You feel your feet bouncing in the stirrups, especially during sitting trot.
Your lower legs sway in canter.
You can't feel your feet in the stirrups.
You have trouble placing your legs on your horse's sides.
You can have nice long legs riding without stirrups, but still lose the stirrups as soon as you start using them again.
These things happen to most riders at some point, especially during the first few years of riding. Sometimes, you develop a habit that lasts even longer, mostly because your body blueprinted itself long ago and now it's even more difficult to break that habit.
But it can be done.
We are always striving to maintain quieter legs, a more secure seat, and stable feet (preferably with the heels lower than the toes). The thing is, the harder we try to keep the legs from moving, the more they swing, tighten, and finally slide out of the stirrups!
What to do?
Here are three steps (pun intended!) to a quieter leg position.
1. Soften through the seat.
Whenever you find tension in the lower legs or feet, you can direct your attention higher up. In this case, consider your seat. Are you tight through the lower back? Are you gripping with the gluteal muscles? Maybe your hip angle is closed or you're leaning forward in the upper body.
In all these cases, start with softening through your seat. Don't become a blob of jelly - just feel for tension or gripping, and release that as much as you can. Allow the hip angle to open. Allow your upper thighs to really sit into the saddle.
Try to be quiet in your seat aids. If you feel you are moving bigger than your horse, or if you are pumping through your seat and body to get him moving, work toward whispering your aids, reducing body movement, and becoming lighter over the horse's back. We often get "too loud" in attempt to be clear. The quieter you can be in your body, the more opportunity you can have to feel your legs and the horse's sides.
So start with a softer seat that allows a more open hip angle and a straighter leg from the highest point of the thighs.
2. Straighten the leg from the hip through the knee down to the ankle.
Do two things with your leg.
First, rotate your leg inward toward the saddle, so your knee is facing straight ahead. You might need to grab the back of your riding breech and actually pull your leg slightly backward from the hip, placing the thigh flat on the saddle.
Second, straighten your knee slightly. Don't push it too straight, but see how much you can open the knee angle as you lengthen your leg downward.
It's like a stretch of the leg, constrained within the length of your stirrup leathers. You might discover that your leg will naturally feel longer.
3. Push into the stirrup with your foot, allowing the heel to go down if it can.
Now let's focus on the foot itself.
The ball of your foot should be flat on the widest part of the stirrup. If placed correctly, you will feel like the stirrup is as solid as the ground. We call this "grounding" your feet in the stirrup.
After you have lengthened your leg in step 2, you might feel that your heel just wants to go down on its own. This is a great sign that you are on the right track. However, don't force your heels down - that would cause more tension in your leg and be counterproductive. Let the heel hang if it will.
Start at the halt.
Take time and soften through the seat and hip, position the leg and then ground the foot on each side. Do all of this at the halt first, so you can feel the effects on your seat and leg before you add movement.
Then try to maintain the leg position through each gait. Walk is easiest. It might take some effort at first but will feel more natural over time, until you aren't even aware that you are doing it.
The longer leg and softer muscles will also allow your seat to position deeper into the saddle.
One last thought. You might not be able to do all three steps right away. In fact, you might be able to do one, then another, then maybe two at a time... you know what I mean. Add transitions, the sitting trot or canter to the mix, and you might have to be even more patient.
So be aware of what your seat and legs feel like, work on loosening the seat and lengthening the leg, and one day, you might be surprised that somehow, without forcing anything, your legs stopped swaying, your stirrups stayed on your feet, and you can actually feel the stability of the stirrups even as you canter merrily along!
Finally! The Ultimate Rider-Centered Program!
Ready for something completely different? If you liked what you read here, you might be interested in the Horse Listening Practice Sessions.
This is NOT a program where you watch other people's riding lessons. Start working with your horse from Day 1.
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Would you like to be the rider that all horses dream of?
By following simple, useful exercises, you will be able to develop a better understanding about many topics including:
As in, we should be riding with better "connection."
