Tools to improve rider position when riding alone?

[luckycricket123]

I take lessons once a week but outside of that I ride alone at home.

I desperately wanted to improve my position as a rider, but without someone on the ground to watch me, I constantly find myself reverting into my comfortable ways. Especially when I’m doing a movement I find more difficult or if my horse is not being soft to my aids

I have a tendency to lean forward, point my toes to bring my heel up when I kick and my leg moves around more than it should

Are there any mechanical tools that I can use as a rider to remind me when my position is reverting?

[SadieRidingHorses]

If you are comfortable riding without stirrups, that will help tremendously. Ask your instructor if you can practice riding without stirrups in your lessons, so that you know you can do it safely and correctly before trying on your own.

[outerbanks77]

The lower leg moving and pulling up is more a symptom of issues in the seat. When I find my extremities getting out of line, I go back to what is happening from the bottom of my ribcage through my upper thigh. If that is in good alignment and proper tone, the rest of the body will fall in line.

So instead of thinking about not tipping forward, I would think more about opening the hip angle, and getting the inner thigh flat against the saddle. Make sure your pelvis is more up towards the pommel so your seatbones are balanced in the middle of the saddle.

If your horse is reliable enough, I like to really stretch my hips out in free walk during warmup, with my stirrups dropped. Sit up stright, feel your seatbones in the saddle, and then alternately bring each leg out, get the inner thigh against the saddle so the toe is facing forward, and then bring the whole upper thigh back without tipping the torso forward. The motion of the walk will help loosen the muscles around the hip socket so your leg can drape. If my muscles start to cramp, I use the handle end of my whip to help loosen up the knots. You can always stop in the middle of your ride and repeat this if you start scrunching up again.

Also, if you can video yourself and review shortly after your ride, that can help a lot. People are having good luck with Pivo for this, and it’s much more affordable than the options that were out there in the past.

[Jackie_Cochran]

Get an Equicube, www.equicube. net…

My riding teacher introduced this to one of her dressage students and the lady got home and ordered one of her own to use at home alone.

Carrying it will straighten your back, my riding teacher gives it to me every time I start slouching in the saddle. I joke with my teacher that if every dressage rider got one they could realistically drop down to one lesson a week, or every other week, without their position degrading when their teacher is not around.

[Posting_Trot]

Exercises out of the saddle to improve your core strength will also help a lot, as will exercises to improve your balance and your general physical awareness. Pilates and yoga are both helpful for all of these, and the benefits will translate to greater security in the saddle and greater ease in being able to isolate different muscle groups and their use.

But riding is a journey, and no matter how much you improve there will always be room for more. That’s the fun of it!

[sheltona01]

Focus on fixing one thing at a time and commit it to muscle memory. It will take months, then move on to the next item. Trying to do it all at once, never worked for me. Talk to your instructor about what is the root cause of positional issues not the symptoms.

[Scribbler]

What level rider are you?

If you are a beginner, time, concenyration and strength will help.

However if you are an intermediate rider struggling with position problems that seem excessive for your overall level of riding ability, then get some chiro or bodywork or PT attention to your own body. Especially your hips and pelvis.

A good friend of mine who is actually a pretty good rider still struggles with leg position. A few years ago she finally found out it’s due to slight scoliosis and an uneven pelvis. She has had to learn to work around that. No amount of a coach saying heels down helps; her legs fly backwards.

If you check out clear of any major body asymmetry, what’s worked for me is going on long trail rides where I can let my body relax into correct position and learn muscle memory.

My personal problem is more chair seat and jamming my heel down and forward, like a Western rider, so I don’t fully understand the tipping forward thing

It will help if you make a point of leaning back and dropping your leg under you before every transition.

[luckycricket123]

I’m not a beginner rider, but I do have arthritis in my hips which could be a factor, though I don’t think it’s preventing me from having a good position. I’m able to make pretty big improvement during the course of a lesson so I imagine it should be possible for me.

It’s not that my legs are unable to go where they are supposed to, but I do find that they are less effective when I put them where they should be. So when my horse ignores an aid, I feel like I need to adjust to a bad position to get louder.

[Scribbler]

Your horse has been trained to your existing aids and needs to be trained to your new correct position. That will take some time.

Do you carry a whip? A horse should not need so much leg that it distorts your position. It sounds like he needs a tuneup to go forward and is getting dull to the leg.

[SuzieQNutter]

Your horse is training you.

The best thing is mirrors. 2nd best is a video camea. 3rd best is teach someone to ride so they can become eyes on the ground.

[Feathered_Feet]

One thing to check before you start really hammering on yourself for your position is whether you are in the right saddle. I used to obsess over my position and lament that I always tipped/perched forward - I blamed my many hours at a desk in front of the computer for following me into the saddle. However, when I started saddle shopping I realized it wasn’t all my fault - my saddle was putting me in that incorrect position and I thus had to fight it every minute I was riding. Getting a saddle that promotes a correct, upright position makes all the difference. (Disclaimer: this may not be your problem, but its good to make sure this isn’t it before investing the time/money/emotional energy in fixing a problem that has a specific non-rider root cause.)

[BlueDrifter]

Let me second the Pivo recommendation. You use your own phone to record. You don’t need to set anything else up, no beacons, etc.

Pivo works by recognizing a horse shape (horizontal rectangle mostly), that takes up 50-70% of the viewer. Folks who have trouble with it are too far away from camera, or too close. Or they ride next to dark garage door that looks like a horse rectangle to the camera. Or they have multiple riders in the arena and another horse is taking up 50-70% of the screen vs their horse.

They have a FB page. Check it out. Can’t be beat.

[mzm_farm]

Simple toes up exc. - ride with your HEELS in the stirrup and toes out. The second your toes go down, the stirrup slips off.

Leaning forward “tell” Slip $100 note under your bum, when you see it on the ground, you leaned forward enough to let your position slip and paid the “fine”

[endlessclimb]

I have a Pixio. It’s great, but does take about 5 mins to set up before I ride.

[Willesdon]

Mirrors in the arena