Sporting Horse_A Breeder's Notebook: A Question of Balance_Dec2010

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A Breeder’s Notebook By Johan Dreyer

Alexander the Great on his horse Bucephalus (256-323 BCE)

At the dawn of horsemanship, Alexander the Great (256-323 BCE) established a vast empire in only eight years mostly from the back of Bucephalas. His black charger was, as most ridden horses of ancient times, easy gaited – they did not have saddles and stirrups! When asked what he would like to have related if he should not return, Alexander the Great replied “sit deep in the horse and keep your legs tight�. But it’s not that simple, horse riding is an exercise in balance. It is not a lack of ingenuity that caused horse people to take 400 years to add stirrups to a saddle: stirrups were frowned upon as they allow you to ride unbalanced . It’s only the superiority of the mounted Mongolian archers with their laminated double-curved bows in battle that made riding unbalanced acceptable and stirrups a must-have. Nevertheless, the bareback archers of the Plains Indians in America had some valuable lessons in balance.

From this developed the classical art of equitation as exhibited In the Iberian Peninsula during the late 15th century, horse riding today by the Spanish Riding School of Vienna, one of the last had culminated in two distinct types of horsemanship: vestiges of this noble art. Initially, with the establishment of the schools of equitation under various masters (each with his In the north men rode a la brida – that is straight legged, feet own interpretation and misinterpretation), Xenophon’s works forward in a saddle with high cantle and pommel reins loose (430 BCE) Hippike and Hipparchikos were rediscovered. But and a severe bit. The conquistadors took it to the Americas Francois Robichon de la GuĂŠrinière (1688 –1751) became where it culminated in the riding style and stock saddle of the “Father of Classical Equitationâ€? when he wrote L’ Ecole the American West with a deep seat and swells to keep a De Cavalerie (High Schooling for Cavalry Horses) in 1733. It rider in place during the long hours in the saddle. is still used by the Spanish Riding School in Vienna.

rode in the style of the desert and steppe, described as The horse’s natural balance point standing still is in the lower “riding short in the Turkish fashion� – la gineta. An Italian part of the chest on the girth, just behind and a little higher than the elbow. A rod through the horse’s body at this point country riding. It makes it possible to move your weight with will have him balancing, falling neither forward nor backward. the horse’s natural balance point as he jumps obstacles, today If you place a rider on the horse, their mutual natural balance it’s a mandatory stance. In the extreme, this culminated in point is just ahead of the rider’s seat.The foundation for being racing with a jockey perched on the horse. a part of the horse is to sit on his back over his centre of

gravity with a leg each side hanging naturally. Sitting like that on the horse, your knees will be on or very close to your mutual natural balance point. But there is nothing static about a horse’s natural balance point as he moves. If you pivot on your knees it implies that you can stay in balance on the horse in his movement with minimal effort. Your body, through your own sense of balance, should stay in balance with the horse in all his movements through muscle tone alone. Any tension will upset the athletic relaxation needed for you to be part of the horse. This is the reason you ride bareback in the classical " without the help of a saddle, stirrups and especially reins. #

$ of metaphysics in which he developed the problem of philosophy out of the criticism of previous philosophising. That brought home the principle: to address an anomaly, start by understanding the problem. So when I see a person who rides beautifully and you can say it is as if the horse and rider are one, I instinctively start formulating my problem for struggling so much. Instead of enjoying the rider’s relaxed movement, his going with every motion of the horse, this – the ultimate in riding – then became my burden. But if it’s to the ultimate good of the horses involved, there might be method to my madness. Good riding originates in balancing on the horse with your % % point.To understand we need to dissect. Picture yourself sitting on a chair. If your feet are in front of you, you can get up only by either leaning your upper body forward (shifting your weight over your pivot point, your feet). Alternatively, you can get help from your hands by clenching something, a counter-balance point. If you sit as if on a horse with your feet under you, your knees slightly in front, getting up is no problem (because your weight is over your pivot point). The long and short of this is that, sitting on a horse, if you push your feet out you are going to need a counter-balance point or lean forward with your upper body. With the reins in hand you most probably will & '* +

the reins were not attached to the bit which means you will be erecting yourself hanging on to the horse’s temple joint. But it’s not only your weight. The bit acts on the lower jaw, which means the horse’s temple joint has to deal with your weight enlarged by the lever factor of the length of his lower jaw; if you use a curb bit the mechanical advantage has to be added on top of the lever factor. The upper body leaning forward & refuge in the reins�. It’s a human reaction to lean forward the moment you tense up, as this lessens the destabilising factor of your upper body (moment of inertia), but it is also evident if your centre of gravity is forward as explained earlier. Because hands and their function in horse riding cannot be fully discussed in this article, hands are only mentioned here in * + balance is either out of ignorance or a misplaced inferiority complex:

Poor balance. Some riders are totally unaware that they & '/ 9 themselves. Most of them are aware of the consequences. When the rider chooses to hang on to the reins because he needs the counter weight of his upper body to erect the horse’s neck or get that spectacular front leg movement, even though he knows hanging on the reins is painful for the horse, now that’s bad. He needs a shrink. As bad as it may be, I still believe such a rider is not fully informed as to the grief he is causing the horse.

