The better the balance, the higher the confidence! Imagine feeling solid standing on the ground. You feel invincible standing there with your feet slightly apart, maybe one in front of the other. How can I improve my balance while riding using that feeling from standing on the ground?
I love Alicia Dickenson when she talks about the 80/20 rule. 80% of your weight in your stirrups, feeling like you are standing on the ground and 20% throughout the rest of your legs. When I tried this, I was shocked at how solid I felt. I add in the additional putting one foot slightly ahead of the other foot which adds to my feeling of balance on the horse. By keeping weight in the feet, and feeling like you are standing on the ground, your horse can move and even play under you and it doesn't throw you off balance like it does with the weight in your seat. A friend once said it is like sitting on a loaf of bread without smashing it.
The second area of focus for me, especially if I have not been riding for a while is to "ride" an exercise ball. I love playing with my feet, my weight, moving and movements while on the ball. I can feel a posting trot or a canter motion and if I fall off, I only have a couple feet to go! Bonus!
The next area that I love to play with is my balance on one foot or the other foot. I will stand on one foot, bending that knee and straightening while swinging my other leg all around until I feel really confident standing on one foot. I love doing this while doing dishes or folding laundry or even while grooming my horse. There are so many times I can really play standing on one leg. If you want an extra challenge, do this one with your eyes closed. Make sure you are safe and have something to hold on to though, it takes some getting used to.
I feel so much more confident in the saddle by implementing the above! If you resonated with the above and would really like to take it to the next level, here is my guide, 5 ways to feel like a kid again!
There are so many things that can be done to improve rider balance, before ever getting on the horse! Let's look at the areas of balance to improve and why.
Left and Right balance. This is important for being able to stay in the center of gravity of you and your horse as one. There are times where you want to add a little weight to just your right or left stirrup to balance through a turn. To practice right and left balance, stand on your feet, making sure your feet are balanced. You want to feel the inside and the outside of the ball of your foot and your heel. Really feel solid on both feet. Stand with them about the width of your stirrup when you ride. Play with keeping your balance and shifting the weight between your feet. Really feel keeping your body centered but heavier weight into each foot. When you get on your horse, feel that weight on in both your feet even and then play with weighting each foot heavier. See what happens when you shift your weight at the walk, what affect does it have on your horse?
Front and back balance. This is important for guiding your horse and also for feeling secure. Front to back balance is the hardest for me. I tend to ball up and lean forward when I get nervous. Watching the police clinic and how they ride through rowdy crowds really helped me to realize that looking up isn't just something the trainer used to yell at me all the time. It has purpose. Looking to where you want to go helps with your front to back balance. Looking down throws your center of balance forward and onto your horse forehand. It also puts you into a position where if something happens, you have a lot less control. This one is fun to play with on the ground. One of my favorites is pushing the shopping cart. Lean a little bit forward with your arms out in front and the cart goes faster and faster, just like a horse that is heavy on the front end. Then, lean a little back and try and go forward with the shopping cart, it is so much harder. Another good one is to stand on your feet square, width of the horse apart. Look down at the ground and lean forward. Look up and lean forward. Practice looking up and feel the difference when you look down and lean forward. Play with it.
Here is a video showing how I do the front back and right left playing with my balance! Click Here
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There are so many things that can cause a horse to be unbalanced, just like humans that are not quite upright. Just a few of the things that come to mind right off the bat are uneven trims in feet, sore muscles, thrush, and weak abs (this sounds like riders too!).
Not only do we have to think about left right balance with a horse, but there is also the front to back balance that is an additional challenge that riders don't always think about or understand. If a horse is heavy on their forehand, they are going to want to speed up, like they do when going down a hill. Balancing them front to back can really help with maintaining speed as well and helping them to be more balanced left/right.
What I would like to talk about is us, as riders, and how we affect a horse's balance and some things we can do! My wonderful structural consultant, Anna Bergenstrahle, at Riderfitness.com said, it is like us, carrying a child around on our shoulders and having them lean all over the place. That visual made so much sense to me! Imagine how frustrated you would be if you had to carry that child for a trail ride, or a horse show, for extended periods of time and had to compensate for their leaning all over the place! You would be exhausted, sore, and probably a little frustrated or even angry. Our horses show us, what we need to learn if we listen to them.
Work on your balance. On and off the horse. My favorite things to work on balance are to stand on each leg, one at a time, with my eyes closed, and move my other leg all around. With my eyes closed, I have to really focus on the feel of my weight, my body and it helps me to know where I am in relation to gravity. I started out slow with this. I heard that most people can only stand on one leg with their eyes closed for 5 - 10 seconds. Since I have done this exercise since I was a kid, I can do minutes. I was really shocked that not everyone does this. Of course, if you are just starting out, keep something close to lean on if you need to catch yourself.
Another favorite is to put on my pants, socks, and shoes, standing on the other leg, as tall as I can. Bring the knee to the chest and put the clothes/shoes on. Again, if just starting out, you want to make sure you can catch yourself on something.
The point is, the better balanced we are, the more effective we are helping our horses and not hindering them!
Here is a link to my Balance video if you would like to check out my goofy antics! Click Here!
If you enjoyed this information, grab my free guide, 5 Ways to feel like a kid!
I have started feeding my horses Timothy Pellets twice a day, and I soak them first. What have I learned from Three Buckets of Timothy Pellets and how it relates to my riding and my horses?
Strength, Flexibility, Coordination on BOTH Sides of our bodies are as important as our horses being good on both sides!
First Thought - Strength - Is our strength EVEN. We expect our horses to have even strength on both sides but do we do what we need to for our own even strength?
