Riding skills training: learning to follow the movements of the horse

Riding skills training: learning to follow the movements of the horse

The ability to follow the movements of the horse without jumping in the saddle, without clinging to the sides of the horse with their legs, without trying to hold on to the reins, without falling forward or backward is a basic skill that the rider must master before he can properly influence his horse in a coordinated and consistent manner. using controls.

Let’s start with biomechanics

All of our joints connect and work in sequence, they must move so that we can follow the movements of the horse. However, because the sitting bones (the lowest points of the pelvic girdle, which are part of the anatomy of the hip joints) are in direct contact with the horse’s back, our hips absorb more of the horse’s movement than any other joint.

The core muscles of the rider, which support the lower back and abdomen, must be strong and strong enough to allow the hips to move with the horse’s upward movement. The thigh muscles should be long and relaxed, requiring extra stretch in the hip flexors and strength in the hamstrings. The knee and ankle joints should also be relaxed. With complete relaxation of the muscles from thigh to toe, you allow the hips to move to follow the vibrations of your horse’s back. Muscle tension, such as in the knees or ankles, locks the hips and the rider begins to bounce off the saddle.

With our hips in a neutral position during the stop, the spine should be straight and the back flat. The hips should not go forward (bent back) or back (back “wheel”). From a neutral position, the hip simply moves forward and up towards the hand with each step of the horse. The hip moves in all three gaits, which differ from each other in the amount of oscillation and rhythm. ATaligning the ear, shoulder, hip and heel into one perpendicular line to the ground is easy while the horse is standing still or walking. But maintaining it at the trot and canter becomes a problem for many riders.

Since all joints are interconnected, you can experience the principles of hip movement by moving other parts of the body. To become aware of how the hips move forward and up from the ground, stand with your back and heels touching the wall, and then try to move the hip forward by tensing the upper and lower abdominal muscles. This may seem like a simple exercise, but not all riders can swing their hips forward without contracting other muscles.

Riders with weak abs or strong glutes often try to use them to move the hip. Stiff gluteal muscles cause the rider to bounce off the saddle. If you have weak core muscles, learning how to move your hips correctly will be difficult. Core strength exercises that can be done out of the saddle can help.

Don’t confuse force with stress! Strength is the ability to use a muscle without tension. Voltage usually has two sources.

1. Riders who are afraid or feel insecure may tense their muscles and cling to the horse in an attempt to prevent it from bouncing off the saddle and take control of the situation. However, this tension only causes more rebound from the saddle. In a biomechanical irony, such riders might feel safer if they could relax their muscles, because that would allow their joints to flex and their hips to move. At the same time, they themselves would be able to stay in rhythm with the horse.

2. Riders with weak muscles often tense them to compensate for their lack of strength. Strong but relaxed muscles are supple and loose and allow the rider’s hip joints to absorb the movement of the horse. At the same time, its balanced position above the center of gravity of the horse is maintained. If the muscles of the core, hips and pelvis are weak or tense, they will become enslaved. This will encourage the rider to bounce off the saddle with every stride.

Stiffness can also be a consequence of age or genetics. If you do not regularly perform active stretching exercises, a person begins to lose flexibility, starting at the age of 16. It is good at the same time that it is possible to return it, albeit over time, by resuming training. Some people simply have stiff or tight muscles by nature. However, they can achieve greater flexibility. Especially good for yoga riders. Not only does she include particularly beneficial stretching exercises in her program, but she also teaches rhythmic breathing, which helps riders relax and relieve muscle tension.

It should be noted that extreme flexibility can also work against the rider. Some very flexible riders do not have the necessary strength. They are relaxed enough to follow the horse’s movements, but lack the strong muscles needed to stay organized while coordinating and applying controls.

All riders have strengths and weaknesses to work with. Practice and diligent training will allow anyone who really wants to learn to follow the movements of the horse.

How to feel the movement?

