The Riding Instructor

Teach The Basics – Posture – Part 6

admin — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 23:19:48 +0000

Who would have thought that a series of posts on Basics would bring us to a discussion about how to improve your posture? But here we are, ready to place a stack of books on our heads and walk around the parlor.

Maybe we won’t go that far but admit it, we have become a nation of slouchers. In my last post I talked about posture awareness, evaluation and conviction. This post will deal with correction.

This topic particularly strikes home with me because recently I saw myself on video. We were documenting my work with Reno, a BLM mustang that we’ve recently adopted. Since Reno is just a yearling I got an eyeful of myself on foot. Head down and humble as I worked non aggressively, I realized I live watching my feet and rounding my shoulders. What a shocker. Reno has his own blog at http://www.fshrenoslegacy.net if you’re interested in the process of a wild horse baby becoming a pocket pony, but I promise the video is not there. It’s that bad.

You can’t have very strong core muscles when your head is down and your shoulders rounded. Try it. Living in the vertical fetal position spits in the eyeball of good posture.

One simple move, one simple command that we’ve heard and given over and over, makes vast improvements in the fetal posture. Open up your chest, put your shoulders back, and let them relax downward….or in my case “Shoulders Back!”. It’s amazing how the head follows……

But here’s a surprise… you can not effectively put the shoulders back, open the chest or what ever title you want to give this move, if your body is tight and unyielding.

Getting a massage is not going to correct your posture but it is a wonderful way to start to identify knots and to loosen up muscles. I’m always amazed at how much more easily I can get my foot to the stirrup for mounting once I’ve had a massage. A monthly massage is a great investment in your body and your health. Knots don’t stretch well.

Using my posture problem as an example I’m going to show you some things that will cause good improvement. These are not the final answer but they are the starting point and an intuitive instructor/rider will add work on other body parts to complete the effort towards good posture. For example, after I understand where my shoulders should correctly be (which corrects the head tremendously) then I can work on bringing my head back which will put me (the student) into a more correct situation to begin work on my core muscles. I hope that you will use this as a guide line for solving other rider posture situations.

Stretching is the key to flexibility, good posture and muscle control. A wise horseman will start stretching now and continue for ever. You need to stretch as badly (maybe even more than) your horse does. There is a direct relationship between the stretching and contraction of muscles. The older your student the more careful they must be about stretching but also, as a general rule, the older student will realize the benefits of stretch sooner than the young person will.

The book, “Stretching” by Bob Anderson, illustrated by Jean Anderson, is one of the best informational tools on stretching that I’ve ever found. It is easily worth its $19.95 price tag. Anderson gives you guidelines for basic stretches, stretches for particular parts of your body and then a stretching routine for activities for daily activities like gardening or sitting in front of your computer and there is a routine for most common sports, with 2 pages devoted to Equestrian Sports. I love the way this book shows you how to stretch each leg out on the side of your car. If you’re serious about stretching, look for “Stretching” by Bob Anderson. You can find it on line or even at your library. I’ve borrowed some illustrations from “Stretching” to give you an example of how to help yourself and your students. Several of these can be done on horse back. All of them can be assigned as “daily homework” to keep continuity and progress between lessons.

I like to start and end with this general stretch for the back.

from "Stretching" by Bob and Jean Anderson

This is a favorite of mine for shoulders back- obviously a dismounted exercise.

"Stretching" by Bob and Jean Anderson

Here is one most instructors know…

"Stretching" by Bob and Jean Anderson

Be sure to do both shoulders

Be sure to stretch both sides of the neck; The Single Shoulder Shrug

"Stretching" by Bob and Jean Anderson

I must give you the qualifying that I’m not a personal trainer, nor am I a Physical Therapist so any exercises are done at your own risk and of course it’s always a good idea to talk to a professional before starting . The purpose of showing you these particular stretches is to encourage you to investigate stretches to help particular problems in yours, or your students riding. Many corrections can be made without ever getting on the back of a horse. Adult students are more apt to do stretching exercises between and before lessons than children are but then again the adults will benefit more from stretching than limber kids will. Teaching stretches to children will help them to establish good routines at an early age.

