REF HANB114

Veronique Bartin, horse rider instructor of the Alexander program, will show you a series of small exercises to practise a few minutes before getting in the saddle.
As Michel Robert says:
 “Riders don’t pay enough attention to their physical fitness. However, we know that the rider’s stiffness, muscle or joint tightness have a direct impact on the horse. The slightest tension in an arm, the hips, or even an ankle…will impact directly the horse’s motion and his freedom of movement. If we require our horse to be supple and loosened, let’s start with the same level of demand for ourselves. To become supple and fit doesn’t require the same training as a high level professional athlete, so everyone can do it.

Practising a few progressive and simple suppleness exercises is already a good start. When you start your riding session, it seems obvious to you to warm up your horse before any serious work. So why to not do the same with our own bodies before getting in the saddle?

That’s what Veronique shows us today in this video with a few simple yet progressive exercises to practise every day. It will take you only a few minutes but it will save you some time in your riding practice.
We are going to learn how to get each part of our body straighter, more relaxed and supple with this very simple set of exercises to be practised standing up in the barn near your horse with no accessories or a dedicated space.

The goal of this exercise is to encourage the horse to reach for the contact, whether he is in a low position when stretching the neck down, or in a position with the poll being the highest point. By allowing the horse to round his entire top line, the rider will enable him to optimize his engagement, his pushing power, and his balance.

To reach this goal, it is critical for the rider to acquire some freedom of movements especially of his arms and hands. This will allow him to follow the flow of movement of the horse’s neck particularly when the horse lengthens his gait or jumps. Unfortunately, we all know that the natural tendency for riders is to get a good hold of the reins, and to bring the hands toward the belly. Too many horses are blocked in their cervical vertebras and in their back and don’t have this freedom of movement needed in order to use their full potential.

It requires the rider to practise and learn to stay in a vertical position while “giving” his hands to the horse’s mouth. It can be achieved by practising with simple exercises like the one in today’s session.