Becky Holden
Riding from the ground...Up!
Training for the rider
I believe that work in hand is an essential skill for both horse and rider. It will help you develop the coordination, posture, and balance necessary for effective riding. I focus on educated hands to improve your overall performance. Work in-hand will help you and your horse work together more effectively, leading to better coordination, posture, and confidence in the saddle.
Flexions are key to effective riding. I take pride in teaching riders about flexions and how to establish correct contact and communication with their horse.
When we first learn to ride the education of the hands isn't detailed enough, we are taught to hold the reins, told to keep the hands down and that's about it! It's crucial for riders to understand that the primary use of the hand is to help the horse relax and communicate effectively. Our hands connect to the most sensitive parts of the horse's mouth so we need time to understand how too ’speak this language with our hands.
Co-ordination
In-hand work is an essential foundation for any horse and rider. It develops coordination and timing of the aids and helps the rider apply light aids for better response when back in the saddle. Understanding the language of the aids is complex and detailed and the best place to learn is on the ground. In-hand work will allow you to communicate on a higher level and become a more harmonious team.
Posture
I believe that good riding begins with a solid foundation on the ground. That's why I place a strong emphasis on in-hand work, which helps riders to develop proper posture and body awareness before mounting their horses. I believe that working in-hand is an essential way to develop your posture.
Good riding is not just about the horse, but also about the rider's ability to move with grace and confidence.
Timing and intention
Timing is crucial when it comes to communicating with your horse. In-hand work is a great way to improve your timing, as it provides a clear view of your horse and allows you to time your aids correctly. It will teach you how to establish clear intention and work on specific exercises to help you and your horse build a strong connection. It will teach you to have a clear plan and how to control the horses feet and work in sync like dance partners.
The classical seat.
What does it mean to have a classical seat?
This style of riding is based around the principles developed by classical riding masters throughout history and is often appreciated for its elegance, harmony and effectiveness in communicating with the horse.
It involves a deep and secure seat, relaxed yet poised body alignment and correct hand and leg position. Using subtle and refined aids to communicate with the horse.
So how can we achieve this? We need to observe the horses movement and pay attention to how they walk, trot and canter.
With many years of experience, I’ve found that arm posture plays a significant role in improving the seat and overall position on the horse.
By first addressing the arm position and improving the riders awareness to carry the reins and not just hold them creates a greater stability in the riders position. The rider should also have the feeling of giving the hands to the horse and not rely on the hands to stay in balance.
Walk
This is where the true learning takes place. By taking the time to connect with your horse and feel the action of the hind legs, you will gain a better understanding of how to synchronise your movement with theirs. This will help improve your sitting trot, feel the correct diagonal, and time your canter aids. We take the necessary time to learn and perfect the walk, as this is the foundation of all progress in all further movements.
Trot
Mastering the sitting trot is a challenging part of horse riding even for experienced riders. We need to understand the precise movements of our pelvis and lower back to move in sync with the horses movement. This will enable a smoother sitting trot without bouncing or gripping with our legs.
Rising trot is an essential skill too. One common fault is having a pelvis that is too upright in the rise phase and a seat that lands heavily in the sit phase. This causes the rider to be behind the movement of the horse and hinders the horse's ability to move forwards.
Canter
If your shoulders tip forward on the first stride of canter, it can cause a rowing back and forth of the shoulders and the wrong movement in the pelvis and lower back.
We need to take the shoulders back through the transition to help our pelvis move in a small circular motion. When we skip on our own two feet or when we see children mimicking a horse in canter is the same movement in the pelvis that we need for a good canter position when on the horse. This movement helps riders absorb the canter correctly and achieves a deeper secure seat.
Weight aids
Halfpass to the left, weight aid to the left.
Learning how to use weight aids is crucial to achieving finesse in riding. As riders, we must be aware that our horses feel any shifts in our weight and it can either benefit or hinder them. We must communicate with our horses through subtle cues and one of the most effective is through our weight aids. Correct weight aids ensure that our horses understand the direction we want to take. When circling to the left, riders should shift their weight to the left to match the direction of the horse. If the horse becomes unbalanced and falls in, riders may need to shift their weight to the outside momentarily. Once the horse is balanced again, the weight aid should be moved back to the inside. Imagine walking with a heavy rucksack on your back where the weight is evenly distributed and you are walking in a straight line. However, if the weight shifts to the left, it would become difficult to carry on walking straight and easier to step to the left. This same concept applies to riding horses.
Most schools of thought have the same ideas about weight aids apart from the shoulder-in. Some riders are taught to ride the shoulder-in with the weight to the inside. Let me explain why this will not make sense to the horse and probably why most riders find this very useful movement difficult.
When we ride a circle to the left or when we ride halfpass to the left our weight aid and bend will be the same, to the left. When we ride shoulder-in to the left it will not make sense to the horse if we sit to the left. Simply because we don't want the horse to leave the outside track. If we do sit left it will have the heavy ruck sack effect and cause the rider to use stronger inside aids to keep the horse on the track. Instead, if we sit to the right this will compliment the direction we want to travel. We always ride with the weight aid the same as the direction of travel and not always the same direction as the bend.
Shoulder-in to the left, weight aid to the right.
