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Use This Easy Test to See if Your Knees Are Inhibiting Your Horse’s Forward Movement
Did you know your knees can obstruct your horse’s ability to go forward? It’s weird to think about—but true! Your seat bones and feet play a role, as well, but they are secondary to the knees. You can use this easy test with an exercise ball to identify bad habits that may explain why your…
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Is Your Horse a Bean-Bag or a Tennis Ball?
To the uneducated eye, posting the trot is just a series of silly looking, seemingly purposeless, up-down movements. But riders understand what it takes to make rising and sitting to the two-beat rhythm of the horse’s diagonal gait complement rather than hinder his movement. “The skilled rider uses rising trot to get the tension in…
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Riders! Do NOT Put Your Shoulders Back!
The rider’s trunk and extremities interact and depend on each other. For example, hands and arms depend on shoulder position, which depends on the shoulder girdle, which depends on the position of the spinal column (in particular, the thoracic spine). All of this interconnectedness means that the common instruction heard in riding rings round the…
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Quick Quiz: Which Horse Is Bending Correctly?
Look at this image. Can you spot the differences between the horse on the left and the horse on the right? Which one is a horse that is bending correctly? If you guessed the horse on the right is bending correctly, you were right! The horse on the left shows how in an incorrectly…
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The Booty Happy Test: Does Your Backside Smile or Frown in the Saddle?
Popular clinician and biomechanics expert Wendy Murdoch has a way with words…and body parts. In 40 5-MINUTE JUMPING FIXES, the second book in her bestselling 5-Minute Fixes Series, she talks booty happiness—that is, the “Smiley Butt” vs. “Frowny Butt” phenomenon. “There is an anatomical limit as to how much space the rider’s seat can offer…
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FREE Quick Reference Visual: Equine Muscles of Locomotion
A basic understanding of how the horse’s muscles create movement is essential to riders and trainers as they seek answers to training issues, and it also allows them to play an active part in keeping the horse pain-free and performing well by including bodywork in their regular care regimen. In THE DRESSAGE HORSE OPTIMIZED WITH…
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Dynamic Buttocks: Two Exercises for a Better Seat and Improved Riding Position
Yes, you read that right: dynamic buttocks are the secret to moving fluidly with your horse, whatever your riding discipline. “Sitting on a horse is never rigid (static),” write sports physiologist Eckart Meyners, Head of the German Riding School Hannes Muller, and St. George magazine editor Kerstin Niemann in their book RIDER+HORSE=1. “It is always…
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With This Ring Finger, I Thee Ride Better
In her book 40 5-MINUTE JUMPING FIXES, expert riding instructor Wendy Murdoch explains the “Ring Finger Connection” when you hold the reins while riding. According to Murdoch, when you hold the reins and activate your thumb and index finger, there is a pinching action. This action causes the front of your body to flex forward;…
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