Ok today we're going to do some position review on some photographs that someone has sent in to us. So, let's get started
Hi there everybody my name is Laura, and thank you for watching another video if it's your first time here
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Now let's get started
So today's picture we have this horse and rider
Combination and you can see that the quality of the photo isn't that great?
But you know what doesn't matter we can still see the position
And if you would like to have your own position reviewed
Then please feel free to send in a video short video not too long a video or a couple pictures
And I'd love to do a position review and give you some pointers on your position
So first off. I really want to comment on this horse. It looks amazing. It's got a beautiful shiny coat
It's got some muscle on it, and it's looks so relaxed and calm
I just love the way this horse is reaching out with its head and neck and in a calm relaxed frame
Well done and the coat is so shiny lots of grooming and care went into this to get that coat like that
but let's look at a position shall we
So first off the number one thing that we like to look at when you're riding
In a profile sight type situation is a straight line
Ear- shoulder- hip- heel, and you can see that this rider has a lovely straight line ear shoulder hip heel
And it goes right from her ear straight line shoulder hip and then heel so all the weight
Comes right down through your body into the saddle and then right down into our heel
Sometimes what you see people are in a "chair" seat and that means that their leg is swinging out in front of them
And that's a big no-no no chair seat chair seat is bad
This is good keep the weight down into your heels by pushing the weight down into your heel
but not down a forward keep it down so if somebody came out and
Took that horse out from underneath you you would land directly on your feet and in balance
So that's really important to think of as well
Straight-line your shoulder and hip heel so that you can stay in balance with your horse
Another straight line that I'd like to show you here is a straight line elbow hand
Horse's mouth and this is your direct line of communication with the horse
And that's why it's so important to have a straight line elbow hand horse's mouth you
Don't want your hands too high or too low if you have your hands too straight
You get it right from the shoulder to the horse's mouth and this rider is just borderline
Almost getting the shoulder right in there too, and we don't like that too much
But straight line elbow hand horse's mouth and you can see how much the horse appreciates the soft
Feel this rider has on her mouth
The horse is reaching down reaching forward ears are relaxed and there's no tension in this horse
And that's really nice to see
So one of the first Corrections that we like to talk about right here is the
heel position. Your heels have to be down and this rider has her heels down
But we'd like to see them down just a little bit more than what she's showing us here today to
Help get your heels down easy
solution is to ride in 2 - point or
Jumping type position. That means standing up in your stirrups with your seat over the middle of the saddle
Like you're crouching in the saddle and the weight coming down
Past your seat past your legs into your ankles so your heels get down into the saddle. If you want more information about how
To get your weight down into your heels
There's a look up the here for a link to a video that explains how to put your heels down
But the easiest exercise is to stand up in your stirrups push the weight down into your heels
And you can ride walk trot and canter in that position
And it doesn't matter if you're riding English or Western you can do it with both
Now have you seen somebody riding without putting your heels down put it in the comments below
I'd love to hear what you thought about somebody riding without their heels down
Now let's move on
So here we have the rider
With their eyes down heels down is good eyes down not so good
You must ride with your eyes up, and if your eyes aren't up the horse
You don't know where you're going and the horse doesn't know where you're going think of it as right like riding a bicycle
If you're riding a bicycle you don't stare down at the handle bars
Please don't
So if you're looking up and looking forward you are looking up and looking around the turn to the left or right
and round the turn to the right or left or whichever way it is for you the
Horse can feel that you're turning your head and just by that simple turning your head helps the horse decide which way you're turning
There's all kinds of other aids that you are using as well
But the first thing that you need to do is look up and look straight ahead
Focus where you're going, and then the rest of your body will help the horse turn
Not looking where you're going this riders looking at the ground, maybe she's looking at the mud, maybe she's looking at her shadow
I'm not sure but
Not looking forward look up look forward
And this is particularly helpful
When you are in the warm-up ring at a horse show and there's ten other horses there if you are not looking up
You are going to run into somebody and they're going to be
royally pee out think of it like
To be ever run or saw somebody
texting and they have their eyes down, and they're texting as they're crossing the street and you're trying to cross the street and
They run into you has that ever happened to you
I know what's happened to me put it in the comments below if you've seen somebody
Texting going across the street
And they've almost run into you and that's just like riding your horse with your eyes down can't do it. It's not safe and
This is the other thing that I noticed right off the bat
Is that the rider has flat hands, and we used to call that piano hands?
I'm not sure if you guys call it piano hands or not
Because the hands are flat this way we want to see the hands up
Thumbs up knuckles to the outside so that it keeps your rest of your body in the correct position and you can see
Because of the flat hands that her elbows are coming
And her shoulders are slightly rounded forward
So you can see that the flat hands and once again the picture isn't that great but the flat hands
And you could see her elbows are kind of stuck out to the side
And that's gonna make it's making her shoulders around it slightly forward keep your shoulders rounded back
Keep your elbows
Down and relaxed in at your side, and if your elbows are in and relaxed at your side
That's gonna. Put your hands in the correct position if your hands are flat
You can do this right now with me if your hands are flat
What automatically happens? Your elbows come out?
So if your hands are with the thumbs up your elbows in but to get your hands flat your elbows come out and also what
That does connect it to your elbows as your shoulders round forward
So shoulders back elbows in and that will automatically put your hands in the correct riding position
So this is a picture at the trot and once we're troting you can see this riders
Heels are down a lot more, and that's a big improvement from the walk position
So you can see that these riders heel is a way down a lot more than it was in the walk position walk
Picture so your heels are down
But one thing I want to point out to you is that her elbows are behind her body
Behind her waist which really is kind of odd and sometimes what happens when you do that, so I'm sitting up straight here
But bring my elbows back what happens sometimes is that because your reins get longer you bring your hands into your
stomach and you curl your upper body forward, and that's kind of bad, but you can see this riders hands are down and
In front of her we'd like to see them out in front of her another six or eight inches
And we want to see them just in front of the horses withers there rather than
Close to the pommel like that and I think if she
Shortened her reins pushed her elbows so that her elbows were near her waist rather than behind her body
You'd see that happening so that's a big correction that we like for her to do
one thing that you can do to help
Prevent your elbows from coming back behind you is keep your reins shorter and keep the elbows
Snugly into your waist with the hands out in front of you
So there you have it, so this is what we're be doing is some position Corrections
What is your most common correction that your instructor says to you is it eyes up is it?
Why are your heels up push your heels down is it correct your diagonal?
What is the most common thing that your instructor says to you?
I'd like to hear about it
My name is Lauren. Thanks for watching this video