# Perfecting Your Position -- For Everyone/Share Your Tips!



## ChingazMyBoy (Apr 16, 2009)

I figured this would be a good thread for everyone to share tips on working towards a great Position. So share your tips for jumping or flatwork! Lets aim for 100 as a forum so add the numbers on after mine. Also is it possible to get a sticky on this thread? 

Here are mine: 

1. Stirrupless (Flat/Jumping) - Great for building strength and mucles.

2. Bareback (Flat/Jumping) - Same as above  

3. Two Point (Jumping -- Possible Flat? -- ) -- Do lots of two point over ground polls and general flat.

4. Lunge line (Flat -- 2 Point -- ) Even the best riders can learn something on the lunge line.

5. Grids (Jumping) -- To help you get with the flow of your horses jumping movement.

-- I totally mental blanked and that is all I have for now


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## ChingazMyBoy (Apr 16, 2009)

Bump.. Come on guys!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Kayty (Sep 8, 2009)

1. Get regular lunge lessons with no stirrups and reins. Blindfolded is even better. 

2. Get regular video footage of your riding. You can go home and analyse it, and write down your position faults. Then on your next ride pick one big fault and focus all your concentration on being fully aware of correctly that fault. 

3. Don't wear rose coloured glasses. Thinking that you're great and your horse is going great isn't going to help your position. There's always something to improve on. 

4. Have a nice quiet ride on your own and close your eyes (if your horse is safe enough to do so of course!). As you're walking along, feel your body moving with the horse. Are you collapsing any part of your body? Is one side tighter than the other? Does your pelvis feel stiff? If your horse disapeared from under you, would you land neatly on your feet?


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## Brindles (Apr 30, 2010)

Kayty said:


> If your horse disapeared from under you, would you land neatly on your feet?


I like this! Thank you!


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## TabianoPaint (Apr 30, 2010)

look forward... not at your horses neck, its not going to change colour!! thats what my instructor told me LOL


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## Gidji (Dec 19, 2008)

The most important thing to know when you're having a problem with your position is that everything is connected. One problem with your upper leg, can lead to problems with your toes sticking out and and having your heels up.

And the best tip is look up where you want to go. If you're staring at the groud admiring that lovely mud, odds are you're going to end up in it.


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## Kayty (Sep 8, 2009)

If you have problems with carrying your hands/arms... think of having your elbows are the heaviest part of your arm, like you've got weights attached to them. I found after riding lots of green horses, my elbows were coming away from my sides quite a lot, so this one really helped me  

Also with your hands, there's a lot of 'white knuckled' riders out there. Imagine you're holding two small birds in your hands instead of reins. THAT is the amount of pressure you want to have. If you grip too tightly you will squash them, too loose and they will fly away.

To test how still you keep your hands, put a neckstrap on your horse and hold it while you trot. You'll feel yourself wanting to pull on the neckstrap as you trot if you're used to moving your hands around. 

If you ride with your hands uneven, ride with a short crop or stick under your thumbs, horizontally, and try to keep it level while you ride. 

When rise trotting, put your leg on when you sit. You will have the most influence over the horse's hind legs at this point. 

When cantering, canter from your 'core' not your pelvis. Yes it is your pelvis that moves with the horse, but how many of us look like we're trying to shine our saddle with our bottom while cantering?  So keep that backside firmly in the saddle by moving your core muscles and holding them with the horse's movement, and sinking into the saddle. 

I have so many but I couldn't be bothered putting them all up at once


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## BestJumping (May 7, 2010)

Hold tightly the strips and sit confidently. Give a little bit slopes your self and get well position.


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## Kayty (Sep 8, 2009)

BestJumping said:


> Hold tightly the strips and sit confidently. Give a little bit slopes your self and get well position.


huh???? :?


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## makin tracks (Jan 25, 2009)

Keeping hands still (another take on the neck strap). You can do this off the horse too by holding onto something and bending/ straitening your legs - good for giving littlies a feel.

Dropping your heels (relaxing through the ankle) - stand on a step with the balls of your feet as you would in the stirrups - legs bent and back straight. Hold onto something and practice dropping your heels without compromising the rest of your position.

Shifting weight - put a bag full of books on your back and have someone follow you around pushing it from side to side at random intervals as you walk. Great for giving kids an idea as to how shifting your weight affects the way your horse goes.


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## Kayty (Sep 8, 2009)

Sit on the edge of a chair with your feet flat on the floor. Then only using your pelvis and core muscles tip the chair forwards. Easier said than done! It really shows you if your core muscles are up to scratch or not. 