“Following the motion” does not mean that the rider can simply sit passively and relaxed on the horse, allowing it to move his body with her body. “Following the motions” is an active muscular activity that aligns your rhythm with the rhythm of the horse and harmonizes both of you. The rider must be aware of how the various parts of his body work. He needs to ride in balance, using elastic, athletic muscle tension that helps him stay in balance rather than straining to grab onto the horse.

A good instructor will select for the rider training horses that can help him at any stage of his training. A good teacher can help the rider become more relaxed and balanced so he can learn to follow the horse’s movement. The most important role in such work is assigned to the work of the rider on the lunge.

Understanding the principles of movement can come easily to you. But putting your knowledge into practice requires hard work and mental concentration. You will have to spend many hours in the saddle on many different horses. At various times, you will achieve something on one horse, but on the other, you will feel like an absolute beginner. It’s important to listen to the responses you get from each horse. This will help you identify your weaknesses.

Horse reaction tells you if you follow her movements correctly. When the rider is ahead of the horse’s movement or late, he disturbs his balance. The horse is trying to correct this, as he wants to feel comfortable and be in balance.

If you fall behind the movement, the horse will either take it as a message and speed up, or slow down, perhaps even stop, as he tries to align you with his center of gravity so that he is most comfortable carrying your weight. Most riders tend to fall behind the traffic.

Our experience with students shows that with two training sessions a day (!) it will take a rider about a year to develop the necessary skills and muscles to be able to ride all three gaits first, relaxed; secondly, in balance; and thirdly, following the movement of the horse. There will be times during this year when the rider can easily reach all three of these goals at the walk, but it will be really difficult for him to stay above the horse’s center of gravity at the trot. Or there will be no problem at the walk and trot, but there will be a problem with achieving the right degree of physical relaxation at the canter, which will make it possible to accompany the horse’s movements in both directions.

It is normal if you do not move from a certain level in your progress for a long time. Just remember that everyone develops differently, and even if it takes you longer to take one step, you can get through the next two or three very quickly. Be prepared for stagnation and don’t be discouraged when you encounter it. Work on changing and understanding your own body is very difficult both physiologically and psychologically.

Many times, in the name of progress and development, you will have to give up a certain level of control that you have achieved and start over. Thus, the rider who grabs the horse to stay in the saddle eventually begins to feel that he is “balanced”. However, if he is going to achieve a truly independent landing, he will have to give up the “safety” associated with “grabbing” and learn to ride relaxed and with true balance. Until he does this, he will not be able to follow the movement of the horse. The irony is that when he abandons his old “capture” technique, his “progress” will move back for a while. This frustrates many riders and makes it difficult to make the decision to give up bad riding habits. It’s hard to lose control…

So, let’s talk about how to learn to accompany the movements of the horse!

Follow the horse’s walk

Most riders pick up on their feelings quickly and are up to the task of following the horse’s movements at the walk. The walk has no suspension phase, so the rider is never kicked off the saddle and therefore does not need to hook his hips into the sides of the horse to maintain his position in the saddle.

1. Start by feeling a “neutral” position in your hips as you stop (spine straight, back straight). Your If your lower back is arched, your hips will move forward. If it is rounded, your hips go back. Your ear, shoulder, hip, and heel should all line up perpendicular to the ground.

2. When the horse is moving four beats, walk, try to feel the vibration of his hips. As the horse’s hind leg leaves the ground, your hip on that side will feel a slight forward and upward movement. When the horse’s hind foot hits the ground, your hip will drop down and back. Relax your hips and let them move with the horse’s hips.

3. Try to keep your hips “long” and relaxed. If you grab the horse’s hips with your hips, it will be difficult for you to feel the “forward and up” and “back and down” vibrations of his hips. Close your eyes and focus on your feelings. Feel how your sitting bones move with the horse’s hips.

4. As your hips oscillate left and right, try not to “sit left” or “sit right.” This shift in seat bone pressure will shorten the horse’s stride and slow it down. Without any muscle tension, let the left hip swing forward, then the right. This will encourage the horse to move forward with an active stride.

