# Anyone have a problem of looking down while riding?



## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

Of course. That's why it's a known thing for the instructor to watch for.
My old instructor used to say "be like a Princess, look down your nose" . So, I think of keeping my face forward but can look down my nose. Develop this habit early, if you can. Think more of feeling your horse, and looking at him down your nose and more with pereferal vision rather than directly.

Sally Swift wrote a great book for riding called "Centered Riding". IT's probably the single best book for learning how to ride. She uses what is called "soft eyes", wherein she sees all around and doesn't focus hardly on anything.
This book is one you really should consider buying and keeping. It is very useful.


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## Spastic_Dove (Oct 4, 2007)

I have a terrible habit of doing it. I don't even look at anything in particular, I just do it when I am concentrating on a particular thing. I'm fine if I'm just mucking around. 

I think the only way to do it is to practice. Having someone on the ground to yell at you when you do it helps me too because I don't even notice. I just have to really concentrate on looking where I want to be going and remember I never want to be going on the ground :lol:


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## MIEventer (Feb 15, 2009)

I do it all the time - it's a bad habit! As David O'Connor says "It takes 1,000x of repetative work to fix 1 bad habit" and ain't that the truth!

I have no idea what I am looking for down there? A pot of gold? Money? No clue....but I hate it. I have to make a concious effort to not stare down....I keep telling myself "look up"

What I like to do, is imagine your horse is a train, your the engineer and you both cannot go any further until the tracks have been set down infront of you. So I look ahead, and imagine tracks being placed down so that we can continue on our path - being a circle, a serpentine, down the rail, across the diagonale - whichever.


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## CJ82Sky (Dec 19, 2008)

i tend to do this but have gotten better esp when im working with others in the ring or in lessons. when training green horses i tend to look at them to see what they are doing rather than feeling it lol.

i tell myself the same thing i say to my students.
me: look down at your horse
student: ummm okay?
me: what color is your horse?
student: brown
me: right, and he's going to be that color all day right?
student: right umm?
me: great! now that we got that out of the way, you don't need to look down to check the color of your horse anymore!
student usually ends up laughing


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## wishingforahorse (Jan 15, 2010)

tinyliny said:


> Of course. That's why it's a known thing for the instructor to watch for.
> My old instructor used to say "be like a Princess, look down your nose" . So, I think of keeping my face forward but can look down my nose. Develop this habit early, if you can. Think more of feeling your horse, and looking at him down your nose and more with pereferal vision rather than directly.
> 
> Sally Swift wrote a great book for riding called "Centered Riding". IT's probably the single best book for learning how to ride. She uses what is called "soft eyes", wherein she sees all around and doesn't focus hardly on anything.
> This book is one you really should consider buying and keeping. It is very useful.


I'll have to get that book. Thanks


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## bsms (Dec 31, 2010)

tinyliny said:


> ...Sally Swift wrote a great book for riding called "Centered Riding". IT's probably the single best book for learning how to ride...


I hate that book with a passion. Too much verbal imagery. Seems to help a lot of people, but it drove me nuts.

For looking down, I think it helps to be busy doing something else...I tended to focus on my horse's reaction, when I needed to be looking ahead for what is next. And actually, my horse seemed to appreciate it when I spent less time worrying about how she was doing and more on just telling her what to do next. So it helped me to put out cones, and to keep busy doing circles, patterns, thinking about pace changes, etc.


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## SorrelHorse (Apr 9, 2009)

My instructor HATES it when I do that.....I have too much tendency and it throws off my hroses.

I have been rpacticing looking down my nose too, which is very helpful. My Mom actualy put a stock note on Rebel's neck that says "Look up, stupid!" 8D


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## wishingforahorse (Jan 15, 2010)

CJ82Sky said:


> i tend to do this but have gotten better esp when im working with others in the ring or in lessons. when training green horses i tend to look at them to see what they are doing rather than feeling it lol.
> 
> i tell myself the same thing i say to my students.
> me: look down at your horse
> ...


That's really funny. Now that's probably what I'm going to be thinking about whenever I look down.


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## wishingforahorse (Jan 15, 2010)

Thanks for the quick replies everyone! I'm so glad that it's not just me.


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## VanillaBean (Oct 19, 2008)

Ugh I have this problem, REALLY bad. I am working on Sheena's headset and I am ALWAYS looking at her head. But atleast I am looking at SOMETHING!

VB


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## franknbeans (Jun 7, 2007)

UGH! Have always battled with this. This winter learning to ride western, on my new guy who is SUPER sensitive to eyes, weight, etc.....I finally realized just how powerful looking where you want to go is! It is amazing! And for years, I had been telling myself what one of my instructors said years ago..."look where you want to end up. If you are looking down, that IS where you will end up." And-it is very true.


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## CJ82Sky (Dec 19, 2008)

wishingforahorse said:


> That's really funny. Now that's probably what I'm going to be thinking about whenever I look down.


lol yeah makes ya laugh - then realize you're looking down (again!) and stop looking down so much 

hey i say it in my head to myself as much as i do out loud to students when im teaching lessons!!!!


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## breezy17 (Mar 21, 2011)

I do! My partner and I are working on staying on the bit, and I have a habit of staring at her!


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## EmilyandNikki (Sep 7, 2010)

I tend to relax my neck, and my head goes down and I don' even realize it! You just have concentrate and think about keeping your head up.


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## MyBoyPuck (Mar 27, 2009)

I do it all the time. It's more a product of bad posture than a need to look at his head. I still hear my instructor from 15 years ago saying "you don't have to keep checking. His head is still there!" Sometimes I'm tempted to put a sign on my horse's mane saying, "look up dummy!"


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## arduke (Feb 17, 2010)

i am the worst at that i just showed the other weekend and half my pictures are of me looking down. i ride saddleseat so im always trying to see if my horse is using her legs properly but it is such a horribly hard habit to stop especially because i dont take regular lessons.
Howard Schatzberg Photography
diamond jublilee saturday scholar's pleasure jackpot the bay saddlebred with white socks


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## Kayty (Sep 8, 2009)

Yep I'm a shocker with looking down too... but only on green horses? Go figure! 
It's not because I'm looking at their reactions, I'm perfectly able to feel what the horse is doing with my eyes closed, so when I look down, it's not because I'm looking at the horse as such, I'm actually not really 'looking' at all. When I'm focussing really hard, even off the horse, looking down is my automatic position. Drives me crazy trying to change that when I ride!!


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## FirecrackerHoney (Apr 10, 2011)

It's quite ironic that you just posted this, because on my last lesson I had the same problem! It's never been much of an issue before this last practice, but I kept looking down (Honey was really spooky and I was trying to watch her for signs that she was getting nervous)...I didn't even think about the looking down your nose trick! But it's the exact same thing...my instructor kept telling me that since I was looking down Honey thought I was falling off and would slow/stop.

This was the first time that we did anything really involved at all, though (we were walking around the barrels learning the pattern)...so I think that's why it came up (she wanted me to go faster and she wanted me looking at the next barrel because apparently that helps the horse know where you want to go earlier and thus make tighter turns). The thing that helped me was her constantly telling me to focus on exactly where I was heading...and it really helped! Plus (this could've just been a coincidence) Honey stopped spooking so much!


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