This is not just about contact. It's quite a lot more than just what you feel through the reins (although that is a part of it).
Since I started the blog in 2011, I've ended each year with an article about something that I feel is a common problem for most riders. In the past, I've discussed theleg aids, pulling on the reins, the outside reinand more. I've zeroed in on bits and pieces that make up riding, but this year, I've been thinking a lot about the "whole" of it.
I often feel it's necessary to break riding skills down into small, concrete chunks. Because without the pieces, we can't possibly put it all together. On the other hand, if we never consider "the whole," then we won't be successful in the application of the skills. Plus, we effectively cheat our horses out of what we should really be doing, which is to make everything seamless, smooth, balanced, and not interfering.
So we need to begin somewhere. Because really, if we always ride our horses in bits and pieces, we will always ride the horse into lack of connection.
What is connection?
This is a difficult concept to clearly describe, because like contact, it is based on feel. Let's look at it from this perspective:
What happens if you apply pressure with both legs?
Will your horse move straight forward, round through the body, reach farther underneath with the hind legs, lighten the forehand and stay in balance, swing through the back, swing through the shoulders and reach for the bit?
Will you have this wonderful lightness of contact that feels at once super powerful and yet incredibly sensitive, as if your hands are out of the discussion and the slightest shift through your body (lower back, seat, legs) will be all that is needed to communicate with the horse?
Will you feel at one with the horse, literally dancing with imperceptible whispering aids, together "as one?"
That is connection.
And unfortunately, most of us ride outside of connection most of the time.
How do you know you are missing connection?
There are many hints to tell you when the horse isn't "connected." You might experience one or more of the following:
you can't stop your horse from spooking
the horse speeds up faster and faster in a gait when you ask for a transition
the head swings upward while the back hollows when you use your leg aigs
your rein contact is on/off/on/off, long-short-long reins no matter what you try
you feel you're often out of balance - either on the forehand or the horse drifts through the shoulders
your horse's neck is bent inward going one direction and outward going the other way
the horse's footfalls are very heavy (more than you think they should be)
your upper body reacts forward or backward with either sharp stops (or downward transitions) or lurching take-offs (or upward transitions)
your transitions don't happen where you want them to
you have difficulty maintaining straight lines
your circle size changes, or you tend to have large circles going one way, and really small ones the other
you feel that your horse is very heavy on the bit
you have trouble walking from canter
you have trouble cantering from walk
you feel like there is absolutely no pressure on the bit
There have to be many more. In general, the symptoms of lack of connection show up in the horse as imbalance, inability to respond accurately or quickly, and/or stiffness through the body. The horse might also have little confidence in the rider.
How can you improve connection?
There really is no one magic pill to developing connection. Unfortunately, it takes time and practice for you to be able to influence your horse well enough to make a difference in your horse's way of going. You will likely need an instructor's input to first identify the many skills you will need, teach them to you, give you feedback as you try and make mistakes, and finally confirm when you make progress.
However.
There is something you can try on your own, and get enough feedback from your horse to help direct you on your path toward connection.
Try this:
1. Squeeze both legs.
2. Go with the horse.
3. Give with the reins (a little).
4. Half-halt to maintain the same tempo throughout.
So this sounds very simple and it can be, if you know what you're looking for. First, you have to create energy, then ride that energy.
1. Start with a soft but steady contact. Then apply leg pressure to ask the horse to move ahead. Keep steady rein contact throughout.
2. When the horse does go, you go with him! Don't get left behind.
3. Give the horse a little space to step into - even while you maintain a light contact. You can do this by extending your elbows just a little, or letting the reins out - not more than an inch. Make sure you don't suddenly let go of everything and "drop" the horse on his forehand. It's just a little give, but it's enough to let the horse move more freely forward.
4. Maintain the tempo in the interest of balance. If the leg speed changes, the horse will likely lose balance and the whole disconnected thing will start all over again! Use your half-halt to keep the tempo, and to keep the energy from "leaking out the front" of the horse.
