Learning specific movement patterns can improve your riding ability enormously. The movement patterns for horse riding are quite unique. The ability to do a half halt without moving the body can be learned. The ability to apply more leg without moving your seat can be learned. These are movement patterns. They can be taught and practiced out of the saddle. The strength of the core muscle is the key to being able to apply independant aids in the saddle. Good core muscle strength provides a stable base for the limbs to lever away from the body. Riding requires a rider to use their hands and feet independantly from other body parts and with power.
To apply a lateral aid and ask the horse to move away from your leg, requires stability in the seat and strength in the leg. By training this movement pattern on a big physio ball a rider can practice the pattern and learn the sequence in their brain and then apply it in the saddle. The use of the seat to gain more impulsion is a learned sequence. Training the pelvic tilt on the ball will give the mucles time to practice the movement and get it right. Once the pattern is learned a rider can just do it in the saddle.
The Applied Posture Riding program teaches riders to train their muscles on the ball and to learn the movement patterns. Once these are ingrained into the brain your riding will become easy, skillfull and confident.
Riding like so many sports now has turned to the gym for better skills training. Learning what skills to train though may be simple in thought but HOW is a different thing. As a Physiotherapist and a rider I have developed the HOW program. Read my page on Applied Posture Riding, and contact me if you have further questions.
