Pics

[Cool Rider]

I dont have my own horse but i have just started to ride and im going good. But i have a problem i dont sit up straight i lean forwards i know its wrong but i feel more balanced like that ?
Any suggestions?

Ps. has anyone get any pics of their horses?


COOL RIDER
Xxx

[Bozzy]

Hi and welcome to New Rider!

I'm Rebecca and I have Edward on loan. I also have a very bad habit of leaning forward and looking down (as you can see from the attached photo of me and Eddie!) I always try to think constantly about keeping my head up and shoulders back and to just move my eyes should I need to look down. I also sometimes sit too far back in the saddle (which encourages me to lean forward) so need to shift my bum to the centre of the saddle!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v111/becca120/Eddie/DSC0012422.jpg

[Cool Rider]

Thanks for the advice and ill try it.
Eddies gorgeous how old is he?

COOL RIDER
XxX

[Showjumper]

Welcome to Newrider :)

I'm Chloe, 19, from Bristol and am owned by Dolly, who's a 4 year old New Forest pony.

This is a photo of us together. I used to lean forward and look down too, but now I make a conscious effort to look up, and it seems to sort the leaning out too.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v66/DollyMare/trottingawayfromcamera.jpg
Not the best photo, as we're "discussing" speed and direction, but I think I'm sitting up properly in it, and she looks cute, little madam! :D

[Elvengirl]

Hey!
I have the same problem too! It drives me crazy. I always just blame it on my overly long torso :D. It's slowly improved over time but I have to always remind myself to look up. (my coach always says "your horse isn't going to suddenly change color so stop lookin' at him!" heehee) So frustrating!

Here's a pic of me and my guy FINALLY getting a ribbon in equitation after a few years of practice!

http://pic14.picturetrail.com/VOL555/2288628/5667246/72676472.jpg

[Bay Mare]

My friend was once asked "Did you find what you were looking for" when she looked at the ground all the way through her test :)

[Gemma16]

LOL Bay mare. So not all dressage judges are sour face:D ;) :eek:

I have similar issues of looking down during transitions! I have no idea why and also when i land a jump. My instructor says if you look there that is where you'll end up. And its true too. lol.

There are a few exerscies that have been used on me to keep me up right, lke riding with a whip down your back

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v96/Tafster/taffy_mott_2_trot_nice.jpg

As you can see I'm looking don AGAIN

[DavidH]

The habit of leaning forward can often be caused by the arm position. A common fault is riding with your arm too straight from shoulder to wrist. This makes the shoulders round and the body lean forward.
keep the arm from shoulder to elbow straight down your side then keep a straight line from elbow through wrist to horses bit straight. Work on trying to wrap your shoulder blades around your spine. If you do this you will find it very difficult and uncomfortable to lean forward.

Attached pic (me and Bob) should give you the idea)

[OlavS]

Just wanted to say that I'm *SO JEALOUS* of your position, David! :p
I'm often leaning forwards, too, but often I can correct if myself.
But what my head is doing poking out in front I have not idea, and I sisn't realise before now :o
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v168/equitimer/Golega2004/Canter1.jpg
This is my first ride in the Freedom treeless saddle which is my excuse why my bum isn't fully in the seat :p
And as for arms, hands, etc, let's not even go there :eek: :rolleyes: At least I shouldn't have a hard time trying to find things to work on ;)

[DavidH]

Originally posted by OlavS
Just wanted to say that I'm *SO JEALOUS* of your position, David! :p
I'm often leaning forwards, too, but often I can correct if myself.
But what my head is doing poking out in front I have not idea, and I sisn't realise before now :o

Olav, thankyou for the compliment but i wouldn't be too jealous if i were you. I fear the camera just caught me on one of those rare better moments:(

[kedwards]

The "whip behind the back" exercise (place a whip between both elbows and behind your back), creates a somewhat exaggerated position, but it certainly can help develop the feel for keeping your upper body up and your elbows by you side.

[Elvengirl]

Just had something to add that I learned about at my dressage clinic today. Try visualizing your upper body like a cross. Your head and tailbone being the vertical part of the cross and your shoulders being the horizontal part. Then try to curve all the ends of the cross in on each other behind you. (ie. open up your chest by rolling your shoulders back) If you understood a word of what I just explained (sorry I'm not the best at explaining things:D :o ) it should work, it really helped me, although it's hard work:rolleyes:

[Cool Rider]

Thanks for all your help i will put them into practice next thursday when i have my riding lesson!!!

COOL RIDER

Xxx

[Colorado Sunset]

My old instructors motto was, where you look is where youll end up, so if you look at the floor youll often end up there!!!

I still look down though!! Often at the horses head, watching intently in case my persistence acheives the long awaited outline!! :)

good luck

jo

[OlavS]

Originally posted by Colorado Sunset
I still look down though!! Often at the horses head, watching intently in case my persistence acheives the long awaited outline!! :)
I'm guilty of that, too. But I find that more often than not the outline evades me until I actually look up, as my position and balance improves, and the weight is transferred off the front ;)

[friedegund]

Here is a pic of me on a little Arab mare I am thinking about buying.

I hear you with the frustration of looking down, the first time my instructor pointed it out and commented said"Do you think your horse has a pretty neck?????"

I enthusiastically answered YES!!!!! (because he does), not even realizing I was being chastized. :p

[friedegund]

He(she? hard to tell) looks like a young horse, I was admiring pic and trying to guess breed!

