Strides for Success

Tag: seat bones

  • Re-Defining the Rhythm in the Canter When Riding

    Re-Defining the Rhythm in the Canter When Riding

    [fusebox_track_player url=”https://op3.dev/e/traffic.libsyn.com/dailystridespodcast/1233_Redefining_the_Rhythm_in_the_Canter.mp3″ title=”Redefining the Rhythm in the Canter” social_linkedin=”true” social_pinterest=”true” social_email=”true” tweet_text=”Let’s go past strides when we think canter + rhythm, shall we?!” hashtag=”horsepodcast” twitter_username=”strides_success” ]

    There are some things that many of us simply accept in life.  Rainy days. Horsehair is everywhere in Spring. The rhythm in the canter.  And yet, while we cannot change the weather (okay, debatable) and we definitely cannot get around the necessary loss of the winter coat…

    The Rhythm in the canter is definitely something we can have a more positive influence over when we ride – rather than simply accepting what is. 

    And yet, it can seem daunting! Many riders find that when they attempt to begin doing this, they tend to lose the canter altogether.  They quickly find themselves back in the trot.  Or the canter has lost its 3 beat sequence – so it’s technically no longer a canter!

    Why Redefining?

    I think that in order to really make your time in canter count towards the overall training of your horse, we need to first define what is already there.  Most riders know that rhythm in the canter consists of a repetitive 1,2,3..1,2,3..1,2,3..

    And yet, many riders almost see each stride in the canter as being the rhythm, instead of each individual beat that truly makes up the rhythm. 

    By redefining the rhythm in the canter, I would love for you to stop seeing the rhythm as being stride for stride.  But rather being noticing the individual beats that, together, create the rhythm of each stride inside of the canter itself.

    Noticing Each Individual Beat

    Once you have committed to really separating things out regarding what happens within each stride, the challenge becomes making this happen when you’re riding.  In canter, the strides can feel fast!  They seem to come flying along and so fast and furious that really being able to identify individual beats inside of the stride can seem daunting!

    Start with the first beat of each stride.  Start with 1.  Each stride, after the break that the ‘roll’ (suspension) creates, notice the 1 in each new stride. 

    Once you have identified the 1 of each stride, begin creating a connection between that beat and your outside seat bone.  1 is your horse’s outside back leg stepping down on the ground. Your horse’s back leg and your outside seat bone are connected.

    Let your awareness of the first beat inside of each stride, and its connection to your outside seat bone help you to begin to ‘define’ rhythm in the canter.

    Finding the Second Beat

    Once you have identified the first beat, it simply becomes a matter of mindfulness and awareness to begin identifying the second and third beats of each individual canter stride. I feel that one of the best ways to do this is to begin using 1 as an opportunity to half halt.

    Half halt is only really held for a beat, so using the beat from the 1 inside of the canter stride as a timer, will allow you to begin clearly identifying the 2 in each stride. 

    The second beat, 2 is when the horses inside back leg and outside front leg move forwards together.  It will feel like activation of your inside seat bone.  A swinging forward feeling.  Some riders describe it as a ‘scoop’.

    If you can begin to identify the 2nd beat within each stride, and then tie that in with the movement of your inside seat bone, it will allow you to start truly defining the rhythm in the canter itself.

    Third Beat and the Roll…

    The third beat, beat 3 happens when your inside seat bone has swung or scooped as far forward as it is going to go inside of that particular stride.  The 3 is the culmination of the stride.  However, the horse’s body now has to move forward over the inside front leg in order to start the process again.

    This ‘gap’ between the 3rd and last beat of the old stride and the 1st beat of the new stride is marked by a moment of suspension.  It feels like a rolling feeling when you are in the saddle. 

    This allows. your body to reset itself and be ready for 1 (or the first beat) again.  Any resisting, excessive tension or lack of balance from the rider will become amplified here.  This is where many riders can become a little ‘airborne’!  It is also where riders can tend to override with their shoulders and upper body.