Do it on a circle and stay on that circle as you play with the aids. You can start with walk and trot at first, as you will have your best balance in those gaits. Initially, you're looking for what I described above:
your horse moves straight forward,
rounds through the body,
reaches farther underneath with the hind legs,
lightens the forehand and stays in balance,
swings through the back,
swings through the shoulders,
reaches for the bit.
Any of these responses are a step in the right direction.
Don't be too disappointed if nothing much happens when you first start this exercise. If you and/or your horse are used to riding without connection, it will take time and coordination for you both to learn how to let the energy flow and reach forward (rather than pull backward) to achieve movement. But practice, and one day, all the bits and pieces will fall together as one!
Good luck, and happy Horse Listening!
Finally! The Ultimate Rider-Centered Program!
Ready for something completely different? If you liked what you read here, you might be interested in the Horse Listening Practice Sessions.
This is NOT a program where you watch other people's riding lessons. Start working with your horse from Day 1.
I don't believe in putting my work behind a paywall. But there are expenses in every venture. If you really liked this article, consider tipping us! Your tip will help me keep producing more riding TIPS (pun!) with free access to everyone. With thanks for reading!
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If you enjoyed this article, here are some related topics:
It's been an active horsin' around year for me personally, and I've been happily sharing new posts on the blog regularly. Taking a look at the articles from this year, I can see that while I still have some "fun" articles and some horse "listening" types of posts, I've moved more and more into writing about the rider, the aids, how to become a more effective rider (and listen to the horse while riding), and patterns to help develop the rider and the horse's specific skills.
The Practice Sessions are taking on more shape and I'm almost ready to present them. I've been working on developing a repertoire of patterns but as I got more and more into it, I realized that there should be much more to the Practice Sessions than just the patterns. As soon as I'm ready to proceed, I will share updates with the people on the Practice Sessions Pre-Launch list. If you want to be included,go here and sign up. You'll be the first to hear the news.
Thank you for being part of another fantastic Horse Listening year. Here are the top 10 articles by number of views, in backward order.
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At Horse Listening, we are emphatic life-long learners of all things horsey. You will be reminded time and again about how there is so much to be learned from horses and other horse people, if only we listened.
This guest post is by Bora Zivkovic, who started riding in Serbia in the early 1970s, starting out in dressage, then switching to showjumping as well as riding racehorses and studying veterinary medicine. When he moved to the USA in 1991, he switched to the Hunter Seat, then did graduate work in animal physiology and behavior. He currently works as a riding instructor at Hidden Springs Stables, as well as a Biology 101 college professor, in the Triangle area of North Carolina, USA.
As one peruses books, articles or videos about riding, or observes lessons and clinics, it is easy to get swept into the notion that riding is a very technical sport. Much of the instruction is focused on the physical aspects of riding - what are the aids for a shoulder-in, and where should the horses' feet track during shoulder-in? Exactly where should our heels be, and what is the proper angle in the elbow joint?
And yet, some riders with very unorthodox techniques (rememberAnnete Lewis, Ann Moore, Harry deLeyer, or the Flying AustraliansKevin BaconandJeff McVean?) were very successful in the show ring in showjumping and various other disciplines. If technical perfection is essential for success, what explains the success of riders whose technique leaves a lot to be desired?
Of course, who's to know how much more successful those unorthodox riders would have been if they also rode technically correctly, but there was obviously something else there that made them winners. And that is their psychological makeup, intense focus, great sense of rhythm, eye for a distance, and mental preparation for the riding at the top levels.
Back in their day, there was very little focus on the mental aspect of riding. Students were expected to be brave, and those who were not, quit riding. But in the 1980s, with the publication of books by Sally Swift (Centered Riding) and Mary Wanless (The Natural Rider), much changed. Today, the top riders have not only their technical coaches, but also have mental coaches or sports psychologists on their teams.
