Exercises to help beginner riders SIT UP?

[CrossroadsEquine]

Hello, Chroners!

I am a spanking-new participating member, though I’ve lurked on these boards for years I’m a 22-year-old hunter/jumping/eventing trainer and instructor out of Kansas City, focusing on children and beginner jumpers, and green horses.

I recently took a new job at a barn here, and have a whole slew of new students. I LOVE them all, and we have generally well-behaved lesson horses, but it’s a very common trend with a lot of my younger riders that no matter how I say it or try to explain it, they just can’t seem to learn to sit up and back.

We have one lesson horse who will yank the reins away to go munch grass whenever her kid leans forward, and another who is just a sensitive Arab that will speed up and forget how to steer when his kids are collapsing forward toward his neck. My kiddos have this problem at every gait, and whether they’re jumping or not.

I’ve tried telling them to stick their chests out, or bellys, or butts. I’ve tried telling them to stretch up as high as they can. I’ve tried telling them to plant their buns in the saddle, and I’ve tried explaining to them that they are way stronger if they are sitting up straight than if they lean forward (I demonstrate this by being the horse’s “mouth” by pulling on the reins and showing them they can pull against me better if they sit tall vs when they lean forward).

No matter what I try, they all struggle, with varying degrees of difficulty, sitting straight and tall and not collapsing forward. I know some of it is just they need to build up their core balance and strength, but I’m looking for new exercises of ways to help them develop the “feel” of proper posture so they can tell when they’ve got it right.

Does anyone have any suggestions? How did you first learn how to sit tall and deep? I’m very much a safety first instructor when it comes to my kids, and I’m hesitant for any of them to be jumping (though they have been with their previous trainer who I think pushed them prematurely) until they learn to sit back and ride strong but a little defensively to their jumps. I’ve already seen too many of them slide over a horse’s shoulder who puts on the breaks before a jump, and I don’t even want to think of that happening out on cross country…

Thanks in advance!

-CR

[hopashore1]

As my instructors are STILL yelling at me to sit tall and straight (I have back problems, it hurts!), here are some things that might work:

Shrug your shoulders. Bring them up to your ears and let them sort of roll back. Keep them moving their shoulders, don’t let them get tight–shrug one, then the other, then both.

In general, just work on body awareness. things like leaning over and touching toes, turning in the saddle, raising arms. circles with their arms, legs away from the saddle, etc. keep them thinking about where their body parts are.

I like the string analogy too–imagine they are a coiled piece of string and someone slowly takes one end and raises it and when they do they’re straightening the spinal cord.

Also plenty of exercises to help build core muscles–no stirrups, two point (two point with no stirrups!) even riding bareback. All helps build the muscles so they can hold it more easily on their own.

Also, do they slouch normally? Work on posture even around the barn, things like tacking up, grooming horses, leading horses–shoulders back, eyes up!

[eponacowgirl]

Have you tried “lean back like you’re in a lazy boy?”

I still have a hard time hearing what “sit up” really means. “Lean back” gets the job done. (I’m 29. And a trainer myself. Old habits die hard.) :lol:

[arlosmine]

Nagging kids about position doesn’t really work well…at best you get frozen little posers.

Use excersises that cause them to naturally move to the right place. You are talking about balance and strength problems here. If they had been started on the L.Line, they would have this settled by now (I know you didn’t start them, and now you have to clean up the mess)

Sitting trot, two point, posting …all without stirrups.

Games (egg in spoon- teaches independent aids)

Some session on the L.Line working with no hands: airplane, diving board, stretch for the sky

Carrying a pillow on their fore-arms (make sure the horse is ok with it falling) like a tray.

Take pictures with your phone and show them how they look when slouching and riding well.

[CHT]

My phrase to remind my students to sit back is “Fat Cowboy”.

I tell them to feel like they are a fat cowboy who has to sit back so his big beer belly isn’t impaled by the saddle horn. I think adding some humour to the image helps make the image stick. Once they know the image, I just have to say “Fat cowboy” and they sit back on their seat bones.

A good exercise to help is to teach them to feel when their core is engaged. It can help to have them put an “x” of bandaids on their core (so they feel it). Then have then rock/lean forward and back until they feel their core engage. Have them to this at each gait and posting vs sitting. Once they can feel the core engage, make sure they do self checks to always make sure their core is supporting their upper body and not their lower back.

Finally, show them while standing how much stronger they are using their core, but holding the bit end of the reins, and trying to pull them forward when they are holding up their body with their core vs their lower back.

For Slouching shoulders I have a shoulders back I lend out.

[CindyCRNA]

My trainer tells me “You are carrying a lunch tray. Don’t tip your tray.”

[fordtraktor]

When I am warming up I trot around on a loose rein and spend some time with my reins in one hand and my other arm out to the side straight, palm up to correct my hunched shoulders. I make sure I do both sides for a lap or two around the ring each way. It straightens my spine, opens up my shoulder blades and hip angles, and reminds me of where my posture ought to be so I can start the ride out right as I have a tendency to do a protective “green horse hunch” that looks unsightly and is classically incorrect.

I learned this trick in a Joe Fargis clinic – he says he still does this regularly to remind his muscles where they ought to go, and if it is good enough for Joe, it is good enough for me to do on a daily basis.

