Entering into the movement
Horse and rider often have to struggle with one and the same problem: lack of balance. Balance is a constant companion in everyday life. Walking, running, climbing stairs, even standing on the ground or sitting on a chair would not work if we were not in balance. Keeping balance is a prerequisite for straightening up and this in turn is a prerequisite for being able to act freely with our hands. As a rule, we have our body well under control, otherwise we would fall all the time. Tried and tested patterns help us to keep our balance every day - even when things get tricky.
If one observes children, but also adults, when they successfully balance over a cavaletti, they use first of all the arms, then the swinging leg (play leg) and finally they help themselves by tilting the upper body.
When riding, however, the situation changes, because the horse's back swings back and forth, left and right and then up and down. Keeping balance on a moving object is much more difficult. It requires that we constantly incorporate the movement of the horse's back into our balance. We are talking about an anticipatory, i.e. predictive dynamic balance. For example, the rider has to anticipate what the first steps will be at the transition from canter to trot.
In addition, the arms, which are otherwise successfully used for balance, should rest calmly against the body when the rider is in the saddle. The legs also have considerably less freedom. This means: The balance on the horse has to be learned new. One can only access motoric experiences from everyday life to a limited extent. Special training is required, first and foremost on the lunge, until the rider is able to establish the dynamic anticipatory balance of the lumbar spine and hips - in all gaits: in full seat, light seat/relief seat and when trotting lightly. To achieve this, the rider must learn special coordination patterns, train the necessary muscles and acquire mobility.
It is also important that the rider learns to feel the movement of the horse's back and trunk.
Some riders are more talented here, some need more information from the instructor. A good indicator is when the rider, without visual control, is able to sense from the back and trunk movements which limb of the horse is on the ground or which is swinging forward. Only then can he or she enter into the horse's movements and swing along precisely. "This is one of the first and most important measures when learning to ride.
If the rider is not able to do this, the result will be riding mistakes. If, for example, he constantly loses his lateral balance, puts too much weight on the left and then again on the right, he lacks the weight support that is essential for riding turns and higher lessons such as shoulder-in or traverses. If the hands become restless, this means constant irritation, if not painful jerks in the horse's mouth. If restless legs that are turned once in front and once behind, once inwards and once outwards disturb the horse, contradictory information is sent to the horse. How should the horse know that, for example, taking the thigh back means that it should start the canter when the thigh is constantly swinging back and forth in walk and trot?
In short:
The rider confuses the four-legged friend because he cannot balance himself sufficiently in the saddle. The horse becomes insensitive and cannot do anything with the aids. The result? There is no harmony between rider and horse. The two do not become one. What remains is frustration for the rider and unwillingness and insensitivity until the horse behaves dangerously. In the worst case, the rider falls from the horse.