As a riding instructor (and sometimes a rider myself), I try to put a lot of focus on the psychological aspects of riding. Heels will eventually go down. But even a rider with perfect position can be completely ineffective if the mental preparation is not implemented.
In her book, The Natural Rider, Mary Wanless says that a rider has to be a perfect cross between an angel and a tiger. What does that mean?
A rider who is being an angel is the one who is primarily concerned about the well-being and happiness of the horse, making sure that everything is OK and that everyone's having fun. A tiger, on the other hand, is the natural predator of large herbivores like a horse. A rider who is a tiger is the one who leaves no question in the horse's mind that it is the human who is making decisions and that the horse is expected to do what the rider is asking. This mental state also requires courage - it is not for the faint of heart to confront a huge animal and tell it what to do or else.
A rider who is 100% angel will be ineffective - the horse will go grazing in the corner. A rider who is 100% tiger is abusive - the horse will get scared. A good rider is an even mix of both, and also has developed an instinct as to when to turn on the angel and when to switch on the tiger part of riding, when to go for the gold in the cross-country phase of an Olympic eventing competition, and when to, perhaps the next moment, pull up as the horse is feeling "off". A rider who is a good angel-tiger mix will be trusted by the horse to provide structure and guidance and to always be fair.
At this day and age, almost all of the students I get in our riding school are 100% angels. They are girls who love ponies and who have never had to really be strong and brave before. Much of my instruction is an effort to build and wake up the inner tiger. No rush - this takes years, but it can be done. Just gently pushing the envelope, asking the student to do something just barely outside the comfort zone, praising the courage, praising the determination to get a reluctant horse to do something, then doing something similar again and again in many (but not all) lessons over a long period of time.
How Much Practice?
There are sayings, attributed to many different sources, that many have heard (not just in riding circles but everywhere), that "practice makes perfect" and "no, only perfect practice makes perfect". Also, there is the notion that it takes 10,000 hours of practice for one to become good at a particular skill, athoroughly debunked pop-psychology myth.
In light of our discussion above, what is it that becomes perfect with practice, the physical/technical aspects, or the mental ones? Of course, they are intertwined. Becoming technically more proficient allows one to get more daring, to try to go higher. With riders, just like with horses, confidence comes from repeatedly being able to do something successfully.
So, this means that one has to repeat things over and over again. But just doing it mindlessly is not enough. One has to be focused, and one needs continuous feedback from a coach.
When a body starts doing a novel motor pattern, the brain starts making new connections (synapses) to build new circuits. If the motor pattern isn't repeated, these connections remain weak and start disconnecting in about 5-7 days. The student who takes lessons only once a week (or even less frequently) is essentially riding the first lesson multiple times, starting to build circuits over and over again each time. But if there is a second lesson earlier than next week, then the connections get stronger and cannot disconnect so soon. Kids who ride twice a week progress ten times faster than kids who ride once a week. Adding the third, fourth, fifth ride a week helps some, but the effect is not nearly as dramatic as moving from one to two per week. This is why summer camps are a great way to start one's kid's riding career.
What practice does is keep strengthening the neural connections. This is usually called "muscle memory" although it is stored in the nervous system, not in the muscles (but the term is too ingrained to change now, so we'll go with it). Doing 10,000 hours of repetition will certainly strengthen these neural circuits, but it will not make you a master. For mastery, one needs to keep refining those circuits. When one just starts learning, one makes mistakes or does stuff imperfectly, thus forming connections that lead to imperfect future movement. What training does is prune those imperfect connections and replace them with better ones. This is where the feedback from the coach (as well as mirrors, photos, videos, etc.) are really important.
Riding is difficult. We use muscles in novel ways. We are scared, unbalanced, uncoordinated. It is up to the instructor to ignore all the mistakes and imperfections and focus on one or two basic things first, get those puzzle pieces in, then add another piece and another and another (and the exact order of pieces will be different for different individuals - some start out with heels down in their first lesson, other take two years to get the heels down). Each time a new puzzle piece is added, an inferior connection was replaced by a better one, moving the student one more step toward mastery.
