Everything Horse magazine Magazine, October 2014

THE PERFECT POSITION Position Problem 2 Tight arms, straight elbows. How it effect the horse’s way of going: Straight elbows and tight arms mean you will have a very un-elastic contact – this will make the horse more uncomfortable in the mouth and therefore more resistant in the rein. top of a chair back, standing behind the chair practice being able to pull the chair back onto its hind legs and then allow it forward until the front legs nearly touch the floor again. Repeat this to develop your awareness of control over your arms and how to maintain the elasticity that you need. TRY THIS... Exercises to help: 1. Ride with a whip behind your back. This exercise will make you bend your elbows much more than you have to, but it helps to give you a feel for what you need. 2. Get a pair of reins and tie them to the Position Problem 3 Lower leg gripping up. Tightness in hips and knees How it affects the horse: The lower leg gripping is again often caused by lack of balance - the rider grips the leg around the horse to try and create the feeling of stability, but actually it can have the opposite effect. When the horse feels the pressure of the leg gripping it will become more and more numb to the aids and you get the opposite vicious circle to the one in ‘problem 1’: the horse gets lazier, the rider works harder with the leg and ends up gripping even more…. However this problem can go both ways, it can be a lazy horse that creates a gripping leg rather than the other way round, but you as the rider have to be the one to mend it! Exercises to help: 1. Work without stirrups (Again)!! 2. Transitions, transitions, transitions! Make the horse more reactive but be sure to keep the leg long and loose and be black and white about the kind of reactions you accept. It may be that you have to be very positive a few times to make your horse understand that you are not going to carry them around for ever! 3. Work on the control over your legs whilst maintaining your core stability. Being able to keep your upper body stable, whilst lifting legs away from the saddle or your knees up to the pommel is a great exercise. It can be very good to do it on the lunge, if you have a horse suitable for this, or you can just do it standing still! October 2014 • Issue 13 • Everything Horse UK Magazine In the end it comes down to control of your body and discipline in making changes and corrections, but this is why a pair of eyes on the ground you can trust is really important. We all need help to improve and failing this, a video camera never lies! www.childericsaddles.co.uk 43

Everything Horse magazine Magazine, October 2014 | Page 43