Seatwork On the Lunge - Working on Getting the Lower Leg Back and Quiet Hands

The hysterical laughter you hear this video belongs to 8 year old Faith, riding her pony, Glory. Faith is working on standing in her stirrups and leaning out over her horse, like Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet leaning over the bow of the Titanic. "The Titanic" is a great exercise for getting the rider's leg back under her body so she can have her heel aligned with her hip. When the heel is aligned with the hip, the triangle the femur and tib/fib make with the knee makes the rider much more stable laterally - in other words, the rider is less likely to fall off the side.

It is hard to ride with your leg back and keep your heel down at the same time. In this athletic stance, we're more accustomed to standing on our toes a bit and leaning forward, like in tennis. The rider has to learn how to disengage the upper body from the lower body, allow the hops to absorb the shock of the lower leg, and stack her weight over her core. Not that a rider needs to know all that. Mostly she just needs to giggle herself in to balance like Faith does in this video.

By the end of this lesson, Faith is posting very well while doing exercises that require a lot of upper body movement. Normally a rider would start to lean too far back and get behind the motion when asked to write letters in the air. Because of the Titanic exercise, Faith is able to keep upright, keep posting, and stay balanced while writing whatever letter I call out at random. It was a very fun and productive day.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• seatwork
• lunge
• seat+training
• balance+training
• seat
• work
• balance
• centered+riding
• winged+victory
• titanic
• hands
• quiet+hands
• bouncy+hands
• beginner
• riding+lesson
• riding
• lesson
• horseback
• pony+pros
• ponypros
• ponypro
• pony
• pros
• Dry+Creek
• Whiskey
• Glory
• Faith
• trotting
• lungeline
• longeline
• loengeline
• equestrian

[1narizushi]

As everyone else has said, wow, great video,and excellent ideas! I'll be starting a couple of my friends on horseback in the near future, and you've given me some really great ideas for working with beginners.

[welcometopemberley]

Thanks! Good luck with teaching your friend and send me a message if you have q's :)

[welcometopemberley]

Don't try to arch your back, just let the weight settle and bring your heart through your chest. When you are as tall as you can be with your bum as close to the saddle as can be without sitting, and have your hands on the horse's neck, 8 inches in front of the saddle, then you are in two-point or half-seat.

To learn how to be stable in this position, practice leaning different directions at a halt until you find your balance. Then try it at different gaits.

[welcometopemberley]

What I would do have the horse halt. Stand in your stirrups as high as you can. Put your hands about 8 inches in front of the saddle, then gradually lower your bum towards the saddle. Keep your upperbody upright, as you did when you were trying to stand. Let your hip angle close so that the weight of gravity puts a small concave arch in your low back and lets the weight of your torso settle over your hip flexors.

[welcometopemberley]

Not exactly. If you tighten at your knees, it closes your pelvis, which will cause you to tip forward. Relax the knees and let contact with the saddle occur somewhere between the inner side of your leg and the back side of your leg. It is common for people to think the contact is just along the inside of the leg but it rolls around back some.

[welcometopemberley]

I was getting a little wordy so I put all my tips in an eHow article. It is called "How to Find Your Balance Posting and in Two-Point." It may take a day or so to show up in the search results. My eHow username is PonyPros. YouTube doesn't allow links in comments but I can email you the url. Let me know if it helps!

[welcometopemberley]

Here are a few things you can check to see if your tack is hindering you at all:

-Are your stirrups too wide or too narrow for your feet? There should be about a 1/4-1/2" on either side of your foot when it is in the stirrup iron.

-Are your stirrup leathers wide enough? Wider leathers are easier to balance in, but tend to rub your legs more. If you wear chaps, the stirrup leathers won't rub.

[welcometopemberley]

It is nice of you to teach her. Let me know if you have q's :)

[Heykelseymarie]

i love your videos

i am re teaching my friend how to ride and she always has balance and posting problems and this helps me alot

its really hard for me to tell her what to do because I never had anyone to teach me i just found my balance kinda on my own

thanks for the help :)

[empouse]

You seem like a really awesome trainer! Not only that, but you sound very young! How old are you? I'd definitely like to take some lessons with you. Haha. I have very long legs, so I find I have a hard time keeping them underneath me. I'll try this the next time I ride. =]