Most of our students do not own horses, and certainly do not have one at home. The only time they are on a horse is during the lesson. This is equivalent to taking violin lessons but not having a violin at home to practice on. As constant feedback from the coach is essential for mastery, riding just in lessons is not so bad. But building neural circuits requires repetition. Strengthening the relevant muscles requires repetition. Confidence requires repetition of success. Thus I often give my students five (or ten or fifty) minutes of "free practice" during the lesson, usually at the end, so they can just repeat repeat repeat.
This is most important for complete beginners who just need to post on the rail forever in order to build muscles, balance and coordination, and where coaching cannot help much. Later on, they start half-leasing or leasing (and some buying) horses so they can do a lot of practicing on their own between the lessons. For many students, due to finances or parental attitude, leasing or buying has to wait a very long time. In the meantime, lessons are all they can get, so these need to be used both for learning new stuff and for repetitive practice of the old stuff until it becomes instinctual, "muscle memory" stuff.
I'm Singing In The Reins
One aspect of being a "tiger" in riding is courage. One result of constant repetition is the ability to build muscle memory. Once muscle memory is built, it is possible NOT to pay attention to every detail and to let your body just do it. If your mind is free to not focus on details (and this can be good, as it preventsparalysis by analysisorThe Centipede's Dilemma), it is free to focus on <gasp> fear!
One thing a coach can do is refocus you on the details, but then you can start over-analyzing and making yourself ride worse! So what else can you do to take your mind off of fear AND away from details? Well, you can sing!
If you sing out loud, not just that your mind will be distracted from fear and from over-analysis, but it will also have physical effects on you. Singing triggers the release of endorphins (which make you happy) and oxytocin (which make your trust your horse - or coach - more). If you sing, you have to keep breathing. And if you are breathing, it is very difficult to become tense. So you will relax, and the horse will feel your relaxation, which will make the horses happier and more confident so the horse is less likely to do something that scares you.
Also, many horses seem to respond to song. It seems to be soothing, Perhaps they can feel from the song that the rider is relaxed and in a good state of mind and that there are no crouching tigers in the bushes or hidden dragons inside of that oxer. Which then feeds back to the rider - as nothing bad happens, this adds to one's confidence and reduces future fear, allowing one to nurture the inner tiger.
What shall you sing? If the task is easy (trotting around) and fear is great (oh no, he will explode!), choose a song that requires more thinking about the lyrics. If the task is harder (jumping an entire course, which I have been known to ask students to do) and fear is not so big, more just tension, pick a song that is easy, lyrics that do not take much thought.
Many instructors of kids know this, and use simple songs in their lessons. Perfect song with a trot rhythm is the Alphabet Song, which is exactly the same tune as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (as well as a few other similar tunes, including Baa Baa Black Sheep).
Canter is harder to choose the song for, as a speedy little pony is different from a big galumphing warmblood.
Is singing embarrassing? Some students/kids think so and don't want to do it. But once they see and hear me do it when I ride, they realize it is OK, just a regular part of riding, so they belt out the tune in their next lesson.
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Little Known Qualities of Great Farriers, by K. Arbuckle, professional farrier: The farrier, though required to scientifically balance and shoe a horse, is an artist working with a living canvas.
Scoring the Hunter Round, by L. Kelland-May, senior judge: Have you always wondered how the hunter class is judged? Read it here straight from the judge's perspective!
What better time to take an hour or two to read about your favorite topic? This year, stay home out of the wintry cold, and do a little quiet read and reflection.
I often take my own advice and immerse myself in reading to continue my "studies" of all things related to horses and riding. There are so many excellent articles on the Internet that I've read over the past months. I'd love to share these with you, since I found them informative and helpful for my own riding. I hope they might be useful for you too.
Enjoy!
