Body Position Critique :)

Hero and I have just been working on flat work and not even worrying about his head - I have decided to take the martingale off for further riding until we start jumping again - I realized he is relying on it.

How does my position look? It use to be horrible - hands in my lap and I would lean forward.
example of before



Now
Walk


Trot


I always have a curve in my back





And stick my bumm out


We havent jumped in awhile and he enjoys it so just for his pleasure
We need a lot of work!

wow you look so much better !! nice work =D for your back, i would suggest standing against a flat wall with your heels, bum, shoulder blades, & head touching the wall. if there is a space between the wall & your back, that means that there is a c-curve in your spine, work on making that space smaller. after youve stood there for a minute, try walking around & keeping that same position. this is great practice for good posture !!

great imporvement!!! both you and him look so much better! for the back: i had and sometimes still do, have that problem. it almost looks like your trying to hard to sit straight, thats what i was doing. maybe try just sitting confortably and dont think about sitting straight....im not sure if this will work for you but it orked for me ;)

thanks guys I'll practice both of those - I even have a curve like that when I'm not riding - I was doing the Wii Fit for a while and that really helps you control your center balance - I started to notice I didnt walk with my butt out but I havent done the Wii in a long time.

wow, you have improved a lot! For the curve in the back I have had this issue, and still do. With me it is my actual back since my mom has passed it on to me and my brothers where our back curve in more then usual. My old riding instructor once told that if I try to sit up to straight (yes there is such thing) I could lock my back, which I have never done but it is apparently very painful. Try the wall exercise. Also when you are in the saddle I had a tendency to put my shoulders so far back and my chest so far out that it curved my back a lot more. It's just practice to get your back to straighten out a bit. Great positon though!

Woah, huge improvement. A couple of things though: you could benefit by sitting more on your seat bones and sitting up tall and straight. Right now, you are rocked forward at the hip and then arching your back to get your shoulders straight. Still, kudos for such a fantastic improvement from the first pictures!

wow you look sooooooooo much better ... did you decide to take lessons or how did you go about doing it? I have to give you kudos for taking initiative to correct things- so many people won't do that and it makes me mad! lol

so for your back- think about sucking in your tummy and sitting up tall. If you suck in your tummy you can't arch your back like that :) Also try and roll you hips under you a little bit rather then sticking your butt out.

remember to keep those eyes up

when jumping i would like to see you shorten your sturrups and sink down deeper into your heels- also try to keep those toes a little more forward.

keep up the good work!

**sorry if i repeated what others said... i didn't read the others comments

thanks ill have to try that - I ride with a friend sometimes she comes out and helps me, and with my husband taking photos of me I can really see what I need to fix.

Well done! Great improvement!

You have a nice "shoulder-hip-heel" line, which is excellent. You could also turn your thumbs up abit. Try the wall thing for your back. It won't only help for your riding position, but also just for your basic posture. My instructer also always says to me when my bum sticks out that I must stop doing the bushman paintings. LOL. Try to bring your seat under your centre of balance.

I can't really comment on the jumping because of the lighting and the angle.

You are doing really great though. Keep it up.

I too have to agree - you look so much better, AND to boot, your horse looks SO MUCH happier!

You have quite a curve in your lower back, as you already know and mentioned - work on straitening that out - and then, you'll beable to activate your core *tummy muscles* which will greatly aid you in impulsion, balance, rhythm etc, etc.

As the Great and late (R.I.P) Sally Swift always taught -

Imagine a bowl of water in your belly, and that water is representing your balance. The moment you arch your lower back, you've now allowed that bowl of water to become unstable and it gushes out your front end. The moment your roach your lower back, again, you've allowed that bowl to become unstable, and the water gushes out your back end.

You want perfect balance - which means a strait lower back.

So imagine someone is direclty behind you, reaching their hand through your back and out your belly button, and grabs a hold of you and pulls back.

Not that great of an image, but it works :)

Your horse looks much softer too, and it is nice to see that you are allowing him to open up and move out from under himself.

What exercises are you doing together during your Flat Work sessions?

Is it my eyes, or does he *the horse* look very downhill? Conformation wise I mean?


Great improvement! Keep up the great work!