I have to STIR the soaked pellets. I found out that me left arm is NOT as strong as my right arm and so, I stir two buckets left handed and one right handed. Guess what, IT MADE MY ARM SORE! This got me to thinking, how much do we work on strengthening our horses "weak" side and over do it? This was stirring two buckets, 3 minutes tops and I hurt. How many times have I done 10 or 15 minutes on my horse on something I am trying to help them learn?
THREE BUCKETS of feed and water are HEAVY, 50 pounds heavy, and lopsided 34 pounds on one side and 17 on the other side! I have about 100 yards to carry the feed buckets from the feed shed to the pasture.
My first question, How do I balance 3 buckets? I think the first few trips, I must have looked like a circus clown in an act gone BAD.
Second Thought - Flexibility - Are you flexible enough to easily reach down and adjust your foot in the stirrup or tighten your girth if you ride English? Both sides? We expect our horses to be flexible "Pokey" ponies on both sides, reaching under with a hind foot, bending around our leg, or even just going up and down switchbacks on a trail ride, can we do the same?
I was sitting on the bed one day, putting on my socks and I realized, I could NOT put my foot on the bed next to my butt to put my sock on. I could when I was younger but NOT ANY MORE! That changed over a few years and I am now so much more flexible, but what if I had not made changes? Would I be a great partner for my horse if I wasn't Flexible? Would I be "Gumby" for my "Pokey"?
Third Thought - Coordination - Can you brush your teeth with either your right hand or your left hand? LOL…..not really relevant directly to riding but yet, it is very relevant. We expect our horses to drop their nose and bend left or right with the slightest cue from our right or left hand and yet, we may not be that precise between our left and our right side!
I was thinking about my coordination and can I really be a GREAT "Hand" for my horse on both the left side and the right side and finesse the rein to have the smallest cue for my horse? This would improve communication and reduce pressure. I tried brushing my teeth with my left hand (and I am left handed mostly) but I brush my teeth right handed. I dropped the toothbrush in the sink three times! That is NOT coordination. That is NOT finesse. I tried cleaning my saddle with my left hand it also needs a lot of work! Guess I will be doing the 60/40 on EVERYTHING for a while to improve my coordination just like I would do with my horses!
To sum it up, we owe it to our horses to be the "BEST" that we can be. We expect it of our horses, why don't we expect the same of us? I will be pondering this question because I certainly have NOT been the best I could be.
I am putting together some posts on "BALANCED" Rider in my Finding Courage Facebook Group. I think the better we can become, just like we expect from our horses, the more courage and confidence that will bring while riding. Would love to have you join our facebook community (if you are not already part of it!) JOIN OUR GROUP!!!
Strength, Flexibility, Coordination on BOTH Sides of our bodies are as important as our horses being good on both sides!
First Thought - Strength - Is our strength EVEN. We expect our horses to have even strength on both sides but do we do what we need to for our own even strength?
I have to STIR the soaked pellets. I found out that me left arm is NOT as strong as my right arm and so, I stir two buckets left handed and one right handed. Guess what, IT MADE MY ARM SORE! This got me to thinking, how much do we work on strengthening our horses "weak" side and over do it? This was stirring two buckets, 3 minutes tops and I hurt. How many times have I done 10 or 15 minutes on my horse on something I am trying to help them learn?
THREE BUCKETS of feed and water are HEAVY, 50 pounds heavy, and lopsided 34 pounds on one side and 17 on the other side! I have about 100 yards to carry the feed buckets from the feed shed to the pasture.
My first question, How do I balance 3 buckets? I think the first few trips, I must have looked like a circus clown in an act gone BAD.
Second Thought - Flexibility - Are you flexible enough to easily reach down and adjust your foot in the stirrup or tighten your girth if you ride English? Both sides? We expect our horses to be flexible "Pokey" ponies on both sides, reaching under with a hind foot, bending around our leg, or even just going up and down switchbacks on a trail ride, can we do the same?
I was sitting on the bed one day, putting on my socks and I realized, I could NOT put my foot on the bed next to my butt to put my sock on. I could when I was younger but NOT ANY MORE! That changed over a few years and I am now so much more flexible, but what if I had not made changes? Would I be a great partner for my horse if I wasn't Flexible? Would I be "Gumby" for my "Pokey"?
Third Thought - Coordination - Can you brush your teeth with either your right hand or your left hand? LOL…..not really relevant directly to riding but yet, it is very relevant. We expect our horses to drop their nose and bend left or right with the slightest cue from our right or left hand and yet, we may not be that precise between our left and our right side!
I was thinking about my coordination and can I really be a GREAT "Hand" for my horse on both the left side and the right side and finesse the rein to have the smallest cue for my horse? This would improve communication and reduce pressure. I tried brushing my teeth with my left hand (and I am left handed mostly) but I brush my teeth right handed. I dropped the toothbrush in the sink three times! That is NOT coordination. That is NOT finesse. I tried cleaning my saddle with my left hand it also needs a lot of work! Guess I will be doing the 60/40 on EVERYTHING for a while to improve my coordination just like I would do with my horses!
To sum it up, we owe it to our horses to be the "BEST" that we can be. We expect it of our horses, why don't we expect the same of us? I will be pondering this question because I certainly have NOT been the best I could be.
I am putting together some posts on "BALANCED" Rider in my Finding Courage Facebook Group. I think the better we can become, just like we expect from our horses, the more courage and confidence that will bring while riding. Would love to have you join our facebook community (if you are not already part of it!) JOIN OUR GROUP!!!