Another one to test your core, stand on the ground with your feet apart like you're on a horse. Bend your knees a little, then keeping that position (all your lines etc straight.... ear shoulder hip heel and elbow wrist hand) lift your heels off the ground (stand on the balls of your feet), hold it for a few seconds then go back down again and repeat a few times. You CANNOT shift your position from the knees bent or loosing any of your straight lines, so the strength to lift your heels actually comes from the core. 
I know so many people that cannot do this really very straight forward exercise, and sure enough, they are typically those who struggle to get engagement on their horses and to half halt using their back


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## TabianoPaint (Apr 30, 2010)

Kayty said:


> huh???? :?


haha i recon


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## ChingazMyBoy (Apr 16, 2009)

Quote:
Originally Posted by *Kayty*  
_huh???? :???:_

haha i recon :razz: 

I've got no clue


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## maura (Nov 21, 2009)

Great exercises for the lunge or arena work: 

Drop *one* stirrup. See if you can still sit evenly. This will really let you know if you tend to brace in your stirrups, because you'll be wildly off balance as soon as you brace. Switch back and forth, dropping one, then the other, until it doesn't affect your position or balance. 

Find a thin crop or stick and place it under your seatbones, see if you can keep it still. A great way to diagnose crookedness - when the stick moves under you, you know you've taken the weight off of one seat bone. 

Hold your reins in your outside hand and stretch your inside hand up above your head. Pay attention to how it feels and how it changes your horses way of going. Ride your horse in increasingly smaller circles and continue to stretch up and pay attention to how it feels. 

Most of us drop our inside shoulder to some degree without realizing it; some riders actually collapse more than just the shoulder to the inside. Try this one if you feel like your horse leans in on turns - correcting your balance miracuously corrects the horse's.

That's all I can think of for right now.


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## Kayty (Sep 8, 2009)

Maura, I'll be using your inside shoulder trick tomorrow morning when I ride! I am shocking with collapsing to the inside but only to the right. I had an injury to my right hip and shoulder a few years ago, and now I think I just use that as an excuse to collapse when it is easily strong enough to be upright. Will use your tip and see if it helps me out, as even when I'm concentrating on it, when you're on a green horse your mind quickly forgets one thing and tries to sort something else out haha!


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## Rule of Reason (Feb 11, 2010)

Do what's hard, but do it with relaxation. Translation: Practice the things that are hardest for you, but don't let your body tense up as you over-focus on it.

Perfect practice makes perfect -- Don't force yourself to keep doing the sitting trot, for example, if all you're doing is bouncing. Give yourself a break, then try again.


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## WildMustang (Aug 2, 2009)

Shoulders back.
Hands off horse's mane.
Heels down.
Eyes looking straight ahead.


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## Smarby (Oct 27, 2007)

Ah, there are so many good excersises in this thread. I'm looking forward to trying them out.

A classic - if you find you ride with your thumbs facing inward towards each other [trolley hands, piano hands] ride with a crop underneath your thumbs. This forces you to hold your hands in the correct position.

No stirrup trot. You'll hurt like hell the next day but it's so worth it.

Standing up in the stirrups and putting your weight down into your stirrups will help you determine whether you are sitting straight with the weight evenly in both stirrups.


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## aforred (May 12, 2010)

One my friend taught me before Nationals one year:
Place a broom handle in front of your elbows and behind your back, while doing a posting trot bareback. It's a killer, but it works.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## flamingauburnmustang (Dec 25, 2008)

^^ We had to do the same, but when we were practising jumping position on the flat in trot! It was really painful, but teaches you to keep your back straight and shoulders open. :wink:

There are so many tips here! On Friday I am definately going to try them out with Night... :grin:


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## my2geldings (Feb 18, 2008)

ChingazMyBoy said:


> I figured this would be a good thread for everyone to share tips on working towards a great Position. So share your tips for jumping or flatwork! Lets aim for 100 as a forum so add the numbers on after mine. Also is it possible to get a sticky on this thread?
> 
> Here are mine:
> 
> ...


You've summed it all really. I find one big thing to help improve you riding and your position, is how fit you are as a rider. Gym time along with a good cardio program will drastically improve your fitness which in turn affects your riding, stamina and how well you ride.

Good luck!


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## Tymer (Dec 28, 2009)

A lot of the position things I learn in chorus actually help me envision how I should be riding.
They always tell me to pull from the top of your head to stand tall. When I do this riding I always pick myself up out of my seat (not good!) so I just imagine it a little.
In addition, they tell me to relax in chorus, which helps my position in riding. When I get stressed, I lean forward, I lock my elbows, and my legs go nearly up to the cantle. Just an exaggeration, haha. 
I also find that working out to strengthen your arms (forearms included) back, LEGS, and stomach really help a lot.


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## corinowalk (Apr 26, 2010)

Heres one that my dressage friend uses. When riding, take two crops and make an X. This puts your hands in perfect position and opens your shoulders. Try it, it really works!


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