15 exercises to improve your posture

15 exercises to improve your posture

Many riders don’t even realize how confusing and conflicting their signals and commands can be. This article describes the most common problems encountered by many horse riders and athletes. Although we have divided the suggested exercises into separate groups (for the body, legs, arms), keep in mind that all our controls are always interconnected and only work correctly when we use them in combination.

Before training

Before doing these exercises, ask someone to observe you and tell you about your visible mistakes and weaknesses.

Some of the exercises require a very calm and adequate horse. If you are unsure if your horse is suitable for the exercise, try starting in the barrel, in an indoor arena, or even on the lunge with an experienced lunge.

Remember that the horse needs time to get used to everything new. Whenever you change the principles of action and commands, you have to wait until the horse learns to respond correctly to them. Don’t expect immediate results. Just repeat the set of messages until you start getting the right reaction from the horse in response.

Note that your own body will also need a lot of repetitions in order to develop the muscle memory and strength needed to execute new commands. It is advisable to include these exercises in the daily training program and perform several approaches per session.

One more piece of advice worth paying attention to before starting to consider the exercises: work more at a gallop. Riders usually spend most of their time doing the exercises in the trot, but as will be explained below, some of your skills can be improved more effectively in the canter.

WORK ON HANDS

Beginning riders often strive to control everything with their hands, but they achieve the opposite effect. After all, the less hands we use when working with a horse, the better the result.

By learning to use your legs and body when interacting with your horse, you will free your hands for more important and complex work.

Let’s take a look at some of the errors and how to fix them.

Mistake 1: HARD HAND. If your shoulders, elbows, and wrists are tight, you won’t be able to follow the movements of your horse’s head smoothly enough to maintain proper contact with his mouth. When the horse moves his head and your hands remain fixed in place, you will pull the horse by the mouth as he moves his head forward, but when he returns his head back, the reins will sag. As a result, there can be no talk of any contact.

Correction exercise.

The horse must walk. Spread your hands about 45 cm apart from each other. Concentrate on the head and neck of the horse, on their forward and backward oscillations that accompany each step. Keep soft but steady contact with your mouth, pay attention to the work of your elbows. You must open and close your elbows to allow your hand to follow the horse’s mouth. Don’t let the reins slack or pull too hard. Use your legs to keep the movement moving, do not let the horse change the rhythm or stop. When going through turns and circles, do not touch the reins to the horse’s neck. Then do this exercise at a trot and canter. At a trot, there will be no head and neck oscillation, but at a canter, they will follow each pace. Focus on the position of your shoulders and elbows, keep supple and soft, follow the movement of the horse’s head and neck. Ask an assistant to observe you and tell you if the contact of the rein with the mouth is stable or if the rein periodically sags, then stretches. When you put your hands in place (10-13 cm apart), continue to monitor the elasticity and retention contact.

Mistake 2: HANDS TOO STRONG. Riders often use the reins with excessive force. The reasons for this are various: fear that the horse will get out of control and smash, lack of balance and the need to support yourself by the reins, inability to work the leg (most often). Most horses respond to excessive pressure by pushing back and leaning on the reins. And believe me, you won’t be the winner in this tug of war – your opponent is much stronger.

Correction exercise.

To correct this problem, try to ride holding the reins like a rein (the rein enters the hand from above under the thumb and exits below the little finger). This will reduce the force you have on the horse’s mouth. Do the exercise at the walk and then lift the horse into a trot and a canter. You will understand what to cling to the occasion not necessarily, the horse works great. So you can remove your “grip”, which could have been formed already at the level of instinct.

Try to combine the first and second exercises!

Mistake 3: TROUBLED HANDS. Any extra movement distracts and confuses the horse. In addition, when she has “too much noise” in her mouth, she stops understanding you and responding to subtle commands.

Correction exercise.

Work in all three gaits, holding a short whip in your hands, under your thumbs, in a horizontal position. This will keep your arms still and parallel to the horse’s neck.

Mistake 4: CRASH IN THE LINE OF THE WRIST Any creases and twists in your wrists prevent you from giving the horse the right commands: a straight line is bent, providing a connection between hand and mouth. The horse does not understand you, and you, in turn, do not hear the horse.

Correction exercise.

The fix is ​​to fix the wrist in the correct position (bar) and ride in three gaits. Practice this method until you have muscle memory and your wrist is aligned in the desired position.

Mistake 5: TOO LONG REASON.

A long rein makes it impossible to maintain stable, uninterrupted contact with the horse. There are gaps in your communication.

Correction exercise.

Move the horse into a walk. Ask your assistant to tell you when the length of your reins is optimal. Stop and make appropriate marks on both reins – they will be your marker for the correct rein length. In the future, make sure that your brushes do not allow the occasion to slip over the marks.

