connected riding april 10

8/8/2019 Connected Riding April 10

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Are you looking to improve your balance, ease and lightness in the saddle, making the ride smoother fboth you and your horse? Follow Peggy Cummings each month as she provides insights and commentainto the balance and movement of trail riders and their mounts. We invite you to submit photos for consideration for use in the column, which will appear in both Trail Blazer magazine and TrailtownUSA.Please send your photos to [email protected]

with your trail horse

part three by PEGGY CUMMINGS



.TRAILBLAZERMAGAZINE.US • April 2010 25

rider needs to be able to discern what is cor-rect in ormation—and what is not—in order to synchronize with their horse in movement.This is your choice and possibility. In other

words, just because your best riend does itdoesn’t mean it is correct. Just because a cli-nician tells you to do it doesn’t mean it is theright way. Just because a saddle-maker sellsyou a saddle and tells you it ts doesn’t meanit will. What is the answer? Educate yoursel and learn the biomechanical principles o movement or yoursel and your horse.

This month as you study these pictures I would like you to consider more than ever the horse’s point o view. How do you eelon his back? Does your way o using your body give your horse a choice, or does hejust have to put up with you as you go downthe trail?

Rider One The rider is pretty synchronized with his

horse. I looked at many pictures o male rid-ers and this was the best o the ones I lookedat. The rider is carrying his upper body welland there is a nice bend in his elbows, whichhelps maintain integrity in his upper bodyand support his horse well even though onerein is looser than the other at this particular moment.

The only adjustment I would make is toremind him to have just a bit more bendthrough his knee that would allow his leg to

The only thing I cannot do while you readmy articles is give you a kinesthetic sense o

what I am talking about. For this, you haveto take the initiative to nd the contrast inyoursel by monitoring some o the repetitivethings you do unconsciously (tighten your back, squeeze with your hands, push your heels down, grip with your knees, etc.) thatget in your way and the horse’s way o maxi-mizing your partnership potential.

You have to know what you do that getsin the way o reedom o movement andresults in bracing, and when you notice this,consciously change it—i you sti en your back, so ten it; i you squeeze with your hands, so ten them; i you grip with your knees and push your heels down, think widein your knees and level your eet and moveyour bones (as described below) over andover again.

Why? Because we are creatures o habitand i you choose to change a habit you needto pay attention until the new habit eels so

amiliar that it overrides the tendency todo the old habit most o the time. This isalways a process. Changing habits requires

ocus and determination. Many times you aredriven to seek a change because your horseis not per orming the way you think or knowhe could be.

My intention is that through these articlesyou will be enticed to look at pictures o yourselves riding in order to prevent sound-ness or behavior problems in your horse or physical problems, discom ort and rustra-tion in you.

Herein lies a word o CAUTION: Every continued next page


Question Of The Month:

I I asked your horse wha you

el like on his back as he carries

you, wha would he ell me?

My passion is o help riders

become beter par ners wi h

heir horses by synchronizing

wi h hem in movemen . Tis

means ha hrough hese ar icles

you will “develop your eye,” by

seeing con ras s be ween riders

and horses. You will begin o un-

ders and he basic biomechanical

principles in enough di eren

ways so ha some hing s rikes

a chord o ur her your under-

s anding o how your pos ure has

o be on a horse in order o be

efcien and allow his movemen

o be he same. You will learn

simple exercises o spark your

in eres so you can experimen

wi h hem on your horse.

RIDER ONE

photo by bobbie jo lieberman - www.bobbiejo.smugmug.com



26 April 2010 .TRAILBLAZERMAGAZINE.US

be more under him. Actually just think-ing “wider through his knee” as he postsup would be really help ul and wouldprobably change the look o his leg im-mediately. I am not sure in this case i his leg is just a tad ahead because hishorse is airly narrow or that his saddledoes not allow his body to hang in align-ment which is a very common issue inmany saddles, and riders have no way

o knowing the di erence.There is a lightness and so tness in

the appearance o the horse. The horseis telescoping (extending) his neck, re-leasing his topline and “coming through”his back. He is round rom behind thesaddle to the top o his tail. His base, thearea between his ront legs, is up, andall these actors allow him to shi t weightdynamically with each stride. This horse

would be telling me this rider allows himto nd ease going down the trail.

Rider Two This horse and rider appear to be

going in what many might consider anice-looking outline or a more collected

rame. This is truly an illusion and onethat many seek to emulate. The rider issitting in a chair seat and I do believe inthis instance that the saddle he is ridingis not helping him nd his balance over his eet. The rider’s leg is in ront o thegirth. Even though his upper body looksto be stable and his elbows are bent andthere is a nice line o contact rom elbowto bit, he cannot come close to synchro-

nizing with his horse, as he will always bebehind the horse’s movement.