And remember: the other part of the equation is determining to remind your self to practice good posture all day long.

Thank you for reading “The Riding Instructor”
Barbara Ellin Fox
If you want to be certain not to miss more good articles from The Riding Instructor, be sure to sign up for updates by filling out the simple red form on this page. And if you’re interested in horsemanship history, please visit my other blog “U.S. Horsemanship” at http://ushorsemanship.com/

Teach the Basics – Seat- part 5

admin — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 19:09:52 +0000

POSTURE:

Normally I can tell how a person will sit on a horse by how they sit in a chair, sit at their desk in school, stand when they are visiting, or when they are walking. Sometimes I have a pretty good idea of how you’re going to sit in the saddle as I watch you drive your car up my driveway.

Why? Because posture is a strongly developed physical behavior that translates into riding.

Notice I’m not talking about good posture or bad pasture. That’s because, either way, your posture reveals how you will initially sit, how you use your muscles, and how you line up your body.

THE FORMULA:
If a child spends most of 6 hours sitting at a desk or hauling around a too heavy book bag during school each day and and then another 3-4 hours sitting in front of the TV, at the computer, at a desk doing homework and at the dinner table, he or she has spent most of about 10 hours almost every day training muscles to respond in the pattern they unintentionally choose for their body. The adult adds to that more time in front of a computer, driving the car, sitting at a desk, and all of the other things that are part of adult life. We have a lifetime of training our bodies on a daily basis, for hours at a time, and then we come to our 1 hour riding lesson where our instructor wants us to sit up, sit evenly, and control our body with “core” muscles. No wonder it’s hard to do.

Heavy Back pack can cause poor posture and back problems

FIRST STEP: Awareness

We’ve created a dilemma for ourselves that isn’t going to be corrected by a few hours at the gym. The first step in changing how your normal posture effects your riding seat is “awareness”.

“Experts say that poor posture while sitting has become something of an epidemic in the United States. Eighty percent of Americans will cringe with back pain at some point in their lives, and back injuries prove the top reason for missed work, according to the National Institutes of Health.” see https://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=159108 . Let’s face it. Most of us have poor posture to some degree.

Poor posture leads to back pain, neck pain, poor breathing technique, head aches and weak stomach muscles, all things that effect your seat during riding. Add that anytime you sit with poor posture for any length of time you ‘re actually strengthening muscles and shaping spine into a new position.

And while we’re being truthful let’s admit it- we all have extended slouching periods- on the sofa watching a TV show, in the Laz E Boy, or just at the steering wheel of the car. I cringe when I see drivers who are obviously leaning on the console and spend much of their driving time in a crooked position.

Core Muscles

“The core body muscles, which include the muscles of the stomach or abdomen, are important in posture because they work in tandem with the muscles of the back to hold the body in correct alignment. Weak stomach muscles caused by excess fat, obesity or a lack of physical activity can cause incorrect posture. Conversely, poor posture can weaken these core abdominal muscles. Slouching and hunching over a laptop or desk does not use these muscles correctly, causing them to become slack and weakened over time.” Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/105010-consequences-poor-posture/#ixzz0tUJzH7P1

2ND STEP: Evaluation
If the first step in changing how your normal posture effects your riding seat is awareness, the second step is “evaluation”.

Personal evaluation isn’t hard and there are a lot of different things to do. When you sit at your computer, see if you feel yourself sitting heavier on one seat bone than the other. When you walk do you lead with one side of your body? When you sit in a chair do you support yourself with your stomach (core) muscles or do you roll on to your buttocks and round your back. When driving do you lean to one side or the other? When you sit at your desk do you lean on one arm more frequently? Stand with your back and hips touching the wall. Does it take the same effort to touch both shoulders to the wall? How about the hips? Hang a piece of butcher paper on the wall and ask a friend to mark your shoulders. Are they even? When standing, do you support your body with your core muscles? Also evaluate your stiffness from side to side and forward to back. Are you one sided? A lot of crooked riding is the result of a natural crooked tendency that has never been addressed off the horse making it almost impossible to change in the saddle.

