OK I actually don't know why this isn't more of an important topic, I guess because it requires a lot more time and effort and also requires a whole lot of personal awareness and development, it is why I wanted to bring yoga and horsemanship together.
(Way back When I was riding warmbloods I don't know if anyone else had the privilege of having some lessons with Richard Weis when he came to Perth ( I spent some Time with Richard learning from him at his home in Victoria, He was not only a horse coach, but also taught the alexander technique.) These are some of his words that resonate -
"All we have to use, when we sit on a horse and guide it, is our own body from the top of our head to the souls of our feet, and the volition that drives it. Before we can expect to control the horse we need a high degree of control of ourselves. Gaining this is our first responsibility.""
It took me a long time to realize that the more effort I put into myself physically and mentally made me a better horsewoman, more aware of the little things, Being more aware of where my horse feet are, how there body is positioned, how there posture changes in and out of transitions which made a huge difference to my training.
I think Yoga gets put in a box of all about being flexible but that really isn't it, flexibility , strength, breathe and awareness is all adjoined as one and that's what it is, you need to build on all 4 areas for the body to move most efficiently.
A lot of time and effort goes into building these 4 areas and I've never seen anyone new at yoga jump in and and tackle a high level class, we usually start at the basics and as we build our flexibility, strength, mind and breathe we move forward from there,
For some reason we seem too have missed this with our horses and we jump on and want them to perform without building there muscles, flexibility or the awareness.
I've seen it a lot with kids at pony club, it's so exciting to just go over the jumps and all the big ones but more importantly is the horse fit and strong enough for that ? A lot of kids horse's refuse jumps and they blame the horse, but they jab the horse in the mouth every time they go over the jump it all comes back to self awareness and being able to be honest with yourself.
Horse's Muscles need developing just as much as ours, depending on confirmation, breeding ect... each horse is going to be different, but the goal is to have a strong healthy fluid back and topline regardless of your discipline, as you need a strong healthy back.
A horses muscles not only work in pairs and groups, they also work in chains. There are two main chains which affect the spine and hind leg.
The flexor chain - These muscles lie underneath the spine in front of the hip and include the abdominal muscles.
The Extensor chain - Are muscles that make up the top line and are situated above the spine and above the hip
Because of the way horses muscles work we need to build balance, suppleness and strength in all areas of their body, for example if my horse has a stiff hind leg I will guarantee you will feel it through your reins, of which most people will think that the horse is just sticking their nose out and will pull on the rein or run draw reins or tie down but if you fix the stiff hind leg the core lifts up and brings the back up, dropping the nose.
Its something to think about anyway as we go out and ride and work with our horses, I will be diving deeper into explaining rider and horse biomechanics as its something I'm passionate about.
Until next time, Keep riding , Keep learning.
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