Mistake 6: WIDE SPECTED HANDS. Seen from above, the snaffle, rein, hand and forearm should form a straight line. If your hands are set wide apart, you break this straight line, which means that you break contact with the horse’s mouth.

Correction exercise.

Riding in three gaits with a snaffle in hand. Take any snaffle (preferably without a mustache), hold it between your thumbs and forefingers along with the rein. Work on the walk, trot and canter.

WORK ON THE LEGS

A stable and stable foot position is the key to a rider’s progress. When your foot is placed correctly, you can subtly and subtly control the horse’s movements. Also, the horse will “hear” and understand your leg better. You will not need to put in a lot of effort to get a response from her.

Mistake 7: LEG GOING FORWARD OR BACK. From the position of your foot depends on the control of the gaits, pace, rhythm of the horse. If the leg is in the wrong position, you give conflicting commands. Your legs can disturb the horse and confuse him.

Ideally, your leg should be directly under your body. If it goes back, then the body will fall forward, if it goes forward, then the body will fall back.

Even on hot and nervous the horse’s leg should be kept in the correct position and in contact with the side. Otherwise, when the leg falls into place and is included in the expelling work, the hot horse will be frightened and jump out from under you forward. The leg on the side must be stable so as not to frighten the horse by its sudden appearance in one place or another.

Your leaning back body will confuse the horse, because when you send him forward with your legs and loins, the body will give him the command to stand.

The following three exercises will allow you to stabilize your legs in the correct position while improving the quality of your core control.

Tip for fixing (1).

First check the length of the stirrups. With your feet hanging down freely, the base of the stirrup should be against your ankle. If the leg goes forward, your stirrups may be too long, if back, too short. Keep in mind that the length of stirrups for young riders should change as they grow!

Correction exercise (2).

Try both of the following exercises at the trot to test your ability to control your body and legs, and to work on strengthening and improving your leg position.

At the trot, for each beat, change the leg under which you are easing. First sit for two pushes and get up for one. This will teach you not to go ahead of the horse’s movement. Then sit for one push and ease for two pushes, this will help you learn to keep up with the horse’s movements.

Correction exercise (3). Start by stopping. Sit in a two-point position with your weight balanced over your shins and heels. To balance yourself, you can grab the horse’s mane. Rhythmically count to four and stand in the stirrups on a straight leg, relaxing it so that the heels go down, count to four again and return to two-point landing. Now count to four and bend over the horse’s neck from a two-point position, reach for the horse’s ears with your hands, and pick up the reins. Keep your balance, do not let your lower leg move, but do not press it into the side of the horse. Count to four again and return back to the two-point position. Carefully control your hands so that when you change positions don’t pull the horse occasion for the mouth.

Repeat this exercise several times. Then try it at the walk, then at the trot and then at the canter if you feel confident and comfortable. You can also play with the speed of the gaits, controlling the contraction and extension of the swings with your feet. More advanced riders can synchronize the exercise with the horse’s cantering pace.

Mistake 8: THE HORSE DOES NOT RESPOND TO THE FEET. This behavior may be the result of laziness and lack of respect for the rider, which in turn may be due to the rider’s misuse of propulsion and overuse of spurs. The clearest sign of processing with spurs is worn places on the sides of the horse.

Correction exercise.

Try to do without spurs, take a whip. Make sure the horse understands his action correctly. Ask her to step up from a stop by lightly pinching her legs and moving her lower back. Make two sends in a row. If there is no reaction, apply the whip with the foot for the third time: let the slap be unexpected, the horse may rise to a gallop. It is very important to work the whip so that you do not have to use it twice. You can also accompany this third message with sound (click your tongue, etc.). If the next attempt to send the horse to walk succeeds (horse reacts to the first message of the leg), then you did it, praise her. You may need to remind your horse of this lesson a couple more times during the week. But be careful: you must use the whip correctly! If you tickle the horse, you will have to apply it a second, third time in a session, and as a result, the horse will get used to it in the same way as to the spur.

WORK ON THE BODY The role of the body in the management of the horse is difficult to overestimate. By shifting your balance forward, you can force the horse to move forward and build up speed. By shifting your weight back, you are asking the horse to narrow the frame, slow down, or step into a walk. Turning the body, you ask the horse to make a turn.

As you improve your riding skills, you will learn to use your body so that you can balance the horse in turns, collect it, perform more complex elements such as lateral movements, etc.

Error 9: The rider uses a lot of rein and does not use the loin and body for stops, cuts and downward transitions. If you can’t get your horse to walk from a trot without using the reins, you need to work on your seat.

