Is anyone using this - seems like an interesting tool https://www.equicube.net/
There have been several past threads in this, people seem to like it. I’ve never seen one IRL.
There is a thread from a bit ago regarding this that has lots of info if you don’t get many replies here. I bought one a few months ago and LOVE it! It changed my riding in a great way (ummm hello, using my core more effectively)! I definitely recommend it.
I like it too.
My riding teacher gives it to carry regularly, and she always likes the results–my back straightens, my seat deepens, and the horses do not seem to mind it at all when I carry it.
She introduced it to one of her dressage students. The lady went home and ordered one of her own so she could use it at home.
It is money well spent. I joke with my riding teacher that with the Equicube a rider can improve even when there is no teacher in sight. Could save a lot of money that way, it is cheaper than one dressage lesson.
I have one. I don’t pull it out very often, usually just for new students who are very busy with their hands. It’s very helpful but makes everyone groan when they see it.
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I used it once and I think it is good at making you keep a good tone in your core. Personally, I think it is best used if you are on the lunge line. I found it hard to do anything with my reins when holding it.
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I use the Equicube while holding the reins.
I start off with my hands in the normal position and make sure that the rein is sagging down at least and inch or two.
We start moving, and after a few strides the horses tend to reach down and establish contact on their own. I make sure to follow the horse’s head, I am not perfect by any means when I do this but the horses do not seem to mind.
By holding the cube my hands are a little bit steadier.
I found it to be the single best tool I ever used for improving my position. I am an intermediate level (4th or so) amateur with a few horses, and after I discovered it last year, for a while I used to use it in the first half of every ride, including in lessons. Then I’d drop it and pick up my reins, and the horse would be so much better. For me it made an enormous difference in helping me understand the feeling of what the horse feels like with correct contact connected to and kind of grounded from my core.
I will say I think it’s a training tool for riders, not horses. In the end I ride more responsively without it. But it helped me to be a much better rider. I used it for a month or two regularly. I don’t use it much anymore, but I still pull it out occasionally as a reminder. For me at least it was the most worthwhile - really he only worthwhile! - training purchase I’ve ever made (other than paying my trainer of course!).
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