The horse is clearly refecting thisimbalance, as he cannot telescope hisneck. He is bent at C-2, the neck verte-bra just behind the poll, and the posi-tion o his head is restricting his abilityto intake air reely. The horse is wearinga martingale, quite typical o this alse

rame—horses such as this at times go“head high”, especially when excitedor during transitions. This is why manyriders use martingales.

The issue is not that the horse tendsto carry his head high but that his back isnot able to work e ciently, so the horseraises his head when the core issue isthat he is really out o balance. Since thehorse is wearing a martingale this pre-

p e g g y ’ s

c r i t i q u

eRIDER TWO

It is critical, in order to improve theshock-absorbing ability o your joints

over the uneven ground on a trail, thatyour hips, knees, ankles and arches arein vertical alignment and have the abil-ity to absorb the movement. For this itis essential or your seat to be over your

eet (except in the case o a jockey wherethe stirrups are so short that the angles

ormed by the legs as they are gallopingallow or shock absorption).

Experiment with the ollowing exer-cise: Put your right oot against your le tas i you were positioning yoursel to pulla boot o with your heel. While keepingyour entire oot on the ground engageyour thigh muscles and fex your leg asi you were pulling the boot o . Sinceyou are keeping your entire oot on theground the movement is small, but you

will notice how your thighs initiate themovement.

Once you have gured out this simplemovement, put your heels together withyour toes pointing out, making a “V” shape

with your eet. Place your hands on your thighs and press down and alternately

fex your legs. When your body is in align-ment (it can be slightly orward) and thereis no tension in your back, the movementis incredibly simple and you will noticehow strong and e icient your thighsare. The position will eel as i you areslightly squatting with your knees wide.

I your spine, pectoral muscles or shoulders have any tension this exercise

will eel very di cult, and the movementin the legs will be orced and the thighs

will be lacking power. The exercise isimpossible to do with an arched (hol-lowed) back, a rounded back (pelvis in a“pocket sitter” posture) or a chair-sittingposture.

This exercise is intended to give youa sensation o being able to move your bones with ease. This is a rhythm and mo-tion that should be taking place while youare walking and trotting your horse that isequal and alternating. The walk rhythmis obviously slower that the trot rhythm.The canter rhythm di ers, as it is a short-long rhythm. The long rhythm is in synch

with the horse’s lead. The movement o the bones is not orced. The movement

o your bones needs to be at rst allow-ing and in rhythm with the movement o the horse.

The major thing to remember is tothink wide through your knees. Your calves will automatically be on the horse’ssides, providing a stabilizing anchor or your upper body. Your eet must be leveland the stirrup not too long, allowing the

oot to adjust to the fexion required inthe joints.

As you become aware o the ease thiscan create, you can accentuate the rhythmby adding more intention to your legs(a “wobbling” sensation that invites thehorse to pick up the driving energy inhis hind eet) or slow down the rhythm,

which will slow the horse down withoutyou having to use your hands.

Mastering this exercise eliminatesever having to use both o your legs atthe same time. Remember you are ridinga horse, not a kangaroo or rabbit! I willcontinue this discussion in another issue.It would be also help ul to review lastmonth’s exercise on “Moon Walk”.

Solutions

photo by bobbie jo lieberman- www.bobbiejo.smugmug.com




vents him rom traveling with his head highso the next way or the horse to cope with thecompression going on in his body is to bendhis neck at C-2 instead o the poll.

He is traveling “base down”, which keepshim on the orehand. When the horse travelsbase down he is not able to shi t weighte ciently and there is a lot o stress in hisneck, pectoral muscles, all o his legs andhis lumbosacral region. His legs appear to

be covering ground but there is more bracein the right ront and there would have to bein the le t hind as well, although I cannot seeit due to the cropping.

Although his legs look similar to the previ-ous horse’s, because o the brace visible onhis right ore which would match the le t hindand the compression in this body this horseis really working hard. This really speaks tothis animal’s heart, incredible athletic abilityand potential. It is an untapped gold mine.

The area behind the saddle on his backis dropped and there is a marked peak justabove the point o the hip, which indicatesthat the horse is unable to use his back e -

ectively. This horse would be telling me thathe wished his rider would nd some ways o making his job easier.

Happy trails and “remember to remem-ber” your horse can be a better partner whenhis job o carrying you is made easier.

Peggy Cummings is the creator and ounder o Connected Riding and Connected Ground-work, an approach to riding and handlinghorses that gives both horse and human more

reedom, confdence and lightness in any situ-ation. For urther in ormation, visit Peggy ather website: www.connectedriding.com

P C d L , 14- - d L .

P M P( . k d . )

connected riding april 10

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