Focus On The Spine To Correct Shoulder Position: This article is by Susanne von Dietze, author of the book,Balance in Movement. Her perspective on rider position is informed by her training as a physiotherapist. In this article, she discusses the rider's upper body from a photo that was submitted by a 2nd level dressage rider.
Exercises And Advice From Robert Dover: This article reflects on three clinic riders who are given exercises aimed at improving specific aspects of their riding. The beauty of this article is that the exercises are drawn out and explained, so you can take them to the barn to try yourself! Enjoy.
How To Ride And UtilizeShoulder-In With Enst Hoyos: There is a lot of information in this article: the aids, common faults, exactly how to develop the shoulder-in, and the connection between the horse's conformation and the movement.
Transitions: The Secret To Balanced Riding: You know I love transitions! This one dates back many years, but the information is timeless and thorough. Check out the section at the end titled "Cautions and Precautions" which outlines ten highly relatable scenarios that go into specific ways to counter common problems.
4 Dressage Training Problems Solved With Jennifer Baumert: This is an excellent article about four common riding problems, and what the rider can do about them: the running horse that is heavy in the hands, the fearful or distracted horse, the horse that is heavy on the left rein, and the horse that breaks into trot instead of collecting at canter.
Bute, Dex, and Risk: Dr. Ramey discusses two very commonly prescribed medications for horses, and their "relative" risk. It's a good reminder about how to make choices regarding medicating your horse, when and how.
Don't Give Up On Your Dressage Dreams: Well, any dreams, really. But this one is about Belinda Trussell's rise and fall from team status over the course of her career, and how she perseveres through it all.
7 Exercises To Improve Lower Body Strength And Balance: This site has excellent articles and videos with off-the-horse exercises designed to develop the body for riding specifically. This article, with videos, has several lower-body exercises.
Cross-Training With Cavaletti: Cavaletti work should be included for horses of all disciplines, but here's a well explained dressage take on a fairly simple pattern.
Don’t miss a single issue of Horse Listening! If you like what you are reading, become a subscriber and receive updates when new Horse Listening articles are published! Your email address will not be used on any other distribution list. Subscribe to Horse Listening by Email
Horse Listening Book Collection - beautiful paperbacks with all the excellence of the blog - in your hands! Click on the image for more information.
Just a note to thank you for reading, commenting, liking and sharing over 2017. I appreciate your feedback and celebrate your riding accomplishments when you share them with me. Merry Christmas!
Take it from me - EVERY horse obsessed person in your life secretly hopes that either you or Santa will give her something to feed her obsession passion. It can honestly be almost anything to do with horses. But there are certain things that only those "in the know" would get that would truly make for a meaningful gift. And they're not always the big-wrapped-box kind of presents.
1. (More) Riding Lessons: Well, if you don't know this already, let me explain it to you. We horse riders are forever learners. There's really no such thing as not taking lessons, no matter how many years we've been in lessons. In fact, the only thing that can probably keep us from taking more lessons is money. So if you have a chance, head out to your rider's stable and top up the lesson credits! Add an extra lesson a week, or tack them on to the end of the session.
2. Horsey Calendar: Don't worry - they can never have enough of those. Even if we get other calendars this year, we will always find a place to put yours up. It helps if your calendar is more specific than the usual "over the counter" calendars you can find at the mall. If you go to a tack store, you'll likely find discipline-specific calendars, quotable quotes calendars (taken from the masters of yore), really and truly funny horse calendars, or ones with the images of the current international stars.
3. Ticket to Watch a World-Renowned Clinician: There seems to be more and more high-profile international riders/trainers heading over to this side "of the pond," as they say. Meaning - we get to witness our own local aspiring top riders take lessons with some of the highest profile trainers from the world over. You have to understand that to us horse people, having a chance to see them in action is something akin to getting tickets to the coolest music concert!