Oh, and looks like my head is poking out in front too.

:rolleyes:

[larri]

Originally posted by OlavS
I'm guilty of that, too. But I find that more often than not the outline evades me until I actually look up, as my position and balance improves, and the weight is transferred off the front ;)

So very true Olav- I have exactly the same problem - David's method works very well - As soon as I look up and pull everything backwards up Safi comes, light as a feather!

[DavidH]

Originally posted by OlavS
I'm guilty of that, too. But I find that more often than not the outline evades me until I actually look up, as my position and balance improves, and the weight is transferred off the front ;)

This transformation comes about through much more than a lightening of the forehand. If you look at it as a simple case of mechanics. If you move your centre of gravity back by sitting up the horse has to do some thing to compensate. What it does is to bring the hind legs further underneath to support the additional weight and rebalance itself. It is this action that puts the horses engine in to a driving position.
Leaning forward has the opposite effect. To counteract the forward movement of the riders CofG the horse moves the hind legs back and out of the driving position.

So the first and often over looked step in getting a horse to work in an outline is to correct the riders position. Without this the engine will never be in a position to provide the power so all the pushing with legs, feeling the rein etc cannot and will not have the desired effect. This is the major block for most riders to getting a true outline.

Olav.... the position of your head in the pic which you commented on is a beautiful example of this sort of mechanics at work. As you said, you bum is not in the saddle. Your weight is being taken by gripping with the knee which creates a pivot point for the balance. because your back is straight something else has to compensate or you would fall backwards. In this case it is your head that has come forward to compensate. The head is a surprisingly heavy part of the body. I'm sure that when your bum is in the saddle and your leg free that you don't have this problem.

Hope you don't mind me using your pic as an exapmle. My appologies if you do.
David

[Sophini]

DavidH am very tempted to beg you to reschool KitKat for me, or maybe i could swap her for Bob.......

I always used to look down and drop my hands and the instructor "cured" it by making me ride with my crop between by elbows across my back which makes you almost arch you back and you have to keep your head up and your hands up. Only draw back is my OH asking why I stick my "chest" out when i ride and if there's someone i'm trying to impress!!

JJ.

[DavidH]

Sophini...Nice try:D I only ever reschool a horse if I am going to compete it and have a written agreement to it. Been used too many times as a free schooling service.

Not so sure you would want Bob just yet. He still has a loonnngggg way to go before I would consider even his basic schooling established. Once it is, there aint no way anybody is getting their hands on him. He's MINE;)

Edited to add...
I also think it is often a backard step having a horse schooled by someone else. We all ride in slightly different ways which places the buttons in subtly different places. Because of this I prefer to school the rider who in turn schools the horse and both develop the required understanding.

[larri]

Originally posted by DavidH
I also think it is often a backard step having a horse schooled by someone else. We all ride in slightly different ways which places the buttons in subtly different places. Because of this I prefer to school the rider who in turn schools the horse and both develop the required understanding.

Couldn't agree more - this was where my nightmare with Safi started.

I'd done all her groundwork, backed her and brought her on quietly, but didn't feel I had the skills (or the facilities at the time) to do more than the basics. So I sent her away for two months to have her secondary school training. I got her back and she immediately picked up that I wasn't as strong or correct a rider as the trainer was and we just decended into chaos from there :( It has taken a year to get anything like a decent ridden partnership back between us.
I wonder how much further along we would be if I'd just had lessons on her at home instead.

[carrimclaren]

Originally posted by kedwards
The "whip behind the back" exercise (place a whip between both elbows and behind your back), creates a somewhat exaggerated position, but it certainly can help develop the feel for keeping your upper body up and your elbows by you side.

*shudders* it works but jesus does it hurt!:D My friend pulled that one on me when i first had a lesson with her as my position was being pulled foward because of my mare's tendancy to lean and my inexperience with this. Definitely helped me realise where i was meant to be position wise. Although at one point i completely messed it up and the schooling whip twanged from though my arms onto my horses derriere, she was not impressed as you can imagine ;)

Picture of my grumpy moose and me.

libster (http://www.mclarenenterprises.com/auctpics/libposingcrop.jpg)

p.s can i just state this was after a jumping comp hence the relaxed lowered hands (dont usually ride like that);)

[OlavS]

Originally posted by DavidH
Hope you don't mind me using your pic as an exapmle. My appologies if you do.
David
By all means, David :) Anything that can help me improve so I don't look like E.T. :rolleyes:
By the way, thanks for explaining *why* the front lightens! I've realised the effect, but it's great to have the cause explained.

As for the knees, up until now I've been under the illusion that the knees go as straight as possible in order to wrap around the horse, which of course doesn't work in a GP saddle (like the Freedom). In that video still I was trying to use the knee pads for support for the first time ever (outside two-point excercises) so I guess I was gripping to some extent.

I had another look at the video, this time in slow motion, and from looking at that I'll have to get Sábia a bigger Xmas prezzie. Can't believe she puts up with me :o

[Elvengirl]

Originally posted by DavidH

The head is a surprisingly heavy part of the body.


So true! A girl I ride with has this strange habit of titling her head sideways to the left. She seems to think this doesn't affect her riding and argues all the time with me about how it is just an esthetic thing and doesn't matter. To be honest, her head causes her whole body to shift to the left and the weight in her right heel is non-existent!