February 2010

Posture And Balance

The importance of “sitting straight.”

In reference to Margaret Freeman’s commentary on sitting straight (Nov. 2009), I tirelessly try to educate riders about how much influence their own body posture and balance has on the horse. As an equine body-worker, it’s painful to see how frequently horses suffer from unaddressed rider postural issues that directly interfere with the horse’s performance. The horse is often unfairly punished for this, even in upper levels of riding. It continues to amaze me how few riding instructors pay attention to this problem and/or recognize it, to correct the rider as needed. Thanks for this article, as horses do need to be "heard" from more often. …