    The key to riding the canter is suppleness and if is in this ‘roll’ part of each stride that a lack of suppleness in the rider will become very clear!

    Re-Defining the Rhythm in the Canter

    Once you can clearly identify each individual beat inside of the canter itself, you can begin to intentionally use your aids to have more influence.  Each individual stride is an opportunity to connect with your horse and help him to create more space within that stride.

    By consistently connecting your individual aids to each individual element of the canter stride, you can begin to intentionally ask different questions of your horse

    Questions like “Wait a fraction longer here please” using your outside seat bone on beat 1 of the canter stride. Or “A little longer please” using your inside seat bone on beat 2.  Or “A little shorter here please”!

    What is important is to remember that no one aid will be applied in isolation.  I am just mentioning the two above to help you gain connection to the individual beats within the stride itself.

    When you can easily identify each beat of the stride, you can begin to measure your influence as a rider.  You can be creating more space within each stride.  Defining each beat more so that they are ‘stand out’ and easy to spot (or hear).

    This is how you can then begin to improve the rhythm inside of the canter – for you and your horse.

    Happy Riding
    Lorna

    More Episodes on This Topic:-

  • Position Faults that are Potentially Holding You Back in Your Riding

    Position Faults that are Potentially Holding You Back in Your Riding

    Position Faults that could be holding you back in your riding

    What this episode is all about & how it can help you:-

    • Understanding the importance of a good position
    • Your seat and where it should be
    • Your legs and heels and how they affect your stability
    • Your head, shoulders and arms and how they affect your position

    [smart_track_player url=”https://op3.dev/e/traffic.libsyn.com/dailystridespodcast/1026-Position-Faults-that-Could-Be-Holding-You-Back-In-Your-Riding.mp3″ title=”Position Faults the Could be Holding You Back in Your Riding” social_linkedin=”true” social_pinterest=”true” social_email=”true” tweet_text=”How good is your position in the saddle? Could a simple ‘tweak’ change everything for you?” hashtag=”Horseriding #Equestrian” twitter_username=”Strides_Success” ]

    If you were to mark your position in the saddle out of 10, how would you score?  Would you make the perfect 10?  Or would a few simple position faults undo everything for you?  These basic position faults have the potential to put a halt to your progress as a rider.  Yes, they can have that much impact on your overall riding performance.

    The reality of the situation is that without a correct position in the saddle, you tend not to make a whole lot of sense to your horse.

    Your position in the saddle is something that riding instructors the world over focus on daily during lessons.  A lot of riders sadly don’t realise how important their position is to their overall riding, because if they did more effort would go into correcting it.

    Why is Your Position so Important?

    Simply put, a good position puts you in the right place to be able to communicate most effectively with your horse.

    Another advantage of a good position is the dramatic decrease in your risk of unexpected dismounts (falls) because you are more secure in the saddle.  So, if you are working towards an independent seat, it makes sense to devote some time to perfecting your position.

    I want to visit a few areas where your position might be letting you down, and give you a few ideas on how to improve your overall position – and in doing so, improve your riding.

    Your seat and where it should be

    Are you guilty of sometimes treating the saddle as a place to sit, rather than a place to communicate from?  Your seat is probably your most important tool when it comes to communicating with your horse.

    If your seat is not correctly positioned in the saddle, the result is you talking gibberish to your horse! 

    It sounds a little harsh, but it is true.  The right position where your seat is concerned is essential from the first ride.   As you develop as a rider, your seat becomes more and more important to your communication with your horse.

    If your seat position is incorrect, or if you have been allowed to ride one way (which is the wrong way), your seat will be ineffective from the beginning.  These position faults will become amplified further down the line.

    What is ‘Good’?

    That being said, what is a good position when it comes to your seat?  Basically, you should be sitting on your seat bones.  They should not be sticking out behind you, nor should you be leaning back on your tailbone.

