Some flatwork pictures - critique, please?

[sophielouise]

As I'm desperately in need of some lessons - I must, must get around to booking some - and seem to have developed an awful lot of bad habits in their absence! In the meantime, I was hoping for some pointers and critique to work on during our schooling sessions ...

Please don't be too critical of the horse - as A. he isn't mine, I just share him with his owners (his 'mum' manages the yard that Chester was on) and it is working out really, really well. and B. Although he is sensitive and can be quite testing, he is a good fun, allround horse, which after some of the trials and tribulations of Chester, is quite refreshing ;D











They aren't the most exciting of photo's I'm afraid, as the battery in my camera promptly died on me. D'oh!

So yes, lots of rider/position critique please ... I certainly need it!

Sophie x x

[bertie666]

ok imo photos 2 and 5 you are sat on the back of your bum with your legs out in front of you, no ear hip heel line possible! I dont think your stirrups are long enough at all so you are tipping backwards and then end up looking perched in trot to me.

Do you know if you are near one of heather moffet simulator teachers? They are really fantastic for positions

[cinnypony]

I'm not the best, but been taught what should be doing, even if fail to actually achieve.

Agree with Bertie666, shoulder, hip, heel alignment not aligned, so if the horse was removed from underneath you, you would land on your bum, rather than still be standing.

Same as I was, but hopefully much less these days....

[highlanderpony2002]

Sit up straight and off your bum, look up where you are going and soften your elbows so you move with the horse, Leg position isnt too bad but you are rolling back, and I would guess throwing yourself forward when you rise to the trot. Try to be light using your legs to push the horse up to his brdle as opposed to letting him drop onto his forehand by holding onto his head. Generally it is just a question of getting yourself into alignment and relaxing into the movement of the horse. He is a lovely boy and your faults are not many but common

[MirandaSophie]

agree with the above, and thumbs on top! and look up

[jen1]

gosh you are brave , i wont fanny about you asked so im saying what i see in short detail as there is so much going wrong, your tipping your pelvis backwards and thus putting the horse on the forehand badly, plus the fact that the saddle is too far forward and right behind the shoulder and too far over the wither, when your seat bones point to the ground and we can get you landing on your feet when we magic your horse away underneath you you will be half way to getting there, id want to pull you leg down and back and go up a few holes get your thigh muscles to keep your leg in place, you need to stop looking down and weight up the weights in your seat bones ,elbows, knee;s and more so feet, you should be able to have lightness in your stirrups, i dont belive in relaxing you need to ride with tone in all your muscles like any athlete , relax in my mind mean sack of spuds, mentally relaxed is great though,actually you have or what looks like great hands i wouldnt grumble about those at all,
if you were to keep your hands as they are with a slightly shorter but not backward rein, and aligne your ear shoulder hip and heel you would have good hands, the horse is lovely and i could see with lessons you both could be lovely, but please move ya saddle back, good luck mary wanless or EE lessons are just what you need in understanding whats going o under neath you,

[susan in greece]

I cannot offer any advice but would like to ask a question. Why does having a backward tipping pelvis put the horse on the forehand. I'm sure i do this too and, yes my horse is usually on the forehand. why?
I suspect i ride much like you Sohpie, so thanks for posting this and i would be interested to see some later pics. good luck with your progress

[donnalex]

How lucky you are to be riding in an indoor
Susan, I would think the leaning backwards is more likely to make the horse go hollow as when you lean back too much weight is placed on the cantle and therefore the tender loin area. Once the horse has hollowed he then cant use his back end effectively and so cant lift the forehand. Everything is supposed to start with the back end tucking under or sitting, once that happens the back can round up under the rider and then the neck and head should naturally come onto or just in front of, the vertical.
It is a lot easier typed than put into practise though!
I tend to lean forward too much and short of having a choker put round my neck and attaching it to the horses tail so I get throttled each time I go too far forward I dont know how to correct it

[highlanderpony2002]

Relaxng doesnt mean dissolving into a slump but if muscles are tensed it means there is conflict between the horse and riders movement. Core muscles are used to keep the body in the right position relaxing into the movement means move with the horse not against it perhaps a terminology problem. Tenseness results in bobbling heads and bouncing in the saddle. Carry yourself and help the horse carry himself and you wont go too far wrong in that

[auburnalia]

I wont give critique as I feel that would be a bit pot kettle!! lol but the leaning too far back you are doing when riding with no stirrups I would guess would be because you feel safer there, its exactly how I rode Don at first (and still do lean too far back : because it kept him slower! After Aubs I learnt that was a safe position to be! lol Once you gain confidence on him I think everything else will come too.

We'll get Jill out to give us a lesson if you like (I need some too!!)? She knows Oily very well and is a lovely kind instructor.

[kathyt]

Your pelvis is tipped backwards and is not upright. This puts your weight on the back of the saddle and therefore on the weakest part of the horses back. It is like riding with the handbrake on and also makes it very difficult to absorb the movement. The horse will not feel comfortable using its back. The third photo that looks like the sit phase of rising trot however looks good (although your hands could be closer together).

I am an EE instructor and do simulator lessons in Chobham on a Racewood machine if you are interested.

[anastasia55555]

Havent read the comments others have left coz im supposed to be tidying my room lol!
But, just at a glance, head up, shoulders back, and alignment down the body isnt quite right, bit hard to tell by your photos, but hands, i know one of the big bad habits i have picked up is handle bars like riding a bike lol, rather than thumbs on top. Now if i posted some pics of me, i would be saying the same to myself on all the comments i have put hehe!!

[anastasia55555]

and its looks like the you do the same as i did (or prob still do) sitting right back on your bum bones, rather than being sat in the 'middle' if you know what i mean. So your spine is curling round and tummy tucked in, i see it as a bit almost foetal lol, curled up ready to flinch or expect something scary, even if the horse your riding isnt going to do that, is a bugger to get out of, need to tilt pelvis more forward and lift the seat of your bottom up a bit, so that both front and back of that area are balanced in the middle, straightening back, sticking boobs out almost, and flattening tummy out.

Now does any of that make any sense? lol!

[sophielouise]

On reflection ... I'm now not sure if I was brave or stupid to put photo's up! But, I did ask for critique - so thank you all for your honesty and help ;D . It has certainly given me a lot to think about & highlighted things to be aware of.

I did have a few EE lessons back in the summer with Chester but at the time, Chester needed more work doing the in-hand exercises and we sadly never got a chance to progress to much further with the ridden lessons. But the little I had, certainly made a difference and I can feel that I've slipped into bad habits since then so I have messaged my old instructor and see whether she could come back out again and try and sort me out Louise - Gill also sounds like a good idea (as she knows Oily too - and I'm sure his odd post-surgery back end movement doesn't always help! ) and we ought to try to sort something out for us both, perhaps after Christmas when time and money is better?

I think you are also right - although I'm not actively nervous when I ride, I do think I'm probably riding a bit defensively - as a hang up to riding Chester, I'm sure ... who had more power then any horse I've ever ridden and a tendency to flip out about things (bless him) ... I definitely used to put myself in a 'secure' position rather than a 'good' position ;D

A simulator sounds like a good idea too - if I can't find a more local simulator to Gatwick, I shall certainly come to you Kathy.

Thanks again

[anastasia55555]

Don't worry about it, I know what you mean about riding defensively, having ridden a pony for a long time who bucked reared all sorts you name it, it was very hard not to. At the end of the day, you arent doing anything terrible, your sat facing the right way lol your not jabbing in the mouth, or booting in the sides, and i doubt your banging around on top like a sack of spuds!