Developing harmony through
self carriage
Picture yourself riding along in perfect harmony, your horse coming through from
behind, ears listening and focused and he is light in your rein and carrying himself.
Never relying on your rein to hold himself up. Self-carriage is one of those things
that takes time to develop, but through careful, disciplined training you can really
improve your horse mentally and physically. Self-carriage should be the goal for
anyone who is serious about their riding and is not limited to dressage horses. All
horses, of any discipline, will benefit from working in self-carriage. How well your
horse goes in self-carriage depends largely on your own position in the saddle, and
the way you train him to go.
Defining self-carriage
When the horse is working from behind, well balanced and carrying himself in a
light frame. He will be rhythmical and every step will look like his last, a true picture
of quality training no matter what the discipline.
A focus on rider position
A horse will always struggle to work in self-carriage if the rider isn’t in their own
self-carriage. The minute you put weight on a horses back, you instantly change his
natural way of going. It is very easy to look at a horse running loose and expect to
achieve the same movement and way of going in the saddle but the reality is very
few are actually able to achieve this expectation. That is due to the way the rider sits
on a horse. The better you sit, the better your horse will be able to go for you.
Assess how well you sit on the horse. Do your legs fall long, with the weight sitting
lightly in the heel? Are you sitting light through your core? If there is any flaw in your
own seat and position then your horses performance will be impaired. It is easy to
get stuck in a mind frame where you are focused on improving the horse that you
forget to work on yourself but don’t be afraid to take the time to perfect your position. Many young horse riders find their positions to be effective to stay on through
hairy moments but there will come a point where your young horse is no longer
young and you want to progress further.