ACTHA Monthly | April 2015 | 16
Trail
Talk
With
Lisa Wysocky
As riders, we often focus on our aids, and forget about the rest of our body. As I often tell my riding students who forget about the movement of the back end of the horse, “You must ride the whole horse with your whole body.”
Picture this: in an ACTHA competition you approach a bridge. First you take several deep breaths and blow them out to help steady your horse’s nerves––and yours. Then you turn your head toward the bridge, and use your hands, legs, and seat bones to steer your horse toward the obstacle. As your horse gets closer, you sink your heels low, squeeze encouragement with your lower legs, bring your hands forward so your horse can lower his head, lean forward at the hips, and bring your fanny slightly out of the saddle.
As your horse steps up onto the bridge, you shift your weight to help your horse balance, then adjust your body and weight backward in the same increments as your horse does. This helps your horse walk across the bridge. When your horse steps off the bridge, you have to repeat the hands forward, leaning forward, and all the rest that you did to help your horse get up on the bridge, to now help your horse step down safely.
have to repeat the hands forward, leaning forward, and all the rest that you did to help your horse get up on the bridge, to now help your horse step down safely.
In the therapeutic riding world we call all of this task analysis. What are all the tiny, individual, and specific steps your body has to do to turn your horse to the right, for example, or to stop?
In competition, riders often become nervous, and that nervousness, no matter how slight, is translated to your horse. Any amount of nervousness or stress affects your performance. That’s why performing a task analysis of every obstacle ahead of the competition is important. Figure out how, specifically, you will approach a gate, then in your mind, work out the sequence of movements your body has to make to successfully navigate the obstacle.
When we learned to ride, it was difficult to learn how to post the trot, or give the correct cues for a left lead canter departure. But after many repetitions, we were able to learn the skill so thoroughly, that it became almost instinctive. That’s how well, how deep, and how thoroughly, you should approach each competition obstacle.
If this sounds like a lot of work, yes, at first it can be. It is almost like backing up three small steps so you can then take ten giant steps forward. Start with one obstacle, do the task analysis of your body movements, and then move on to other obstacles that you routinely encounter. Of course every gate, every back through, is different, but once you have the basics of your body mechanics down for a given obstacle, you can easily adjust.
Safe travels!
Lisa Wysocky is a horsewoman and clinician; a PATH instructor, mentor, and ESMHL; and the author of many books, including the new Therapy Horse Selection, and the award-winning Cat Enright equestrian mystery series.
Find her at LisaWysocky.com
or on Facebook.
Riding with your Whole Body