longe lesson #2 breaking at the waist ??

[denise42]

Ok, longe lesson #1--I spent the entire time riding at the walk and trot with my arms over my head ,,out to the sides and behind my back..now let me tell you ..when you are WELL past 40 ..sliding into 50..holding your self in correct postions is tourture... :p I was sore for the entire weekk,..lesson #2 same thing only mostly at the trot..
Now I have been riding with this instructor for 2 yrs and we have gone over this longe thing several times..she asks and I say NO..but I finaly caved in as I understand now that I need this to perfect my seat and to learn to relax..but I am telling you it is much harder to ride like this...I think the biggest problem I am having is learing to " break " at the waist..and let my lower body " my seat " go with my horse..I am so stiff that during transisions my whole body feels like it get throne back..Does anyone eles do this ? Any tips..I know relax..but that is easier said than done... :rolleyes:

[Mehitabel]

something that might help you to begin with is to actively move your hips with the horse, rather than trying to let it happen on its own. see if you can watch a horse walking round, ideally with saddle on, and see how its back moves - up and forward with each stride. you need to mirror that movement with your hips and lower back - think of the movement you might make if you were hula-hooping, or belly dancing - flexing your lower back and letting your hips move without moving your ribcage or anything above the ribcage.

it's something that you can practise off the horse - but in private as it looks decidedly rude! practise swivelling your hips in a circle and back and forth, to loosen off your lower back. if you do this in front of the mirror, or next to a mirror so you can see a side view, that'll help you identify where needs to be moving. once you have loosened the lower back and can move your hips independently from the rest of your body, then stand with knees bent and feet apart, in the position you'd be in a horse, and try again.

[galadriel]

I like to think of it as similar to belly dancing. Your pelvis and lower back are swinging all over the place ;) and your upper body is staying quite still.

I have a set of exercises for my back that involve sitting on a physioball and tilting my pelvis left and right. Another set that's forward and back. If I'm swinging my upper body all around in reaction to the motion of my pelvis, I'll fall off the ball! So it's great for loosening up the lower body, and moving the lower body without the upper body following. I highly recommend finding something similar if you find that your back is too stiff. (Physioballs are pretty inexpensive, too :))

[denise42]

I have one of thoes balls..what a great idea.
I will see if I can find some equestion type exercises for " on the ball "
I have also signed up for yoga..that starts tomorrow..
I think that will help with flexability... :p