Improve your movement and sitting position
The week has rushed by again and congratulations to Sophie and her Andalusian, Diego, who won their class and received a second in the veterans. A good warm up for the Oxted and Edenbridge.
Dressage at Hicksead was also good last week, I managed to watch the Grand Prix on the Friday and watched some lovely young horses in the 5 and 6 year old classes.
The discussion with students last week was to understand how much the way we sit on our horses, influence the way they work for us. Being able to sit up in our hips is all important to allow the horses to swing through their backs. We as riders have to be able to keep up with the movement when it is offered.
To improve our movement we have been using the Hula-hoop. Some of us remember them as great fun in our youth and wondered if we were up to the challenge of keeping one going more than a couple of times.Well we have all done well! Those who thought they could not do it now can count to 26 before it falls, and others who have not tried for 20 years could virtually just keep going. So an inexpensive way to improve our bodies to help our horses.