5. Once you feel these vibrations and can follow them into the walk without any interference that slows your horse down, try to encourage him to move forward more actively, moving his hips faster or “more”. it exercise will help you figure out which muscles control your ability to work your hips. This knowledge will be especially important when you learn to follow the movements of the horse at the trot.

6. When you can successfully use your hips to propel your horse more actively and widely (you may need to help this advance with your legs as well as your seat), try to bring him into a trot by exaggerating the hips movement even more. Do not stop oscillating the hips as the horse comes up into the trot. This will prevent you from grabbing her sides again after a couple of moments and losing your sense of movement.

Bring the horse to a walk and repeat exercise. Its purpose is get an idea of ​​how to move your hips at the trot, using the same oscillations as at the walk, with slight adjustments.

The hip of the horse during the trot makes almost the same oscillatory movements as at the walk (with the exception of the moment of suspension). So if you can exaggerate the movement of your hips at the walk and lift your horse into the trot while remaining relaxed and not grabbing at his sides, you will be able to follow his movements both at the trot and at the walk.

7. Exercise Frog Pose will help you sit in the center of the saddle and evenly distribute the weight on both sitting bones. It will also give you an idea of ​​how the pelvis should be positioned so that the back does not sag. The rider opens and closes the hips and knees without pinching the sluice.

Start by stopping with your feet out of the stirrups. Raise your knees up while keeping your back straight. You should feel the same weight on both sitting bones. If your horse is shaking his head left or right to adjust his balance, your weight is probably being distributed unevenly!

Now have someone lead the horse on the bit. When she walks, raise your knees again. If your horse slows down, it means your seat is blocking it. Continue to focus on relaxing and following the horse with your hips as your knees are up.

8. “Dog Pose” is exercise, which can help riders who tend to hook their hips into the horse or cannot get a feel for what their “neutral” position should be. It can also help riders feel the horse’s rhythm and movement of the joints.

After pulling your legs out of the stirrups, alternately take one leg off the saddle, then the other, then both legs. Do this at a stop and then at a walk while the helper guides your horse.

Following the movements of the horse at the trot

The trot, unlike the walk, has a suspension phase where none of the horse’s hooves touch the ground. Riders who cannot follow the horse’s hips at the trot often catch the horse’s flanks with their hips or carry them forward—otherwise they are kicked off the saddle.

The swing of the hips at the trot is usually faster than at the walk. The sensations of the rider also change. The more active the horse’s trot, the more likely it is that the rider will grab it with their hips and start bouncing in the saddle. The more active the horse’s trot, the more the rider feels both hips moving forward at the same time, rather than rocking left/right. If your horse’s trot is flatter or slower, he may still feel a slight movement of his hips to the left/right.

Follow the movements of the horse’s hips at the trot in the same way as at the walk. Drive the horse forward at a walk, moving the hips faster, and then further intensify this movement, bring it to the trot. Keep rocking your hips to feel this movement. Later, you will trot with your legs and follow with your hips. But at first, using your hips to push your horse into a trot from the walk will help you understand that swinging the hips at the trot is the same movement as swinging the hips at the walk, just with a different rhythm.

To my students, I describe the movement of the hips at the trot in different ways:

• Think about lifting your pelvis.
• Imagine that you are pushing the horse into your arms with your hips.
• Think of lifting your pelvis up and forward towards your hands while ab flexing (be careful that your upper body doesn’t lean forward when you ab flex – just lift your lower abs towards your upper abs).
• Think about the tilt of the pelvis with each step of the horse.
• Think about lifting the horse’s back along with your hips with each step.

Swinging the legs in the rhythm of the trot (at the training trot) is exercisewhich can help you move your hips properly. If you move your legs gently up/down, your hips will also begin to rock up/down simply because the leg is connected to the thigh with a knuckle (sing the tune if you like!).

This exercise also helps riders who tend to tip forward because they have to sit deep in the saddle with a straight back. When you lean forward, it is impossible to swing your hips and follow the movements of the horse. It will also be useful for those who need to loosen the grip of the gateway. When you hold on to the sluice, your hips are locked and unable to move.

