How to ride a horse is not an easy question to answer, but by following an expert rider who has made it to the top is a good start. Horse riding is such a great sport to take up, for fitness, for your health and posture and for your mindset. Horse riding is a total body workout and once you have established the basic skills it is such a fun sport be involved in. There are many aspect of horse riding that a new learner needs to address. The first one I always address is the posture of the rider and how to ride a horse with skill and confidence and strength.
How to Establish the Horse Riding Posture
The horse riding posture is unlike any other sport in that the rider must be symmetrical in the saddle, whether they be trotting, cantering, galloping or jumping. If you don't sit square in the saddle the horse will feel this and respond. The horse will respond either as a resistance to the pressure being uneven or behave badly. The rider must learn to feel the symmetry of their weight in the saddle.
The use of both the left and right sides of the body must be equal
This is necessary to be able to apply aids and balance centrally. Horse riding is not one sided like tennis or basketball the horse rider must learn to use both arms equally and independently as well as use the lower legs in the same manner.
The use of the deep core muscles is an essential function for the horse rider to learn.
How to ride a horse involves the use, strength, coordination of this muscle. Without the deep muscles the horse rider will not have stability in the saddle to apply gentle aids, the horse rider will not feel the beat of the horse under them.
The use of Pilates and a Gym Ball when learning to ride a horse
How to ride a horse is the same posture required you asked how to sit on a moving ball. The central posture can be trained on the ball, the movement patterns used in horse riding can be trained on the ball. If a new rider followed this advice and was taught how to test, train and use all their horse riding muscles on a ball then they would pick up the riding patterns very easily and very quickly.
As a riding instructor this is the process I follow and teach my new rider when they want to learn how to ride a horse. For more information look at my Applied Posture Riding program.
Annette Willson Author of Applied Posture Riding
I have a Matsers Degree in Physiotherapy and I am a Pilates teacher and I am a retired elite competitor. My Applied Posture Riding program is a teaching program specific for horse riders, now available on DVD. If you want to learn more about training your self to ride with skill and confidence then go to my website Pilates Specific For Horse Riders
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