One of the best posture evaluations I’ve ever had was done by a physical therapist. She rated my posture (which I thought was already pretty good) at only 85% because I jutted my head forward instead of holding my head over my body. This was probably due to years at my computer and watching my horses’ polls too much. Physical therapists are one of the best helps to your body for riding because they evaluate, give selected stretches and exercises, and then they evaluate again.

3RD STEP: Conviction
“Conviction” to correct posture flaws, break bad habits, and increase good muscle tone and flexibility should be the result of awareness and body evaluation. It takes a determined effort to break bad habits and replace them with good ones. My next blog will give you some ideas for good places to start training yourself in good posture.

Teach the Basics – Seat- Part 4

admin — Wed, 26 May 2010 20:14:15 +0000

By Barbara Ellin Fox

LONGING or LUNGING

Longing is often over looked in riding instruction programs. Good lunging horses take time to train and until recently the art of longing riders was not normally taught to American instructors. With USDF instructor prep classes, the teaching of longing the rider has been given more attention.

It’s well known that riders that enter the Spanish Riding School in Vienna are worked on the lunge line, without reins or stirrups for up to two years. This method permanently imbeds an educated independent seat as well as independent hands and legs to the riders. Because the riders start this way they carry with them an elegant and effective seat through their entire riding lives. Obviously things are handled differently in the US. We don’t have a central school and few riders are willing to be lunged for 2 years, but riders can still benefit from regular lunging lessons whether the lessons are in a series or periodically.

2 Important Requirements
The two most important requirements of lunge lessons are an excellent instructor and an excellent lunging horse. When you find one or the either you’re fortunate, but when you’ve found both be sure to buy up as many lesson slots as possible because this will be money well spent. If you are an excellent lunging instructor with wonderful lunging mounts, I’d encourage you to exploit this part of your ability both with students and student instructors.

Being lunged on a good horse by a good instructor is one of the safest learning atmospheres that a student can experience. The horse knows his job and is controlled by a person who knows their job. The instructor will regulate pace, rhythm, size of circle, and transitions leaving the rider the opportunity to concentrate fully on herself. This is the best environment for any level of rider to pay attention to detail. Because of the safe environment, lunging is also a great way to start beginners and to help rider’s who have confidence issues.

Since the instructor is literally feet away from the student she can work on the student’s whole seat from the bottoms of the feet to the top of the head longitudinally and laterally, allowing the rider to be in better balance and to move more harmoniously with the horse, developing rider awareness.

Exercise
Most lunging lessons involve “exercises”. Valuable exercises for the seat are all those that work toward suppling, alignment, and good posture because without these three things it’s impossible to have a good seat. Consequently even exercises that have eliminating stiffness as their main goal are valuable toward developing a good seat. Most of the exercises that are done off of the lunge line are suitable for lunging the rider; including neck stretches, arm circles, shoulder shrugs, toe touches, scissors, and sitting with knees up like a jockey in order to feel seat bones. Most instructors agree that legs away is one of their favorite seat developing exercises because it helps to stretch the tight hip area, a major stumbling block in developing a good seat.

Because the rider doesn’t use the reins during lunging, it’s easier to develop the idea that we don’t stop the horse with the reins. A good instructor will teach students how to stop the horse with their seat, once they’re capable of using seat correctly. Students also learn how various pelvis movements and pressure with either seat bone effect the way the horse moves and travels.

Expect to spend plenty of time on the lunge line without your stirrups. Riding without stirrups is one of the best methods for developing your seat. Having the opportunity to sit the trot, on a controlled and balanced lunging horse, while not using stirrups gives students a taste of the feeling that they will strive for on their own, off the line.

