Schooling the rider:
Understanding and releasing one-sidedness
By joni Bentley
As your horse steps forward, bringing first one hind leg underneath his body and then the other, his rib cage moves from side to side. In effect, this barrel of ribs you’re sitting on is a cradle rocking from side to side. And as his rib cage swings to the right, your left seat bone and leg drop down; as his rib cage swings left, your right seat bone and leg drop down.
This horse swings his barrel well to the right.
Notice how his quarter swings in as the rib cage swings left. Check out the tapes. Why is this, and what is it telling you about your own and your horse’s crookedness? See if you can answer this question by the time you’ve finished reading this article!
As you ride if you are absorbing the horse’s movement you will find your horse’s rib cage also swings rhythmically from side to side, if you are supple and straight enough through your own ribs, hips, and pelvis to allow the horse’s movement to flow through you, unhindered by your own crookedness.
Notice how your own ribcage is working in relationship with your horse as you absorb his movement.
Are you straight?
The rider in photo 3 believes she’s sitting straight, even though it’s clear from the rear view photo that she’s not. She believes this for two reasons
First, she’s right-handed, which makes her dominant on the right side and stiff on the left. After many years of being right-side dominant, she feels safe, strong, and straight. The extra strength in her right side pulls her over to the right, just like a broken supermarket trolley drags you to one side.
Secondly, her horse's movement is also one-sided. Just like her, he’s right-side dominant and hollow on the left. Just like her, he’s more comfortable when he swings to the right.
This right-side dominance for both horse and rider is a common combination – and unaddressed, it ultimately and inevitably creates unsoundness and schooling issues.
Most trainers place their primary focus on the horse’s action, attempting to loosen and stretch his stiffness.
But if like all riders I have met you are one-sided like the woman in Photo #3, it’s virtually impossible for you to practice schooling movements correctly. It’s not as simple as putting her inside leg on to push the horse’s barrel over. Because of the ways her natural crookedness and one-sidedness reinforce – and are in turn reinforced by – her horse’s crookedness and one-sidedness, simply shifting her leg now and then isn’t ever going to be enough to create lasting change. You have to reset the whole body.
That’s why, in my experience, the rider’s stiffness must be addressed first. In this example, until the rider is schooled separately from her horse, learning to bend equally on both sides, this horse will continue to carry more weight on his right legs than on the left. As time goes by, his right hind leg will find it harder and harder to step under. Saddle-slipping problems and bridle lameness on the right rein will ensue. (I’ll explain more about this next month.)
As the horse’s design starts to break down, it’s common for him to play up on his stiff side.
This horse is contracted through his left side (the intercostal muscles between the left ribs are contracted), so he’s not happy on the right rein because it’s difficult for him to bend to the right because he has to stretch through his contracted left side. As you can see in the photo, there’s very little swing of his barrel to the left due to this stiffness and contraction. Photo 4
As humans, when we stretch and it hurts we know it’s a good thing. The horse doesn’t. All he knows is that it hurts and he wants to avoid it! So he just bends his neck to the right, leaving his spine bent to the left. And because so little attention is given to the rider’s schooling separately from the horse, the rider hits problems all the way through the lateral work, and all the way up to Grand Prix.
In my workshops, I dedicate the morning session to schooling the riders without their horses. The exercises I described in last month’s article (how to create bend in the rider), and this exercise on releasing and straightening the rider’s short diagonal, are just a few of the exercises we work with to help the rider overcome stiffness and one-sidedness. Then the riders are equipped with what they need to help their horses in turns, circles, and shoulder-in.
Release and Straighten the Rider’s Diagonal
In the illustration below left, the rider is very tight in the diagonal between her left shoulder and right hip. This is common in right-handed people; left-handed people are generally tight on the opposite diagonal.
In order to make her ambidextrous and able to absorb the horse’s rib cage swing equally to the left and the right, we must do dismounted work away from the horse, helping her learn to feel and stretch the tight diagonal.
The bodywork I use in my workshops and demonstrate on my DVD is a mixture of the Alexander Technique and Feldenkrais. It’s very horse and rider friendly, very gentle, and the quickest way to straighten and reorganise the rider’s and horse’s body in a holistic way. Once the rider has a straight foundation, the mounted afternoon session allows her to match and straighten her horse’s movement, putting him into self carriage before attempting lateral work.
I’ve created a New DVD home study course with video feedback showing this and other dismounted exercises, plus how to apply it to riding, The DVD’s show you clearly and simply so that you can easily follow along. They are designed for all levels and disciplines of riding. These exercises will help you find your own straight foundation – and begin the process of coming into natural, flexible alignment with your horse. Visit my site at http://www.jonibentley.co.uk for more information.
“It became blindingly obvious to me during the exercise how stiff I am from my left shoulder to my right hip. It almost felt like there was an iron bar wedged between my right ribs and hip. After only a few repetitions I felt the range of movement increase. As an international fell runner I have done all my stretching exercises but despite that over time I am getting stiffer in my hips and back. I will now make a point of doing these exercises regularly to save my body has well as my horse’s.” Jo Paterson. Tring Buckinghamshire.
7th August Writtle College Lordships Road Writtle, Chelmsford, Essex CM13RR
21st August Willow Farm Hanslett's Lane Ospringe, Faversham, ME13
18th September Brinsbury College North Heath Pulborough, West Sussex RH20 1D
Go to my website now for a free workbook and online video www.jonibentley.co.uk
If you would like to host a workshop at your yard please contact us on 07771 811561. If you can’t make the workshops due to location or finances I will be starting a home study training course in June.
How it works:
Each month from June, I will be releasing a lesson captured on 2 DVDs. The content is equivalent to a typically one day workshop. You then practise the lesson mounted and dismounted in your own time and when you feel ready you send me a video/DVD of yourself and then we review the lesson on the phone. The inclusive price is £55 specially designed for hard credit crunch times!