    If you could imagine your seat bones being two flashlights.  A good position will see those beams of lights pointing straight now to the ground below where you are sitting in the saddle.  They would not point backwards towards your horse’s hind hooves, and they would do if you were sitting a little forward, or perched in the saddle with your bum sticking out behind you.  Nor would they point towards your horse’s front hooves, which would happen if you were rolled back on your tailbone.

    Your seat affects the rest of your body. When your seat is plugged in correctly it has an almost domino like effect.  Everything else will have a greater success rate of maintaining its position as well. 

    How a Faulty Seat Position Affects Your Legs in the Saddle

    Many riders immediately notice how, once they have corrected their seat position, the their legs feel different.  Your legs cannot function to the best of their ability while riding if your seat is faulty.  The biggest cause for concern is gripping with your thighs and knees due to being perched in the saddle (your bum will be sticking out behind you and your back arched).

    When you are sitting correctly on your seat bones and carrying your body using your core, it allows your pelvis to open.  This, in turn, allows your legs to drape down around your horse’s sides.  This is important, regardless of what discipline you are doing.

    A closed pelvis creates a clothes-peg effect on your horse using your legs.  They become similar to a vice-grip; clamped closed in a bid to keep you in the saddle.    Rather think of actual drapes, material.  Your legs should be in contact with your horses sides, but not gripping or clamping.

    Your Ideal Leg Position

    One of the markers of a good position is the visible line from your head, through your shoulders, through your hip to your heel.   When that line is present in your position you are balanced.

    If you are struggling to imagine this line, try this:-   The next time you are in the saddle imagine you can click your fingers and, like magic, make your horse vanish.  If the line is present, you will land on your feet.  It it is not, you will either land on your face or on your bum.

    The head, shoulder, hip, heel line is the start of learning to become a balanced rider.  It puts you in the best position to use your own body for balance, rather than relying on your horse.

    The Ever Important “Heels Down”

    Oh, it may just be the most uttered phrase in arenas the world over.  But it really is an essential part of developing a good position which will lead to your independent seat.

    How much weight you are going to have in your heels will vary depending on your discipline.  Jumping generally requires a little more than dressage.  What is important here is to recognize that by dropping the weight into your heel, you elongate your leg.

    How a Relaxed Knee Improves the Overall Use of Your Leg

    The final position fault to do with riders legs is squeezing with the knee.  Next time you are in the saddle, I want you to try something.  Slip your hand between your knee and the knee roll of the saddle.  You should be able to swing your knee away from the saddle with very little resistance.

    Notice how, when you do this, your leg remains in contact with your horse.  It remains ‘on’ while your knee can stay relaxed.  

    Why do you not want your knees on?  Two reasons.  Firstly, you certainly don’t want to pivot on them because you would be a little top-heavy, increasing your chances of toppling off!      Secondly, your knees act, along with and ankles, as your shock absorbers.  If they are fixed in any way, this will result in bouncing, loss of position and ineffectiveness in the saddle.

    Your head, shoulders and arms and how they affect your position

    One of the most common position faults in this area is failure to carry the head.  It sounds strange, but a simple way of ensuring this is not the case in your riding is by focusing on creating and maintaining the space between your chin and your chest.

    However, your head can also influence your overall position through the direction it is facing.  Look where you are going and you will find that your head positively influences the position of your shoulders.  This of course will have a domino effect on your arms as well.

    Opening Your Chest and Shoulders

    I personally do not like the term ‘shoulders back’.  I find that it encourages riders to needlessly arch their back, which causes excess tension in both horse and rider. 

    Rather start with a correct seat position.  Then imagine opening or stretching the distance across your chest from point of shoulder to point of shoulder.  This will naturally encourage you to sit a little taller, focus on where you are going and, open your chest up.

    The Elbow, Wrist, Hand, Rein, Mouth Line

    The final part of your position I want to touch on today are your arms.  There is a second line that, when applied, makes all the difference in smoothing out the communication between horse and rider.