Another exerciseOne tool that will help you find the feel of your hips at the trot is to hold on to the strap attached to the front of the saddle (or, better, the crossed stirrups at the top when lunging without them).

Holding on to the strap, focus on moving the horse up and down. Try also to move your elbows, hips, knees and legs in rhythm with your horse. You want to move with your horse. You don’t want to keep your body in place by tensing your muscles. Surprisingly, the more you relax your muscles and allow freedom of movement for your joints, the more stable you will be in the saddle without straining or grabbing the horse’s flanks. The horse is in constant motion, so you must be in constant motion as well to achieve stability.

When you drive, try to:

• move your seat to the deepest part of the saddle;
• align the spine;
• open the shoulders and upper body without arching or twisting;
• loosen your hips so as not to hold on to the horse;
• so that your legs move with the horse in a training trot.

Now try to make oscillatory movements with your hips. While holding on to the strap or stirrups may cause tension in your arms, the exercise should help you relax your shoulders, hips, knees, shins, etc., allowing your hips to follow the horse’s movements. If these joints are tight, your hips will also be tight and locked.

Muscular tension in any joint causes the rider to bounce in the saddle, which harms the horse’s back. A lazy horse copes with this by slowing down. An impulsive horse is more likely to speed up or even run wild to get away from discomfort.

When you become aware of the horse’s tracking mechanism and can use it correctly, by rocking the hips, you will be able to either maintain the gait or slow it down or speed it up. You will set the rhythm and pace using your core muscles. If the rider deliberately (or accidentally) leans to the right or left with the hip at the trot, he slows the horse down. By holding the hip swing for just a fraction of a second, the rider can use the core muscles to direct the horse’s forward energy upward, helping the horse push off the ground.

At the beginning of training, following the movements of the horse at a trot will seem very difficult for you. Continue transitioning from walk to trot and back again to remind yourself that you can (!) follow the horse’s movement. It doesn’t matter if it’s not for long. When you can finally “make it” at the trot, your communication with your horse will be taken to the next level.

Following the movement of a horse at a gallop

Some riders sit at a gallop as if they were glued to the saddle. Others fly over the saddle at every pace. What’s the matter? One rider follows the movement of the horse, the other does not.

Following the motion means that your hips swing in rhythm with the horse’s hips while the seat stays in contact with the saddle.

The gallop is a three-beat gait with a suspension phase. Our hips when cantering move as follows: the inner thigh, then the outer thigh, first move down and forward in rapid succession, in the first seconds of the canter. The hips are then lifted as the horse’s hind legs push off the ground and “hang in the air” in a moment of suspension before the sequence begins again.

Many riders find that the canter rhythm is easier to follow with the hips than the trot rhythm because the horse’s back does not “bounce” in the canter. Rocking your hips in line with the horse’s hip swing absorbs the movement and follows it through the step sequence. This allows your body to remain in a “neutral” position above the horse’s center of gravity. Just think about rubbing the saddle with your seat to find the right rocking motion of your hips back and forth in the canter.

To find and feel the movement of the horse’s hips up and down during the canter, consciously relax the thigh muscles so that your legs gently move away from the sides of the horse and return without muscular effort on your part. This helps unlock the hip. Work on “Frog Pose” and “Dog Pose” while walking and while you’re standing still – this will help you get a feel for what it’s like to open up your hips.

Once you have developed strong core muscles that will keep your torso in a neutral position, allowing your hips to remain free and relaxed so that they can follow the horse’s hip swings, you can try changing the cantering speed using just your buttocks. The vibrations of your hips can support the gait, speed it up or slow it down. You use your core muscles to regulate the swing of your hips, which in turn regulates your gait.

If you follow the horse’s movement and just want to keep it going, no tuning is required. If you want your horse to slow down, you use your core muscles to reduce hip sway. You can ask the horse to go faster by using the core muscles, holding the hip up for a moment. This helps redirect the horse’s energy forward and upward as it pushes off the ground.

Nancy Vesolek-Sterrett, Faith Meredith. Translation Valeria Smirnova based on materials from the site http://www.meredithmanor.edu/.