Welcome back to another edition of “Train your Eye with Amelia Newcomb” the quick 2-4 minute read with a submitted photo from a REAL rider in my community. These articles are designed to help train your eye for dressage, rider position, and more while also giving you associated feedback to help the rider (and you if you have the same habits!).
Cori, a member of my online community submitted a photo of her daughter, Parker. I love working with young riders, and this was a great Train Your Eye to go over. Thank you Cori and Parker for submitting your photo!
What I see:
Looking at this image, I am very impressed with this young rider. She has her horse on the bit, moving forward, and she impressed me with her ear, shoulder, hip, heel alignment and correct posture. While the horse isn’t braided, they are clean (look at that tail!) and very respectful looking going into the show ring. This looks like a pair I would like to teach!
From the rider’s age and the way she is sitting, I can make an educated guess that she also enjoys other activities outside of dressage. Perhaps some jumping, trail riding. or even Prince Phillip Games. How can I tell? This rider sits a little too much on the front of her pelvis for a pure dressage rider. This seat allows her to get up and out of the tack quickly for a cross rail or to grab a flag. That isn’t a bad thing at all! But to advance in her riding overall, she will need to learn to be able to utilize her aids exactly how she needs them for the discipline she is riding at that moment. Furthermore, the way that you sit in the saddle has a big impact on your horse’s balance. Rotating her pelvis more under will also help her horse to engage the hind end and lift more in the shoulder and withers.
A few adjustments that will help this young rider:
-Toes Forward.
We can see that this rider’s toe is pointed on a diagonal out rather than straight forward. With this happening, two things are the result. 1) her spur will always be pointed into the pony’s belly and 2) she won’t be able to use her leg muscles correctly to stabilize her seat.
While her leg is correctly situated under her hip, we need to rotate her toes forward. The obvious solution is to say “toes forward” in which case most riders will rotate their ankle bones to point their toes forward. But in reality, they will just bounce back because it’s the whole leg (toes, calf, knee, and thigh) which need to point forward. Thinking about rotating her whole thigh inward to adjust her toe position will be a more effective solution. In addition, this will allow her to activate the muscles in her legs properly to put the inside of her leg on the pony rather than just her heel.
-Engage the hind end.
Some horses discover that if they lean on the bit they can quickly tire their riders out and get out of work. We can see that this horse is a little on the forehand (shoulder is lower than the point of buttocks) and the mouth is slightly open against the bit. The solution to this is lots and lots of transitions. The more transitions the better! Walk-trot-walk, Big trot-little trot-big trot, and more! In addition, when the rider adjusts her seat position to be more straight up and down under her, she will be able to be more effective with her aids and help her horse engage the hind end more.
-A Challenge.
It’s important riders (especially at this age!) find the balance between serious and fun while riding. While being too serious and focused on competition can quickly fry a rider and ruin the enjoyment of riding. Having too much fun and making exceptions about safety or respect for the horse can lead to dangerous activities and bad habits. To help find that balance, I have a challenge for this rider as we go into the new year. I would like her to set one competition goal that she feels is a little beyond her current scope (perhaps it’s riding at championships, moving up a level, or trying an FEI children’s test) and another goal to try a fun activity that she’s never tried before (perhaps riding on the beach, taking a reining lesson, or go horse back camping).
Setting goals is a great way to benchmark our riding, keep us motivated, and above all, ENJOY our horses. If you would like help setting your goals for the new year, I would like to invite you to my goal setting webinar tomorrow (Sunday Jan 1st). If you can’t attend LIVE, be sure to still sign up so you can get the replay.
How to improve/exercise to try:
Parker has two main homework items (other than her challenge!), 1) Rotate the leg, and 2) More Transitions! I think these videos will help.
Leg Position:
Keep your Heels Down and Toes Forward
Key to a Stable and Straight Seat!
Transitions:
Trot Canter Transition: Common Mistakes and Fixes
3 Exercises to Improve the Canter Transition
How to Ride the Medium Trot/Trot Lengthening
Develop the Canter Lengthening/Medium Canter
