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Riders Position

Improving your position will improve your horse's balance....

What is the correct riders position in the saddle?

Whether you ride in a western saddle or a dressage saddle there is a corect position that enables the horse to find and maintain his balance.

Do you remember:

Horse-Riding-Tip #3 ?

Communication between horse and rider is not possible without the rider first developing some basic riding skills. These skills can be described as:

Balance..Feel..Suppleness..Fixity

Balance: the ability of the rider to be carried by the horse without interfering with the horse's center of gravity or stability.

Lets Talk More About Balance

Look carefully at these three pictures. What do they all have in common? Notice how the riders look at ease and effortless on their horses. If you took away the picture of the horse, you could imagine the riders standing on the ground with their knees slightly bent. Isn't this a natural and "balanced" way for us to stand, walk, run etc?

Draw A Line.. through the points of the ear, shoulder joint and hip joint. This line should be perpendicular to the ground.

Think of the rider's body as a set of building block: the head...the thorax.. and the pelvis. When all blocks are arranged exactly on top of eachother the "tower" is in it's most stable position.

In theory also, the hips of the horse and rider as well as the shoulders of horse and rider should always be arranged parallel to eachother. Thus the position of the rider can influence the horse in a turn for example.....but we will leave that for another time and another .....Horse Riding Tip

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