Today I'm gonna give you 5 tips that you can use on your next equitation
class so let's get started. Hi there my name is Laura welcome to another video
if it's your first time here, thank you so much for being here. Really appreciate
it. If you'd like to win more ribbons at your next horse show, improve your
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videos coming out. So I've got these five things to put them together because
somebody expressly wrote to me and said you know it's been a while since I've
shown I've noticed these things happening in the show ring have things
really change that much since I've shown well to answer your question no they
haven't changed that we were when we started writing drilled and drilled and
drilled and drilled and drilled and drilled and drilled about the proper
riding position right now the focus is mostly on competition and getting people
into the competition ring. Right now the business is is to get people into the
competition ring so that they can be competing and winning ribbons. The focus
WAS riding, training, riding properly, and riding in balance. Now the focus has
changed to getting into the competition ring. Number one thing that you have to
be when you get into the equitation class and remember that equitation is
all about you. It's about your position and how you look on that horse and
whether or not you're in balance with that horse the actual movement and horse
performance is secondary to your performance if you're thinking hunter
under saddle or a hat class or pleasure horse or road hack one of those hack
division classes or the under saddle class of your hunter division that is on
the horse and your position is secondary to the horses performance o equitation
is the rider hunter under saddle pleasure is the horse keep those things
separate and where they meet is where your bum touches the saddle we're gonna
be talking about equitation today and how your equitation position should be
so that you can get noticed by the judge in a good way
so number one number one is you have to be in balance with your horse
this means no chair seat this means not pinching with your knees and tipping
forward this means not balancing on the horses reins so generally speaking you
have to be in balance with you it's good to be different if you're a short step
rider or whether or if you're a junior a rider or adult amateur rider overall
thing but the overall thing is that you have to be in balance with your horse
you have to be in balance with your horse and if you're a short stirrup
rider you have to be in balance with your horse if you're a junior be
equitation Rider you have to be in balance with your
horse if your junior a equitation rider you have to be in balance with your
horse if you're an adult and mature you have to be in balance with your horse so
that's the first thing you have to be in balance with your horse how do you know
if you're in balance with your horse can you ride without stirrups if you can
ride without stirrups and not balance on the horse's mouth then you're probably
riding in balance with the horse one of the most common problems you see is
people are not riding in balance and they use the horse's mouth to balance
themselves on the horse so I challenge you if you can do a posting trot a
rising trot with your hands on your hips then you're probably okay if you need
the reins to pull yourself out of the saddle then you probably balancing on
the horse's mouth and not riding in balance for two heels keeping your heels
down is really important now why are keeping your heels down why is that so
important that is important because your lower leg and your your heels are the
foundation for your riding position if your heels aren't down that means the
weight is not coming down and around your horse and you want your weight to
be coming down and around your horse to keep yourself in your saddle doesn't
matter how strong you are you will not be able to keep yourself in the saddle
by gripping with your knees you need to have a relaxed comfortable leg position
with an even pressure around your leg in the weight coming down into your heels
don't have your heels down you're probably gonna get
crossed off the judges list one of the other things that the judge looks for
number three is eyes up eyes up is really important because that helps keep
your whole upper body in balance with the horse we talked about our lower leg
being in balance with the horse acting acting as a foundation and anchor
keeping the weight down into your heels your upper body also has to be in
balance with the horse and how are we gonna do that
think of your spine as a bunch of building blocks one stacked up in front
of the on top of the other and think there's a string going through those
building blocks so think of your spine as a bunch of blocks with a string going
through the middle and that somebody is pulling that string through the top of
your head and realigning and lining up all of those little blocks so think of
slouching I'm floating and if I line up and somebody have if I have my spine and
there's a string going through my spine and somebody takes the string from the
top of my head and pulls it and makes everything tighter it's going to align
my spine and that's the way you should think about with your riding is that you
are going to align your spine align your spine and that keeps everything in
balance another important thing to remember is is your head your head
weighs about 10 to 15 pounds and if you keep your head in balance over top of
your spine that'll keep you in balance over top of the horse sometimes people
let their head fall forward they look down there
down to the diagonals they look down for their leads and that puts 10 to 15
pounds off boughs and pulls you forward if you keep your chin up and your neck
in the back of your collar that'll help keep your spine aligned so you can stay
in balance with your horse if you'd like to have a position review send me an
email with a couple of photos from the side and I'll do a position review for
you if you'd like to see some other position reviews take a look here
there's a whole list of position reviews that you can look at before you go into
your next tour show number four number four is your arm position arm and hand
position when you're looking from the side you should have a straight line
elbow hand horse's mouth this gives you a straight line of communication and it
for a relaxed contact with your horse to get a straight line elbow hand horse's
mouth your arms should hang naturally by your
sides and then you bring your hand up so there's an angle at your elbow so hang
your arms naturally at your side bring your hands up to about 90 degrees
that's where your hand should be and your hand should be about this far apart
sometimes people drop their hands down and wide that may gives you a rounded
shoulder keep your elbows in at your side
thumbs up knuckles to the outside maybe hey what's that thirty degrees slightly
to the inside not flat not straight up and down
but thirty degrees to the inside and close enough that your thumbs can touch
each other sometimes people people arrive with their hands close together
like this that's not good and sometimes their hands are wide apart and that's
not good either that makes you ride with rounded shoulders find a way to check to
see if you are riding and balance with your horse as having a straight line ear
shoulder hip heel so if you're looking from the side there should be a straight
line ear shoulder hip heel and if you do a line from the top from your ear
shoulder hip heel it should be straight line down if you keep those straight
lines you'll be in balance with your horse if you'd like to win more ribbons
at your next Horse Show improve your riding and training or generally like
other horsey related it's done stick around because there's lots more videos
here for you my name is Laura and thanks so much see ya bye now
now go use this stuff go hug your horse go use this stuff see ya