Balance, Confidence, Harmony Part 2 ~ Balance Leads the Way
Finding balance in the saddle is a lifelong quest for many. As a rider, there is no skill more important than learning to sit in perfect balance. As I’ve said before, with great balance you will find confidence and harmony, but all the confidence in the world won’t get you to harmony without excellent rider balance.
All that “heels down, sit up straight, lengthen your leg, lean forward, lean back, etc., etc., etc., " ad naseum is really your instructors way to get you to experience the state of good balance so that eventually you can find your way there on your own. I have found, over years of teaching, that after one gets past the very basics of staying on the horses back; there are some techniques that do help speed you on your path towards perfect balance. Often these involve non-mounted exercises - what I call homework. For many, the idea of connecting homework with riding is about as appealing as eating a live toad, but I assure you that it is much easier and will definitely get you closer to perfect balance faster. Which, by the way, means less struggle and sore muscles for you and your horse.
The brain needs a certain number of repetitions of any thought/movement combination before your body can “automatically” reproduce that combination. If you can create that pattern and practice it unmounted, it will be there for you to call on when you are mounted. Maintaining good balance while posting is a challenge to many riders, novice and experienced alike. When you don’t maintain balance, often, the reins are used as a balance aid and that BCH circle spirals down. I’m going to give you a balance exercise that you can practice at home to make your journey to great balance a little faster. Even if you do not post the trot, this exercise can be modified to work for you.
For exercise one you’ll need a full-length mirror, a stool or chair and some books. You’ll also need the assistance of an instructor in your sport, or a friend with a good eye for about five minutes. After you’ve got the hang of it, music comes in handy.
First, with your helper, view the horse from the side with the saddle on. The saddle must sit level on the horse in order for you to establish good balance. If it doesn’t, this I the time to use shim pads, or get a new saddle that fits your horse correctly. Now have your helper stand to the side and help you establish the top point of your rise. This should be when you are standing almost vertical in the saddle with just enough bend in hips and knees to be springy, and with the sole of your foot parallel to the ground. Then, sit, with the part of your heiney that folds, underneath your buttocks, touching down in the lowest part of the saddle. Now ask your
helper to measure how far back and how far down this distance is. You don’t need a ruler (though it helps) a string, a stick, or a hands width will do. But some measure should be taken and recorded that you can take with you.
This is where a chair, or stool comes in. Get yours, with some books, saddle pads, wood, what ever is handy to add or decrease the height of your stool or chair. Have your helper position you in front of the stool or chair, adjust the height and your distance until you have recreated the height and distance you measured that your heiney has to travel to touch down from the top of your rise to the lowest part of the saddle.
Have your helper stand 5 or 6 feet away and view you directly from the side. Stand with your feet as far apart as they are when you are in the saddle. Let your upper arms dangle straight down out of your shoulder joints, bend your elbows and hold your hands out in front of you as though you were holding the reins in perfect position. Now reach down and back with your derriere and touch, but don’t sit on your chair or stool. Have your helper watch and help you to make sure that you repeat the movement as you did while mounted. Repeat at least 40 times. This is very important, as that is a minimum number of times for you to be able to remember it.
Now you can take your rise and fall measurement, go home, and recreate this exercise at home in front of the mirror. Begin by going slowly, watching carefully. Be sure to keep your feet flat on the ground. After you can repeat the movement consistently, speed up.
Then turn on the music, and “dance”/post to the rhythm of the music. This will imprint the thought/movement combination in your brain, and will help you learn to recognize, repeat and maintain a rhythm or a tempo.
Let me say here that many very experienced riders do not post the trot in balance. Try this exercise and see if
All that “heels down, sit up straight, lengthen your leg, lean forward, lean back, etc., etc., etc., " ad naseum is really your instructors way to get you to experience the state of good balance so that eventually you can find your way there on your own. I have found, over years of teaching, that after one gets past the very basics of staying on the horses back; there are some techniques that do help speed you on your path towards perfect balance. Often these involve non-mounted exercises - what I call homework. For many, the idea of connecting homework with riding is about as appealing as eating a live toad, but I assure you that it is much easier and will definitely get you closer to perfect balance faster. Which, by the way, means less struggle and sore muscles for you and your horse.
The brain needs a certain number of repetitions of any thought/movement combination before your body can “automatically” reproduce that combination. If you can create that pattern and practice it unmounted, it will be there for you to call on when you are mounted. Maintaining good balance while posting is a challenge to many riders, novice and experienced alike. When you don’t maintain balance, often, the reins are used as a balance aid and that BCH circle spirals down. I’m going to give you a balance exercise that you can practice at home to make your journey to great balance a little faster. Even if you do not post the trot, this exercise can be modified to work for you.
For exercise one you’ll need a full-length mirror, a stool or chair and some books. You’ll also need the assistance of an instructor in your sport, or a friend with a good eye for about five minutes. After you’ve got the hang of it, music comes in handy.
First, with your helper, view the horse from the side with the saddle on. The saddle must sit level on the horse in order for you to establish good balance. If it doesn’t, this I the time to use shim pads, or get a new saddle that fits your horse correctly. Now have your helper stand to the side and help you establish the top point of your rise. This should be when you are standing almost vertical in the saddle with just enough bend in hips and knees to be springy, and with the sole of your foot parallel to the ground. Then, sit, with the part of your heiney that folds, underneath your buttocks, touching down in the lowest part of the saddle. Now ask your
helper to measure how far back and how far down this distance is. You don’t need a ruler (though it helps) a string, a stick, or a hands width will do. But some measure should be taken and recorded that you can take with you.
