Something to think about whilst you ride
I talk about the rider being in self carriage a lot, it's a term I like as we use for our horses so we understand what that means and if we then think about that in the terms of a rider we can see that we need to have all the attributes of a horse in self carriage too; good balance, suppleness, strength, awareness, sensitivity and engagement.
When we have these things we then become the good rider our horse needs us to be in order to be able to achieve what we are asking of them. And when I say this I don't mean the fancy stuff, I mean the simple things of a transition that's achieved in a way that requires minimal pressure, or a balanced walk in a straight line. If the rider on top of the horse lacks self carriage when they are asking the horse to achieve even the basics of a walk in a straight line they will of course inhibit the horses ability to achieve said straight line, because the horse will be working to keep the rider on top of them and also keep their own balance.
If you have ever given someone a shoulder carry, you will know the feeling, if that person is wiggly, leaning, or not holding their own balance you will feel it immediately, this is because they are sitting directly over your centre of balance. We do the same on our horses, the position of our seat is directly over their centre of gravity, any shift from us affects them, good and bad.
So as you ride this week really have a think about your own responsibility to be in self carriage, how would that look and feel? Can you spot places within your riding that self carriage from you is lost, a transition for example or a turn?
Can you work on this until you know you are totally in control of your own balance at ALL times.
If you want to work on this off the horse head to the whole rider balance section.
Happy Playing
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