    That second line is from the elbow, down through your hand, through the rein to the horse’s mouth.  It should be straight at all times.  No Vs or kinks in it.  Neither the rein or the hand should deviate off that line between the elbow and the bit.

    Riders who work on mastering all of these potential position faults find that their communication with their horse improves dramatically. It is truly amazing how effective a few small changes can be.

    Your Physical Fitness and its Impact on Your Position

    Riding is a Team Sport – you and your horse.   Just like your horse, the stronger and more developed you become physically; the more fluid your movements and “self carriage” become in the saddle.

    Creating a detailed exercise program for your horse, while failing to take your own fitness into account will result in, at best, mediocre results in your riding. 

    Establishing and then maintaining an effective position in the saddle requires strength, suppleness and discipline.  Taking responsibility for your fitness is just as important as assuming responsibility for your horses fitness.

    We are starting a new round of the free 30 Day Rider Fitness Challenge on 1st of February.  This will be different to anything that has gone before; you choose what you want to do based on your unique circumstances. You can sign up HERE

    Happy Riding

    Lorna

    Links mentioned in the episode:-

     

  • Weight Aids & Seat Bones for Turning & Bending

    Weight Aids & Seat Bones for Turning & Bending

    The bend is approaching and you begin preparing both you and your horse to ride straight and accurately through the turn. However, as you ‘shift’ your seat bones into ‘position’ your horse begins, well, almost side stepping… The further you get through the turn, the further your horse is from the path you had planned; in fact, he has derailed altogether from the ideal ‘train tracks’ you had intended to stay on as you rounded the bend.

    As riders we learn early on about how important our weight distribution is to our horses way of going. We learn about positioning our seat bones, so we can indicate to our horses what exactly the next movement should be. We also learn that our weight aids are fundamental to all aspects of successful communication with our horses in the saddle.

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    What we don’t learn is awareness of how the other parts of our body directly or indirectly affect how and where our weight aids are applied with our horse. There is also not a lot of time spent on figuring out how loud or how quiet we can communicate with our horses through our weight aids. In fact, most riders seem to think that a ‘one size fits all’ approach is sufficient regardless of the circumstances, situation or horse involved.

    Learning to correctly feel and then master your weight aids in the saddle is key to developing good feel as a rider. Those subtle shifts and movements, which happen when you direct your muscles to move, rather than your actual weight or bones themselves. This is very much apparent when turning your horse and that is what I want to focus on today.

    So let’s begin with focusing on how your carry yourself in the saddle. Many riders make the mistake of going a little too overboard when told to ‘relax’ through their body.

    Relaxation is key to good riding, however the level of relaxation is also important to consider; particularly when it comes to how it affects your weight aids and seat bones in the saddle when riding

    Ideally you want your muscles to ‘carry’ you in the saddle, enough that your hips and seat are free to move with your horse and follow the motion. Following when riding is a little like following when dancing. The dancer that is following must remain in control of their body, walking that fine line between too relaxed or ‘slack’ and too tense or ‘rigid’. All the while they are looking for cues from their partner and then taking the responsibility on themselves to respond to those cues in the agreed manner.

    Riding is the same. Following does not mean you slouch in the saddle, looking like you have had one too many before you mounted. It rather means you carry your upper body, so your hips and seat are then willing and able to follow the horse’s motion as he crosses the ground.

    Bending and Turning Your Horse Using Your Weight Aids and Seat Bones

    Think about it, your hips and seat bones can not possibly be free to perform a full range of motions if your upper body is heavy and slouching on top of it. Many riders mistake this for ‘shoulders back’, which is unfortunate as this only serves to increase the excess tension and therefore rigidness in the body, rather than simply carrying yourself, through your ribcage and positioning your body in the best possible place from which to begin asking your horse to turn using your weight aids.

    Once you are sure that you are indeed carrying yourself and, as a result, correctly following your horse wiht your seat, you can then begin looking at how subtle changes in different areas of your body will affect your weight aids and therefore what you communicate to your horse through your seat.