If you ride with a release of the tension of the reins as a default to respond to the aids by releasing the tension in the rein as a reward, this can’t happen. Well schooled, the horse should respond to nothing more than the movement of your little * Now we come to the Alexander the Great part of sitting deep and keeping your legs tight on the horse. We all know that “sitting deep� is a physical impossibility. It should have been: “sit up straight and relaxed and let your legs hang down�, as that would move your natural balance point down. Just as the horse moves his natural balance point to the rear as he brings his hind legs in under him, you will lower your natural balance point by sitting up straight and letting your legs hang down . If you use stirrups, pressing down with your heels will shift your natural balance point to the rear and lower it, contrary to a “ballerina stance�. Having your legs tight on the horse (a leg embrace) poses the question: what does on the horse mean? Your leg embrace should be such that your horse can discern your cues and understand what you want. If your legs are always squeezing the breath out of him, no cue will be discernible. If your leg embrace is not only relaxed but also gentle, you’ll have a hard time cueing the horse in such a way that he will actually understand what you want. Horse riding is described as a dance of grace and power between horse and human . If you see it as such – the leg aids as if leading in ballroom dancing – the whole complexion changes. You do it gently; you don’t try to squeeze the breath out of your partner or pound with one or both legs to get them to do what you want. But then if your legs are only gently embracing the horse, how < = % – your balance on the horse. But it is more complicated than that: if you do not know the footfalls of the basic gaits and have an understanding of what the horse is doing under you, you will never be in balance but always be busy regaining balance.You have to learn what to feel for. In other words you have to read the horse’s motion as you go along anticipating and preparing for his motion. The degree to which you stay in balance is directly proportionate to the success you have in reading the motion of the horse under you. It is however pertinent that you be physically in a good shape; if you are barely hanging on you will always be out of balance. You have to be the master of your own body, the better you master your body the better you will master your horse. If you do not

have the strength and range of motion in your legs and body you will not be able to anticipate his moves while at the same time gently cueing him. However, this is more concerned with commitment than body form and anyone, if the determination is there, can learn to ride and develop the necessary skills. Pivoting on your knees on the mutual balance point of the horse and rider means that changes to accommodate movement and interference with his movement need to be minimal. If your movement is above your knees, your lower legs should remain stable against the side of the horse and your feet will be equally stable in the stirrups. The foot position in the stirrups is a dead giveaway of how accomplished a rider really is. Whereas us lesser mortals have to shove our feet in, or at least support the ball of our feet, an accomplished rider needs just a tippy toe.That same rider will be able to keep his foot like > * = % of balance that moves your pivot point and causes you to lose that stirrup faster than a vehicle loses its nuts on a gravel road. All horses must learn to compensate for the rider’s weight when it comes to losing and regaining their equilibrium during movement. A horse hates falling. If you do something that % @ resist. (If in doubt, just stiffen your back next time your horse is walking out strongly and witness him slowing down with that minuscule change in equilibrium). It’s because horses are very sensitive to balance that the co-ordination of the rider’s * = trained horse a lot is conveyed via the transfer of your weight, but that is only possible if your normal position is neutral. You cannot teach him any weight cues if he does not have a zero point. For instance, his weight shifts to the outside from the the inside leg. Therefore shifting your weight to the outside

* To master any dance you may need to knuckle down and really work at it. In horse riding, humans have the unpleasant habit of % comply, instead of trying to understand why they struggle. This is clearly an ill-guided and very desperate attempt. Spurs and whips have their uses and you most certainly will get a reaction, but it’s highly unlikely it will aid your balance. In his book Horses are Made to be Horses, Franz Mairinger touches on this very subject of harmony between horse and rider: “...to achieve this ideal the rider must be self-disciplined and capable of giving his full concentration to the horse. The well-schooled horse will always be a joy to ride and a pleasing picture to watch. If he is to remain so, the rider must be a joy for him to carryâ€?. Sources: Horsemanship – Johan Dreyer An Anatomy of Riding (rereleased as Anatomy of Dressage) - Heinrich and Volker Schusdziarra The Circle of Trust - Walter Zettl My Horses, My Teachers - Colonel A Podhajsky L’ Ecole De Cavalerie - Francois Robichon de Le GuĂŠrinière Horses are Made to be Horses - Franz Mairinger (Johan can be reached at dreyerjohan@yahoo.com)

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