Unbalancing Your Horse

Dressage will lose marks, but in jumping & performance sports it could injure the horse!

The rider's head position has a remarkable affect on the horse's balance.

I guess the easiest way to explain 'balance" is to say that if your horse weighed 400kg that 100kg would be evenly distributed over all four feet.

Just the slightest tilt of the rider's head can really unbalance the horse, making it far more difficult for the horse to move freely on that side.

If the rider is looking down the rider puts more weight on both front feet, then the horse will be on the forehand, (this can explain why horses more often injure their front legs - as the front legs carry more weight when they are traveling on the forehand)

When the horse is 'unbalanced', you might say they just kind of 'topple over sideways'...where one foot is taking far more weight than the others. You might only loose marks in dressage, but in high speed performance sports such as jumping, racing, camp draft games this could be a major cause of injury.

It's against the rules

There are many many references to the horse's correct balance throughout the FEI Rules. It is considered a grave fault, even early on, due to it's possibility of causing injury, and making a very bumpy and uncomfortable ride.

In particular:

Paces mark will often drop - as you get the kind of 'skip' we see in the lower levels in extended trot, and the higher levels it can become quite obvious in the half pass. It can even be the cause of horses doing tempi changes larger on one side than the other.

Impulsion will deteriorate as the horse simply cannot move as freely forward on the side that is over weighted by the rider's slanted head position.

Submission marks may also drop as it makes it more difficult for the horse to stay steady on the bit with the little 'skip' at each stride.

Rider marks will obviously also be affected as the FEI Rule on the position and aids of the rider (Article 418) clearly states "...the upper part of the body easy, free and erect,,,". and, the word 'erect' certainly doesn't cover leaning in and looking down!

Quick tips & remedies:

First. Feel it on the chair....
- First...sit up straight.
- Hold your hands in 'riding position' pretending you're riding your horse
- Tilt your head to one side.
Feel how one seat bone gets heavier
Feel how one leg 'tenses up'
Feel how one elbow gets closer to the body
Feel how one elbow drops
Feel how one hand lowers (ultimately making the horse's head tilt as well!)
In the Mirror...
This is an EASY clear fix for the mirror - just look at your helmet and see which side you hold lower. Again, the cheapest easiest lesson you can get is to buy a mirror...and they're not expensive. Look in your trading post or second hand store in the bedroom section for sliding mirrored wardrobe doors. My 3 large mirrors cost me $40 for the lot! You can fix the head tilt that unbalances your horse in one day!
On the circle...
Nearly every rider I've worked with - even at the highest levels - leans in on the circles.

Test it out for yourself. Next time you drive in a car around a roundabout or around a corner...feel which seatbone gets heavier.
WE ALL LEAN IN!

And, your coach might always be saying "push your horse from the inside leg to the outside rein" - this is often because your horse is falling in on the circles, or cutting corners...but more often than not it is the RIDER that is leaning in. Rather than fix the horse...test yourself out first, and the best way to test this out is:

My favorite 'fix'

My own personal favorite that I use for children to Grand Prix riders is the 'nose dribble'...see next...

Champion Swiss rider, Deborah Lazzarotto, shows how rider balance is the key!
You can see in this high-speed shot that the rider is clearly looking at the next fence, however the yellow circles show how the center of her torso and the center of her pelvis line up perfectly!

Notice now straight her helmet is: the red arrow marks the peak of her helmet, and although this remarkably talented horse is moving very fast, the rider's head is not ‘leaning in’, or 'looking down' and unbalancing her horse, otherwise the peak of her helmet would be tilted.

And a note for beginner jumpers…just look at those lovely heels - you can clearly see the heel of her boot far below the stirrup.