This is where a chair, or stool comes in. Get yours, with some books, saddle pads, wood, what ever is handy to add or decrease the height of your stool or chair. Have your helper position you in front of the stool or chair, adjust the height and your distance until you have recreated the height and distance you measured that your heiney has to travel to touch down from the top of your rise to the lowest part of the saddle.
Have your helper stand 5 or 6 feet away and view you directly from the side. Stand with your feet as far apart as they are when you are in the saddle. Let your upper arms dangle straight down out of your shoulder joints, bend your elbows and hold your hands out in front of you as though you were holding the reins in perfect position. Now reach down and back with your derriere and touch, but don’t sit on your chair or stool. Have your helper watch and help you to make sure that you repeat the movement as you did while mounted. Repeat at least 40 times. This is very important, as that is a minimum number of times for you to be able to remember it.
Now you can take your rise and fall measurement, go home, and recreate this exercise at home in front of the mirror. Begin by going slowly, watching carefully. Be sure to keep your feet flat on the ground. After you can repeat the movement consistently, speed up.
Then turn on the music, and “dance”/post to the rhythm of the music. This will imprint the thought/movement combination in your brain, and will help you learn to recognize, repeat and maintain a rhythm or a tempo.
Let me say here that many very experienced riders do not post the trot in balance. Try this exercise and see if
1) your saddle is level on the horse. 2) your heiney touches down in the lowest part of the saddle 3) your feet stay still and level while you post. If any of these common bugaboos are part of your current posting trot, they are interfering with your progress and the comfort of you and your horse. Practice the whole exercise until you’ve really got the feel. Then try to recreate the new balance while riding. It can actually be more challenging for the experienced rider to change their balance for the better than for the novice rider to begin properly. Keep practicing off and on the horse and your posting trot will become more effortless. Your horse will thank you.
Now for those of you who do not post the trot, here’s how you can use this exercise to your advantage. If you don’t post, your position in the saddle should essentially be vertical. Have your knowledgeable helper make sure that your saddle sits level on the horse. Then stand in the position described above. Your shoulders should be directly above your hips, and a plumb line dropped from the center of your hip (viewed from the side) should graze the back of your heel. Your hips and knees should be bent. Now practice bouncing elastically up and down just an inch or two. Music is helpful for keeping a rhythm. When you can bounce elastically and follow the rhythm for several minutes, its time to add the motion of the trot. Find a place where
you can skip – just like you did as a child. Skip around for a couple of minutes, and notice the movement created in your back and hips. The movement of the skip and the movement of the trot both raise one hip at a time with a moment of suspension in between. Now go back to your stance and the music and recreate the sensation in your hips which was created by skipping. Don’t move your feet, keep your knees and hips elastic and slightly bent, and let your hips move one at a time. After you’ve got this exercise mastered your sitting trot will be lots more fun for you and your horse.
If you ride gaited horses, follow the directions for finding central, vertical balance. Then recreate the motion of the horses back. This varies from gaited horse to gaited horse. It can be a circling with the bottom of each sitting bone, one hip at a time. It can be a side-to-side motion, one hip at a time, or it can be one hip drops at a time – like the trot, but with no suspension. The key is to notice which your horse does, then recreate it while you are standing sideways in front of the mirror so that you can experience good balance and imprint it in your brain.
Excellent balance is one of the keys to admirable riding. Excellent balance makes the whole experience of riding more effortless for rider and horse. Excellent balance gives you the power to improve your horse’s balance – leading to lightness. Excellent balance is the key to the doorway of improvement in every area of riding. Excellent balance leads you and your horse into the unending circle of balance, confidence and harmony, constantly spiraling upward towards ease, grace, and en-light-enment. Excellent balance is worth every moment that you spend developing it.
Now for those of you who do not post the trot, here’s how you can use this exercise to your advantage. If you don’t post, your position in the saddle should essentially be vertical. Have your knowledgeable helper make sure that your saddle sits level on the horse. Then stand in the position described above. Your shoulders should be directly above your hips, and a plumb line dropped from the center of your hip (viewed from the side) should graze the back of your heel. Your hips and knees should be bent. Now practice bouncing elastically up and down just an inch or two. Music is helpful for keeping a rhythm. When you can bounce elastically and follow the rhythm for several minutes, its time to add the motion of the trot. Find a place where
you can skip – just like you did as a child. Skip around for a couple of minutes, and notice the movement created in your back and hips. The movement of the skip and the movement of the trot both raise one hip at a time with a moment of suspension in between. Now go back to your stance and the music and recreate the sensation in your hips which was created by skipping. Don’t move your feet, keep your knees and hips elastic and slightly bent, and let your hips move one at a time. After you’ve got this exercise mastered your sitting trot will be lots more fun for you and your horse.
If you ride gaited horses, follow the directions for finding central, vertical balance. Then recreate the motion of the horses back. This varies from gaited horse to gaited horse. It can be a circling with the bottom of each sitting bone, one hip at a time. It can be a side-to-side motion, one hip at a time, or it can be one hip drops at a time – like the trot, but with no suspension. The key is to notice which your horse does, then recreate it while you are standing sideways in front of the mirror so that you can experience good balance and imprint it in your brain.
Excellent balance is one of the keys to admirable riding. Excellent balance makes the whole experience of riding more effortless for rider and horse. Excellent balance gives you the power to improve your horse’s balance – leading to lightness. Excellent balance is the key to the doorway of improvement in every area of riding. Excellent balance leads you and your horse into the unending circle of balance, confidence and harmony, constantly spiraling upward towards ease, grace, and en-light-enment. Excellent balance is worth every moment that you spend developing it.