Correction exercise. Do it at the posting trot. Hold up every time you get into the saddle, and sit longer and longer each time. Support the movement with your leg. If the horse does not slow down, use the reins softly and firmly. Ask her to shorten the trot and move into a walk. You can add a voice command. Use this exercise every time you have falling transitions and stops. Before turning on the reins, work with the body. Over time, the horse will learn to go from trot to walk, from canter to trot or walk, to stop only from the action of your body.

Mistake 10: TOO MUCH LANDING

When you sit deep and shift your weight back, this is the signal for the horse to slow down. This position is good when riding a shy and pushing horse, or when approaching an obstacle if the horse is carrying to the barrier. But if you have to use this kind of influence all over the place, both at home training and in competition, this is a sign of a lack of trust between you and the horse.

Correction exercise.

Use the above leg exercises to teach your horse not to be afraid of the presence of a leg on his side, to perceive it correctly and adequately, and not to fly forward only when he feels a slight pressure.

Mistake 11: TOO MUCH RIDING IN A TWO-POINT POSITION. Riding in a two-point position will help you strengthen your legs and develop balance, but it will never help you find your place in the saddle.

Correction exercise.

Classes in the arena without stirrups. One way or another, you will be forced to sit deeper in the saddle, center and work with the body to interact with the horse.

OVERCOMING OBSTACLES

The next couple of exercises are performed while overcoming obstacles.

Error 12: If your horse races after a jump or starts to buck, then he is obviously trying to tell you that you are working too hard on the reins on the hurdle or on the take-off or landing. Also, your unstable body can interfere with the horse, which prevents it from jumping, knocking it off balance, perhaps you fall into the saddle on landing.

Correction exercise (1).

To restore your horse’s confidence, forget about routes for a while and get busy jumping single hurdles, one at a time. On landing, focus on not pulling on the reins. Do a couple of paces straight ahead and go a volt. Volt will slow down the horse. Repeat this exercise several times, changing the direction of the volt after the jump and the direction of the approaches to the obstacle. Then add barriers. After each obstacle, go for a volt until the horse won’t slow down. After that, direct it to the next barrier. Gradually, the horse will stop breaking, and you will stop hanging on her reins, trying to prevent breaking. Experiment with directions and approaches so your horse doesn’t get bored with the same routine.

Correction exercise (2).

This exercise is connected with the passage of rows at the trot. By training in the rows, you can improve your balance and learn to follow the horse in the jump. Doing the exercise for no reason will help you learn to rely less on your hands.

You will need an assistant who will complete the row during the lesson. If you don’t trust the horse and can’t jump for no reason, ask an assistant to lunge you and work on the cavaletti raised to its maximum height. A kind of springgarten can also help you: fence your line on both sides so that the horse does not have the opportunity to leave the line. In the center of the arena, line up a row of 3-6 (no more) low Chukhons located at a distance of 3 meters from each other. At the entrance, place a pole at a distance of 2,45 m from the first Chukhon or a series of 3-4 poles or cavaletti, located at a distance of 1,2 m from each other. Cavaletti or a pole in front of the first chink is also placed at a distance of 2,45 m. After the last chink (after 3 m), put a pole between two racks. In the future, your assistant will make it an additional obstacle in the row.

Enter the line at a trot. If you do not have enough experience, immediately sit in two-point landing. So you will not fall behind the horse on the first jump. If you get into a two-point position before the take-off, you will provoke the horse to pick up the pace, and he will not hit the optimal take-off point. So either get into a jump position before entering the lane turn, or if you are an experienced rider, wait for the jump.

Change direction every time you enter and exit a row. After you have passed the row of three hurdles a few times, have your helper add another hurdle and place a new pole behind it between the uprights. Keep jumping the row until the number of obstacles reaches six.

Further, if you trust your horse and can jump without a rein, tie it up so that it does not hang down and the horse does not get tangled in it. Then go into the row holding the rein knot. On the last cavaletti, release it and spread your arms out to the sides. Put your hands behind your head next time (this is especially helpful if you’re holding on to your shoulders).

If you tend to lag behind the movement, bend your elbows, turn your elbows forward and keep them in front of you. The hands should touch your ears.

Your forward thrust with body and leg improves hands folded behind the back.

More experienced riders can try the following exercises.. 1. If you tend to get ahead of the horse, alternate rotations with one and the other hand over each jump. On the first – left hand rotation back, on the second – right rotation back, etc.

2. If you often fall behind the horse, do the same exercise, rotating your arms forward. This exercise is very effective if you practice it with another rider. In turn, overcome the row, The one who does not jump instructs the jumper in what position the hands should be in a particular obstacle. Command should be quick so that the rider has time to change the position of the hands.

Boo Major; translation by Valeria Smirnova (a source)

• Elena Veselova 28 February 2020 city

  Great article Reply