4. Riding Boots: There are so many styles to choose from that it would be helpful if you went with your person in tow for this one. Even if she already has a few boots to pick from, she will likely have a special pair she'd love for certain riding occasions. Like the "clinic boots," the "show boots," the everyday boots, the winter boots... you see what I mean.
5. Name Plate Leather Halter: This one is perfect for the horse owner (or part boarder or regular lesson student who rides one horse). There is nothing nicer than having a special halter for that special horse.
6. An annual subscription to a horse magazine. While we are spending more and more time finding the information we need on the Internet, there is nothing nicer than a full-color glossy magazine arriving at your door on a monthly basis.
It has always been our mission to share clear, concise information, for free on the blog, year round. However, readers wanted physical books that they could hold in their hands, take to the barn, and write notes into. Thus, our book collection was born.
Get instant access to exercises and theory related to:
√ Improving Suppleness (lateral and longitudinal)
√ Use of the horse's inside hind leg
√ Figures such as a variety of circles, serpentines, straight lines, corners, tear drops, and more
√ Quality of movement: perfect for warm-ups, middle-of-the-ride breaks, or at the end of the ride as an excellent way to cool down while still maintaining attention and communication
is a compilation of the best patterns that have been shared on the Horse Listening Blog. The book is divided into five sections: Warm-Ups, Left and Right, Straightness, Suppleness and Collection. Each section has specific exercises and theory based on its topic.
But there's more!
There is a Special Center Section dedicated to only Transitions - something that we can all work on throughout our riding careers. And finally, scattered throughout the book are chapters that clearly explain theory, technique and skills that can help improve the featured exercises of teach Section.
Click to learn more
The Horse Listening Book Collection: There are three books in this collection, combining some of the best posts from the blog. It's like having the blog in your hands, bound into beautiful paperback books. Your rider can refer to these tips again and again as she travels through her riding journey. These are learning, inspiring, clarifying types of books!
Click to learn more
Goal Setting For The Equestrian: A Personal Workbook: One year, I was looking for a goal-setting book for myself that was specific to horseback riding. I searched and searched and found nothing. So I decided to make one myself that would meet my needs as a rider. This book is unique in that it includes not only the rider's goals, but the horse's as well - because there can't be real progress without including both members of the team.
Click to learn more
Five Years Of Horse Listening: For our fifth anniversary, we compiled a small book of the top 20 articles on the blog to that point. You'll find the best of the best in this book.
After looking the above list over again, I have come to a sudden realization. When it really comes down to it, I'm sure that the horse-lover in your life is pretty happy with nothing more than... a visit with her horse, of course!
If you liked the above article, you might also enjoy:
Think of the back as the gateway to all things good in horse riding. A supple back allows energy through the horse's top line. It releases tension, loosens muscles - allows instead of blocks. The up-and-down action of the back creates space for the hind legs to reach underneath the body, which will in turn promote better balance - whether on a turn or straight line.
But most importantly, the supple back allows the horse to carry you, the rider, in a more healthy fashion. Which is something we should all be interested in.
Consider the opposite: the clenched, unmoving back. Tightness. Rigidity. Blockage. Hind legs out behind the horse's center of gravity. Lack of balance. Bracing neck andon the forehand.
That image should be motivation enough to make you want to put in the effort it might take to learn how to get the horse to "work through the back."
While there is definitely much more to the supple back, the exercise below can help you get started at a basic level. These two movements combine to give you a sort of road map, if you will, to begin to find your horse's back.
Use your inside leg at the girth, and stay evenly balanced in the saddle. Leg yield outward so that the circle becomes a little bit larger, bit by bit. The idea is to get the horse to lift through the rib cage (in response to your leg), lift the inside shoulder and shift weight to the outside. The horse's legs may or may not cross over each other - in this exercise, the cross-over is not required. Just a shift to the outside is fine, especially at the beginning.
You might notice that it is somewhat easier to get a bend to the inside if you can get the leg yield going well. The horse will already be reaching underneath the body deeper with the inside hind leg, and will be able to maintain better balance into the bend. Without too much fuss happening from your hands, you should feel the bend begin mostly thanks to your leg aid.