    So to begin with, let’s focus on the half halt.  One of the reasons we apply the half halt is to bring your horse’s attention back to you and let him know something is coming up.

    In fact, you can almost think of your half halt as being a big flashing arrow, directing your horse’s focus to your seat so he can begin to get further directions on what to do next

    Not using your half halt will probably result in your horse’s attention being elsewhere and therefore, any subtle movements with your seat to communicate with your horse will have a good chance of being ignored.

    That being said, it is also worth noting that applying the half halt and then following it up with an incorrect, overly exaggerated or heavy use of the seat and weight aids is just as ineffective as not using the half halt at all.  Think of your half halt as the opening part of the sentence which will then, in turn, lead up to the actual question you wish to ask your horse.   Become clear on what you want to ask, before you draw your horse’s attention to your seat to begin with!

    Once you have his attention, think about what you want of your horse as he rounds the bend.  Ideally, your horse’s spine should replicate the arc of the bend or circle.

    Your horse’s spine will stay on the arc all the way through, from his poll or ears to his tail or dock.  Similarly, your spine will too stay centered over your horses, not leaning one way or the other, not twisting and not collapsing to either the inside or outside.

    His hips will travel along parallel either side along this arc, however his inside hip will come slightly forward or ahead of his outside hip.  Your hips or seat bones will be in this same position.  Then look at the shoulders; again, they should remain parallel to the central arc or track as he moves along (like train tracks), however the outside shoulder will have to move a little more forward in order to do so and, therefore, so must your shoulders.

    It seems like an awful lot to remember, and when starting out, it is!  I have found it easier for some riders to rather remember where their legs should be through the turn.  Because your legs are connected to your hips, by moving them into the desired position, your seat bones will generally follow suit and automatically also ‘slot’ into position.  However, as you become used to the inside and outside being dictated by your horse, regardless of where you are in the arena, you can begin rather making the subtle shifts with your seat bones, and then allowing your legs to follow suit.

    So back to how we can use our muscles, either for good or bad, to influence our weight in the saddle.  Find a hard chair or stool and sit down with a hand under each of your seat bones.  Now, begin by moving your shoulders, the right one forwards the left one back and then vice versa.  Notice how a very small movement of only an inch or so, will change how the pressure being exerted on your hands from your seat bones feels.  Similarly, think about ‘weighting’ one of your seat bones.  Many riders will literally ‘bear down’ on that particular seat bone, shifting their upper body to do so.  However, feel that when this happens, your seat bones actually begin ‘sliding’ towards the opposite side.

    Now, rather think of ‘weighting’ that seat body through a combination of elongating the muscles on that side of your torso, and sending a tiny bit more weight or pressure to the heel of that leg.  Notice the subtle change in the pressure being applied on your hand.  It only takes small but precise adjustments with your muscles to ‘weight’ the seat bone.  The more you can learn to control your muscles, the clearer your communication will become with your horse.

    Very often riders use their weight aids in the wrong way; namely leaning with the upper body while will result in their seat shooting to the outside

    The result is that your horse will move completely differently to how you had planned, because he is trying to remain balanced and, literally, stay underneath you.  If you find this happening a lot, go back to making sure you are symmetrical, balanced and straight in the saddle and, once you are sure of that , begin insisting on it from your horse also. Always think about your own body and what you are communicating with your horse while riding  through the corner.

    I really think that being a little ‘picky’ or obsessive about riding in the correct position will help you to make sure that your body is in the best possible place to apply the correct aids for any given movement or direction.  It will take concentration and consistent effort on your part initially, but as your ‘feel’ increases, you will find that merely thinking about it will result in your body shifting slightly in the saddle – and the more consistent you are with always riding in the correct way, the more effective your horse will be at reading the small, subtle changes in your weight and position.

    Happy Riding

    Lorna

    I have written another blog post on applying your weight aids HERE >>

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