing seat and clear half halts (the pelvis is locked down with seat bones escaping backwards, and core muscles are disengaged) 5. Tendency to pull the horse’s mouth toward the rider to achieve contact (pushing the hands toward the horse feels really awkward because the arms are so straight)
A rolled forward pelvis loses the ability to follow the horse’s motion correctly, because the seatbones are poked out behind rather than under the rider. The same rider often has a tendency to have rather straight arms because the thrown back shoulders force them to reach for the reins. The spine is kind of crumbling or collapsing downward with increasing curvature or bend in all three sections (neck, upper back (thoracic), lower back (lumbar).
Some other effects of a slouching posture with leaning back shoulders and hollow back are:
1. Loss of effectiveness in the legs (they have no ‘anchor’ for strength because the lower core muscles are not providing a strong base in the pelvis). 2. Lower back pain (the lumbar vertebrae experience far too much motion as the motion that was meant to be absorbed by the upper back and pelvis, is trans- ferred to the one area that still has movement)
3. Tension in the shoulders (the poking forward neck and rolled forward shoulders puts weight
6. Tendency toward not very good contact: straight arms with locked elbows cannot softly fol- low the horse’s motion. To compensate for having rigid
Figure 1
ages the horse to reach for the bit and bring his energy up over his back toward the bit.
The first figure shows a rider in a slightly collapsing position. This client is a compe- tent rider who Events. She has struggled with this position for many years, and was poorly set up for good posture by some poor hunter coaching at an early stage which taught her to hollow her back. A natural predisposi- tion toward the slouching upper back/shoulders also sets her up for a natural tendency to col- lapse in the saddle, if the prob- lem is not addressed.
The yellow line and arrow show the general shape of the spine, and direction that the seatbones point. The orange
sent in her core/trunk area. The postural issues and compensating patterns are not as visibly affecting her ride when she is jumping, as when she is doing flatwork.
There are exercises this rider can do to allow and encourage more straightness in her spine, which would result in better use of her core, and better seat position. The value of exercises is to train the body to carry and conduct itself correct- ly, without the rider having to consciously think about it. Regu- lar stretching and strengthening exercis- es designed to straighten her spine vertically will help. She can get immedi- ate results though, just by being aware of the slouch, and engaging muscles properly to better align her spine and pelvis.
In the second figure, the yellow line and arrow show sig- nificantly straighter spine and seatbone alignment. The green arrows point to a nice engagement of the lumbar muscles sup-
Part 1: A Straighter Back DECEMBER 2012 THE RIDER /15
in her back and shoulders. Watch next month’s online issue for the exercises recom- mended to help straighten and support the spine in a more upright posture, and for some additional ideas to help with hands that take better contact.
© By
EquiFITT.com Personal Fitness Training owner, Heather Sansom
Figure 2
connection with the horse’s mouth, the rider sensitive to their horse’s mouth tends to then have loose fingers in an attempt to be soft. The result is contact with the horse’s mouth that must feel like Morse Code to him- intermittent, and hard to know what’s coming next. Cer- tainly not a contact that encour-
arrows show a tilting back of her ribcage, which drives her shoulders back. You can see the reduced bend in the elbow which results. The red circles highlight areas where tension easily builds up in her ride as the muscles in those areas becomes tight from trying to create stability that is not pre-
porting her lower back (notice there is no more hollow), and a much nicer bend in her elbow. Notice that with better spine alignment she is able to put her feet more under her seat (as much as is possible on a fitness ball), and has lost the clear chair seat from the first picture. In addition to sitting more mindful of her posture in the saddle, exercises are recom- mended to help give her postu- ral muscles the stamina needed for riding, and to reduce the ten- sion that has build up over time
By Heather Sansom, Owner,
Equifitt.com Equestrian Fitness Training
EquiFITT.com Equestrian Fit- ness offers personal training, clinics & workshops, Centered Riding® instruction, and conve- nient online personal coaching for riders anywhere. Subscribe to receive free monthly Eques- trian Fittips, and download rider fitness ebooks at:
www.equifitt.com .
Canadian Cowboys Association East vs West at the Toronto Royal Rodeo
Canada’s largest Rodeo association pitted the best from western Canada against their top members from the east. Toronto’s Royal Rodeo
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was at near capacity as the fans cheered on the great cowboys and cowgirls. Amber Marshall (CBC Heartland) and Ross Millar hosted the rodeo from horseback in the arena capturing the excitement. Stuart Pletcher ; Joe Shaw and Joey Tardif provided stock assuring a great competition.
Barrel Racing average was won by Stephanie Leyzac, while Pole Bending saw Samantha Gray take the honour. Bareback was won by Pierre Boudreau while, Mark O Dempsey took his 3rd straight Saddle Bronc title. The Bull riding brought everyone to their feet as Cody Floyd put on 2 great rides to
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become the 2012 Royal Bull Riding champ. The people of Toronto embraced the show the Toronto Royal Fair wants to extend a thankful to everyone that made the Rodeo the success it was.
Norm Betts captured the excitement 1/ Stephanie Leyzac 2/ Cody Floyd
3/ Amber Marshall and Fans 4/ Samantha Gray 5/ Mark O Dempsey
6/ Amber Marshall was the co-host. 4 6 2 5
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