Students that wish to develop and effective and elegant seat would give themselves a gift by searching out an excellent lunging instructor with horses that are well trained. They should expect lunging lessons to be short, perhaps 20-30 minutes, because lunging a horse for a long period of time is strenuous on the animal. This might be a reason that good lunging lessons are hard to find. Students should also expect lunging lessons to cost at least as much as private lessons, perhaps more if they are used to having lessons on their own horse, since a specialized animal is required. It would be wise to ask if you may watch part of a lunging lesson before you book lessons with an instructor. It is very important that lunging lesson be taught by an excellent instructor with an excellent lunging horse. I can’t repeat this often enough. Lunge lessons on erratic horses or given by instructors who are inexperienced at lunging riders on horses can be unsatisfying and dangerous.

In my next post I’ll begin to take a look at some of the non conventional ways to develop a good seat.

Thank you for reading “The Riding Instructor”

Barbara Ellin Fox

If you want to be certain not to miss more good articles from The Riding Instructor, be sure to sign up for updates by filling out the simple red form on this page. And if you’re interested in horsemanship history, please visit my other blog “U.S. Horsemanship” at http://ushorsemanship.com/

Teach the Basics -Seat- Part 3

admin — Mon, 03 May 2010 23:12:24 +0000

My favorite way for riders to develop their seats is as old as riding a horse -

Ride Bareback
Nothing comes close to riding bareback for developing muscles, feel and balance on a horse. I recommend it for the young and the adult rider but I do have a few guidelines for safety and correct riding.
The Horse for Bareback:
Personality: Horses that are used for bareback riding should have angelic personalities. The should be patient, long suffering and not the slightest bit sneaky. The purpose in bareback riding is not to find out how tough your rider is but to give them the idea situation for a good situation and great seat development.
Size: Size suitability is another requirement. Ponies for smaller children and small horses for larger children and adults. Keep those wonderful 16 and 17 hand giants in the barn during bare back lessons. Most of the time the smaller animal is less intimidating.
And: nice broad back is a bonus, or at least a horse or pony who is in good flesh.
Gaits: the softer and more earthbound the gaits, the better. There is no need to jar your riders. They’ll have enough challenges with balance at first.

Be sure: that the horses are accustomed to being ridden bareback. This should only be a new experiencwe for 1 member of the partnership!

The Equipment for Bareback:
For the horse:
A snaffle bridle
A neck strap (an old stirrup leather works well)
I’m not in favor of bareback pads because they usually slip and because they defeat some of the purposes for riding bare back.

For the Rider
Helmet
Horse worthy footwear
Mounting block.
A NOTE about clothing. Depending on the type of program you’re running, this could be the time for casual clothing. Shorts work for bareback riding, although some people object to the little hairs that attach themselves to sweaty legs. My point is that this is not the time for for students to wear their good breeches or they may not be able to wash out that ring of dirt that develops during bareback riding.

Let’s Do It
Mounting
Mounting is always the first big challenge. And this is where prep work with exercises in previous lesson will pay off, especially one where students lay across the horse on their stomach. Kids usually have no difficulty with bareback mounting while adults always have reservations. It helps to have a spotter for mounting.

It’s like beginning all over again
For first timers, riding bareback is like beginning all over again. They feel less secure because they don’t have stirrups to help with side to side stability. And there is a softness to the horse’s back and movement in the skin that is quite different from sitting on a hard saddle.

Begin slowly.
Let your students get the feel of walking around the arena. Explain how to sit, that the torso is still supporting itself with a slight bit of tension in core muscles but that the legs may hang down with toes dropped in a relaxed manner. Have students also do a little bit of the riding work with heals down for variation and for muscle toning.

Practice halts and starting, just like in a beginner lesson and then add turn. Use your imagination and make the bareback lesson fun with games and challenges. Have riders do all of the basic exercises you would normally use in a lesson such as, toe touches, ankle circle, laying forward, laying back etc. They may even find some exercises easier without the saddle. Before too many lessons your class will be trotting and cantering, even jumping small fences.

Developing balance is one of the big benefits to riding bareback, as is learning to feel the muscles in the horse’s back at work. There are benefits for seat development too. With all of the helps of saddle and stirrups stripped away the rider will feel a more natural spot on the horse. This will automatically help to stretch tight hips and even up crooked seats. The instructor should watch the rider from front and behind to be sure the rider is sitting straight on the horse.

