Equestrian Clinics

On some of my non-riding days, I work out with a personal trainer, Carol Porter, who specializes in fitness for equestrians. While we were doing squats with lateral pulls she noticed something about my feet...I was not connected on the ground evenly with both of my feet...there was more weight in my right foot while my toes on my left foot were up and not connected with the ground. Carol asked if I felt like I was putting more weight on my right side to which I said no, I thought I was even. Interesting. "We need to work on your body awareness and balance" she noted. "You should pay attention to this the next time you ride. Your imbalance will affect your horse." I told Carol that I do have issues with my left foot slipping out of position in my stirrup at times. We both looked at each other during that ah-ha moment. "You are not distributing your weight evenly when you ride just as when you were doing these exercises. That is why your left leg is coming loose."

The next time out riding my Westphalen, Levanti (who is a beautiful love bug) I made a conscious effort to stay balanced. I caught myself putting more weight into my right stirrup than my left one and made the correction (hey, old habits die hard). After I dismounted, I compared my stirrup lengths. The right stirrup was significantly longer than the left one and they were on the same hole! Seems I have had this imbalance issue for a while. Oftentimes, the left stirrup leather gets stretched more than the right one due to mounting. People recommend switching the stirrup leathers to keep them consistent. But in my case, my stirrup leathers were more proof that I need to work on my balance and body awareness. 

Jenny Rolfe, a trainer from the UK that specializes in rider posture and breathing techniques, writes in her article "Breathe Life Into Training" (found in our Fitness Center):

"The rider, unlike the athlete, has not only to focus on personal balance and energy flow, but also, upon another living being. The horse is not only extremely strong, but demonstrates high sensitivity with a natural inbuilt instinct of both fear and flight. It is little wonder that when we seek to understand more about harmony in horsemanship, the journey is one of our whole life! A puppet could sit on a horse in a good position but would be totally ineffective as a rider. We need to become balanced and harmonious with the horse which is enhanced by an awareness of the physical, mental and spiritual balance of the rider."