So now, your horse is stepping outward and the inside bend is developing.
Enjoy this for a few strides. Lighten your contact at this point, lighten your seat, and allow more energy through the horse's body while still stepping out and bending.
You're looking for a bouncier feeling, a swingier back... basically, more freedom of movement and energy.
Once you feel you have a nice bend and some easy steps outward, you might find that your outside rein "fills up" on its own, and suddenly, you have this wonderfulneck rein on the outside rein, which will naturally lead you right into #2.
Shoulder-fore.
2. Shoulder-Fore
Now that you've activated the hind end, you can see if the front end can become lighter and straighter.
The shoulder-fore is a basic but excellent way to line up the horse's front end so that it leads slightly to the inside (and works on the bend again). Click here for the shoulder-fore aids.
Using your outside neck rein, bring your horse's shoulders just a little ahead of the hind leg tracks. In other words, the horse's front leg tracks should fall slightly to the inside of the hind leg tracks.
You're still on the circle, you just did the leg yield out, developed a bit of a bend, and now, using the outside neck rein and outside leg behind the girth, you bring the shoulders back in towards the middle of the circle - just a little.
If the leg yield was going to create a bulging outside shoulder, this shoulder-fore will quickly avoid the problem altogether. You'll notice that the outside shoulder straightens up a little and the front end lightens a little.
The straightening action will align the horse's spine and once again, you'll feel the trampoline-y feeling of the back that is active, round and engaged.
When You Get Good
Try it on one side first, then the other.
Then, switch sides - go right, then left, then right. Go off the circle and make it fun by finding new turns and circles in different places in the arena. Use serpentines, tear drops, S-changes... get creative!
Common Problems
When you first start with the leg yield, many horses will misunderstand the leg aid to mean speed up. If your horse quickens the legs instead of steps out, half-halt the speed, and regain your initial tempo. Then try again. It may take many repetitions for a horse to learn to step sideways away from a leg aid. Be patient, clear and reward often.
Another common problem is that the horse will continue to lean into your leg as you apply the leg aid. Many horses naturally lean into pressure. If your horse leans into your leg, come to a walk. Apply your leg aid again, and get the horse to leg yield at the walk. When the horse is responding, go back to trot.
While finding your horse's swinging back might be a difficult challenge, the feeling of floating energy that comes with suppleness is something you'll never want to go without ever again after you've found it for the first time. The bonus is that if you can listen carefully enough, you will realize that your horse will appreciates it too!
Finally! The Ultimate Rider-Centered Program!
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Stop printing off the articles! Your favorite training articles are compiled in this beautifully bound paperback book. Have everything at your fingertips - this book can be taken to the barn as a quick refresher or leisurely read at home.
"Regardless of discipline, what would be the most significant effect a rider would want to have on her horse?
We all want our horses to improve in their athletic development, skill acquisition and connectedness. Much of our rider development and training efforts go into working toward our show or personal goals....
But the best riders aspire to do one essential thing each and every day, regardless of goals and lesson plans: they work hard to improve their horse’s way of going.
Because proper balance and weight carriage is essential to a horse’s longevity. Each and every minute of each and every ride has the potential to contribute to your horse’s health and well-being.
Or not."
Just as with all the Horse Listening Collection Books, this book is focused on helping the rider improve for the sake of the horse. But this book goes deeper into the best training articles from the blog - horse-centered theory, strategies and ideas you can try with your own horse.
The book begins with the horse's hind end (!), considers the horse's back, moves on to rider development, and fills it all in with the fundamentals of horse riding so your horse can be:
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What better time to take an hour or two to read about your favorite topic? This year, stay home out of the wintry cold, and do a little quiet read and reflection.
Take it from me - EVERY horse obsessed person in your life secretly hopes that either you or Santa will give her something to feed her 