Since riding bareback cause a lot more stretching and involuntary muscle contractions, your adult riders might have a few sore muscles after bare back lessons.

Bareback riding shouldn’t be a one time experience. Incorporate it into your riding program as a unit or choose to have your students ride bare back once a month. The more they ride bare back the more they’ll begin to feel connected to the horse as oppose to just sitting on the horse. And the more they’ll begin to learn and feel through their seats.

Thanks for reading “The Riding Instructor”

Teach the Basics – Seat- Part 2

admin — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 21:15:32 +0000

Light Seat In light seat the rider sits on the crotch and upper thighs. The rider maintains more of a forward inclination of the upper body taking more weight on the thigh. This seat is used predominantly in riding that involves jumping such as forward seat, hunter seat and eventing and requires a shorter stirrup leather length than does the full seat. Light seat should not be confused with jumping position. Light seat is also a good seat to use on horses with cold backs and young/green horses whose backs are not ready for full seat work. It’s a good seat for general purpose riding. Sometimes the term half seat is interchangeable with light seat, but sometimes half seat is used to indicate jumping or galloping position. Half seat is one of the terms that doesn’t have a clear definition. In his book, “Hunter Seat Equitation”, George Morris refers to this seat as the crotch seat.

2 Point Position

Also known as jumping or galloping position, this position doesn’t actually involve the seat. The rider’s seat is clear of the saddle (although the seat remains close to the saddle without touching the saddle) and the weight is distributed from thigh through knee and calf to the ball of the foot on the stirrup. Because the rider’s seat is clear of the saddle, 2 point is the ideal seat for galloping cross country. The horse is not worn down from the constant bumping of the rider’s seat in the saddle. This allows the galloping horse to maintain a good rhythm, which in turn helps the horse to maintain pace and stamina.

2 point is the ideal seat for a forward moving horse who is not in a state of collection, as the rider’s weight is distributed over the horse’s shoulders. A strong base of support (thigh. leg, stirrup) is crucial to developing a 2 point position that is stable and flexible. The seat is dependent on maintaining three flexible angles; the ankle, the knee and the hip which all act as shock absorbers. Once the rider adds leaning on the horse’s neck in the form of crest release, done correctly or in correctly, the base of support is undermined. Care should be taken to learn to ride two point independently from leaning on the hands.

Two point is the same position that is used when jumping obstacles. For high or wide obstacles the flexible joints (ankle, knee, hip) accommodate the difficulty of the fence.

Darren Chiacchia in galloping position

First things first:

All of the basic building blocks of riding are important and unfortunately we can’t usually work on just one part of the puzzle at a time but we can focus on main goals. One of the main goals for the rider during the whole process of learning to ride is to disturb the horse the least. In other words, we’re working at not causing the horse pain or discomfort. This is why beginners are frequently taught on a lead line. It’s also why beginners should ride in enclosures with good footing. It’s important to be able to control the pace of the horse in order to keep the rider from losing balance to drastically and bumping around in the saddle.

Another main goal is to develop a seat that’s independent from the hands. Independent hands and seat mean that the hands don’t move just because the seat moved, and that the rider can use their hands without having to move their seat. We’ve all seen riders who lose their balance and hang on the horse’s mouth or riders whose hands move up and down in rhythm to their posting. This is aggravating and painful for the horse. But developing a good seat involves even more than becoming independent of the hands. It includes learning how to sit straight in the saddle, how to feel the rhythm of the horse and how to ride softly and lightly. All things that take effort and time on the part of the rider and instructor. It’s not enough just to pay attention and try hard at lessons. A good seat is developed by spending many quality hours in the saddle. Once it’s developed, a good seat falls into the “use it or lose it category” and maintenance becomes a concern.

In my next posts we’ll begin to explore how to develop a good seat through traditional and non traditional methods.

Thanks for reading “The Riding Instructor”