[Auburn]

Is there any way to set up a 30 minute, private lunge lesson with each of them? Having you in control of the horse will allow them to concentrate on themselves. There are many exercises that they can do while on the lunge. They can ride without stirrups, too, which will help develop their seat.

If they have not established a good posture/seat, I agree with you that they should not be jumping. :no: This is a very difficult thing to convey to youngsters and their parents, especially since they have already jumped with another instructor. Since you are young, it makes you look like the bad guy. Please try to stick to your guns and teach what you know is correct? Taking the extra time to develop safe riders, who have developed good seats, will not compromise your principles (or get you sued when they fall and get hurt!). :o

If you need exercises for lunging riders, then I am certain that we can find plenty. Also, you need to put grazing reins on the horses that pull the riders over to eat grass. It will make your life and theirs much easier.

[CatchMeIfUCan]

The whip through the arms trick is what got me to understand the feeling of keeping my shoulders back and sitting up.

[KayBee]

I had Linda Zang yelling “lay back in bed” at me. Try that?

[QUOTE=CatchMeIfUCan;7556336]
The whip through the arms trick is what got me to understand the feeling of keeping my shoulders back and sitting up.[/QUOTE]

This is a good exercise. Have them do it at the walk at first, if you’re not sure they won’t overbalance themselves at the trot.

Then there’s the exercise where, at the halt, you have the student stay straight and lean all the way forward, then all the way back and then, like a pendulum swinging to a halt, have them go back and forward a little less each time until they find the balance point. I think this exercise is from Centered Riding?

Also a good way to see who lets their legs slide forward and back as they move.

[bornfreenowexpensive]

[QUOTE=arlosmine;7555989]
Nagging kids about position doesn’t really work well…at best you get frozen little posers.

Use excersises that cause them to naturally move to the right place. You are talking about balance and strength problems here. If they had been started on the L.Line, they would have this settled by now (I know you didn’t start them, and now you have to clean up the mess)

Sitting trot, two point, posting …all without stirrups.

Games (egg in spoon- teaches independent aids)

Some session on the L.Line working with no hands: airplane, diving board, stretch for the sky

Carrying a pillow on their fore-arms (make sure the horse is ok with it falling) like a tray.

Take pictures with your phone and show them how they look when slouching and riding well.[/QUOTE]

This. Teaching kids is about getting them to feel…not articulating it in words. You get them to feel the right response through exercises. By this I mean…just saying ‘sit up’ doesn’t work until they understand how that feels when it is correct. Most as you are finding out, can’t just do it unless they have had dance or other training.

Reaching one hand up for the stars typically gets a taller position. You teach balance and feel…with things like reach forward and touch the ears…reach back and touch the tail.

Lots of time on a lunge line with no reins. Love the games like egg and spoon as well.

[PaintedHunter]

One thing that might work for kids is tell them to make it feel like they are sitting on the back pockets of their jeans.

[ParadoxFarm]

And in general, kids don’t have the muscles yet to do it well. It does take time to build them up, and get a “core”. Add in LOTS of reminders. Heck, us adults need reminders, too!

[subk]

“Pull your shoulders down (increase the distance from your ear to the top of your shoulder) then bring your scapulas down and together.”

Work on this off the horse. Put your finger on their spine between the bottom of the scapulas and tell them to try on touch your finger. It also helps me to visualize the back of my helmet being over the cantle. (I don’t actually get that far back, but it seems to put me in the right place when I visualize it.)

I find the words “sit up” get the wrong physical response because you don’t actually want them the sit “UP” you want them to “SIT BACK.”

I found this video a while back. It’s not a riding video but a workout/lifting clip that talks about the proper way to do a dead lift. In it the instructor talks through proper upper body posture. It is the same posture we need on top of the horse because it is the strongest posture which you need if your lifting OR riding! The posture part starts around 2:35 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFnwEsqJABU As an aside I think there is an interesting relationship between the whole dead lift/squat and proper jumping position worth thinking about.

[Robby_Johnson]

Exercise Options

A way to fix this quickly, especially with a group of beginners, is to have them put their fingers on what they’ll associate as their “hip bones” (in truth, these bones are the ASIS/top of the pelvis) then tell them to keep their spine straight while they move the hip bones until they’re in the correct upright position. This is probably best accomplished at the walk, but once you progress them to trot it’s ok if they reach down and press their hand(s) into the withers to maintain the position. To progress from here (or at any point in the process) you can also have them bend their elbow and put the back of their hand on their forehead, keeping the elbow at about 45 degrees from the shoulder … and toward the front of the body, not behind.

Learning to ride with one hand right off the bat is an asset, as far as I’m concerned, as it tests and develops unilateral stabilization, which will accelerate their voyage to an independent seat.

[vineyridge]

Maybe I’m crazy but the position that you would want is simply good posture on the ground. That’s why Robbie’s idea about hands on the hips is so appealing to me. When I was six years old, I went to the State Preventorium (to prevent tuberculosis). At all times outside, we were supposed walk around with our hand on our hips, which pulled everything straight. That exercise stuck and my posture was excellent for many years.