The "Whys" of Good Rider Position
Riders who hold their hands either above or below this line sacrifice strength and sensitivity for regulating the horse’s pace or for asking him to collect.
It is important to communicate “yes” immediately to your horse after he has responded to your cues. Many riders forget this positive reinforcement and end up hanging on their horses’ mouths in tug-of-war fashion. I teach my students to return their hands to “home” position over the withers as soon as their horse has responded. Hands are held with soft wrists and at a 45 degree angle whereby only the first two knuckles are visible when glancing down. If the thumbs are turned in toward each other, the elbows will stick out. Keep a soft, straight rein, neither skipping-rope loose, nor guitar-string tight. In order for you to be able to do this without bumping accidentally on your horse’s mouth, you need to develop the same kind of “following” sensitivity that you use when driving in your car over train tracks with a cup of coffee in your hand.
Legs: A rider who has his ear, shoulder, hip, and heel in a line perpendicular to the ground is in balance and isn’t likely to fall forward or backward. Picture the balance needed to stand in the back of a pickup truck, driven over a bumpy field. I mostly see riders with their legs too far forward so that if they glanced down they would be able to see their toe poking out in front of their knee. Stirrup leathers (or Western fenders) should be perpendicular to the ground.
Stirrup length is a few inches longer for Western than for English but with either discipline, your knee and ankle joints need to be bent in order for them to function as shock absorbers.
It takes a bit of practise to push your weight down into your heels. This deepens and strengthens your leg. I like my riders to allow their toes to turn out a little bit which flexes the ankle in and enables them to use the back of the heel and the tip of the spur to communicate more effectively to the horse. A “toe in” position causes the rider to pinch the saddle with her knee, losing contact and stability with her calf.
In lessons, I give my students various exercises that address any position problems they may have and we work on them in three minute segments, like commercials in between other work we are doing. This avoids muscle fatigue that could lead to sloppy practice, developing another bad habit en route to correcting an existing one.
Practising and perfecting correct riding position is like a carpenter skilfully using his tools and keeping them sharp. This enables you to ride effectively.
