Posts Tagged ‘Body Position’

In terms of horse riding, you won’t find a more widely used saddle than the English saddle. Its primary purpose is to make both you and the horse comfortable (which it does through lots of padding) as well as allow the horse to move as freely as possible for whatever task is asked of the horse, whether it be jumping or dressage.

There are several variants of English Saddle:

The All Purpose English Saddle – this saddle is perfect for jumping, hacking and showing, as well as any other purpose.

The Jumping Saddle is meant for fox hunting, cross-country and show jumping. You’ll find the flap design to be far different from the all-purpose saddle, as its unique design is meant to allow shorter stirrups, helping you to get the horse jumping effectively and without complications. Your knees will have great support thanks to the knee rolls on the flap.

The Dressage Saddle has a straighter flap than the all-purpose saddle, as well as a deeper, forward facing seat, so that the rider’s legs can be straighter and have a more upright body position as well. You’ll have more contact with the horse due to the slight lack of padding in the saddle, so the horse will be more controllable. This saddle sports longer girth straps, enabling the rider to attach the saddle closer to the elbow of the horse.

The Endurance Saddle: this saddle is perfect for endurance competitions, making horse and rider comfort a top priority. The seat and everything else has a lot of padding, and the rider’s weight is distributed through the large skirt. If you plan on being on the saddle for a long time, you can attack equipment with the many D rings.

The Showing Saddle: Showing competitions are where this saddle variant excels, it needs to be smaller, so that more of the horse’s conformation is visible, allowing the judges to see as much of it as possible. There are no knee rolls and not much padding, leaving the rider with little support.

The Western Saddle: This variant has been around for a long time, as it was meant to be a more utilitarian model, enabling cowboys to work with the horses in the old days of the frontier. It’s similar in form to the English saddle, with the addition of a horn-like knob on the saddle’s front, which was meant to secure a rope typically used on a cow. You can find Western saddles with all kinds of decorations and embellishments on it, as it’s the showiest saddle out there. Compared to the English saddle, the Western saddle has a bigger tree, and you need a saddle blanket to make up for the lack of padding on the skirt, allowing the horse to be comfortable; a cinch is used to secure the saddle to the horse, as opposed to the girth that’s used on most other saddles. If the rider falls, the stirrups won’t go with them, since they are attached directly to the saddle.

There are several Western Saddle variants:

When you are barrel racing in a rodeo, you often get the specialized Barrel Racing Saddle, which allows you to make those sharp turns. The rider is secured strongly to the animal through the high cantle and pommel and flatter seat, as well as its light weight.

The Roping Saddle: Gives you a thicker rope horn on its heavier, stronger frame.

The Endurance Saddle: the tree on this light saddle is bigger, so the rider’s weight is distributed more evenly; this way, the rider can go longer on the horse.

The Show Saddle: this saddle is meant for decoration and aesthetics almost exclusively, with deep seats and silver embellishments.

The Treeless Saddle: A fiberglass pommel and cantle provides the base for this saddle, as opposed to the rigid tree found on most models. If your horse’s back is very wide, and you need a bigger saddle to accommodate that, get this particular saddle variant.

Joy Gregory is a web designer and artist with an MSc in IT. She has a daughter with an obsession for horses and cross country events and has spent many hours in cold wet fields watching daughter and horse competing.

Visit us at Saddles and Bridles and Saddle Bridles UK for more tips on choosing and using horse tack.

Author: Joy Gregory
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Horse people spend years trying to find out information and techniques from different trainers for a few tips that help them with their horse back riding training before they ‘chance’ upon training that actually works for them successfully that they can instantly understand and practise the moves.

How many times do you see people practising the same move whether general riding, dressage, western, western pleasure or cutting and they repeat the same moves over and over with no improvement ‘locking’ their horse into a frame and getting mediocre results.

Then they sell their horse and buy a new one and unless the horse can ‘teach’ the rider the ‘move’ the same thing happens. When an experienced trainer hops on the horse they can execute moves that you didn’t know your horse was capable of – This is the SECRET- to learn and understand the required thinking and aids to ask and communicate to your horse and unite this with your correct body position that doesn’t lock or stiffen their frame.

Do you see people kick and hit their horse to move it and when the horse finally moves they jerk on the reins, and pull the mouth to make the horse uncomfortable – it’s no wonder that the horse doesn’t want to move!

Imagine being able to dance in self carriage and never having to continually repeat exercises with your horse, which they see as undeserved punishment! And better still, having the correct riding seat and the respect from your horse so it will move forwards willingly as you lift your energy!

This is why when you have the opportunity to acquire quality training information – You should take it- Read it – Understand it- Plan it and Practise it!

How do you know when the training offered is quality equestrian and horse back riding knowledge that is easily understandable to you?

A good trainer will tell you about the results they have obtained with other horses. The information that they provide will be clear and concise, being easy for you to understand as they discuss what you don’t want with your horse and then what you do want! You can understand clearly how to implement the training information with your horse, with examples of improvement being discussed with so you can see how to progress to that point and when it is obtained. Training tips and a free mailing list should be available to you – so you can communicate easily.

Most importantly great equestrian training is so substantial that it caters for horse back riders and horses of all equestrian disciplines – Western, English, Western Pleasure, Cutting, Reining, Hacking etc. to give breakthroughs and advance horse and horse back rider performance. Lets say a horse won’t go forwards properly, this isn’t a particular problem associated with one equestrian discipline -i.e dressage – it’s a communication and respect issue that can happen to all riders in any equestrian discipline – the equestrian rider needs to understand the theory and comprehend the bodily-kinesthetic knowledge of the moves – how to apply the training and aids, and know what to expect from the horse.

These key areas of training need to be available to the horse back rider in unison allowing an advance in equestrian training and performance, good horse training will equip you in all these areas – ending frustration created from no advance in horse back riding skills – due to only part of the training information being available to the horse back rider.

Suzanne Garrard has a post graduate degree in education and has been working with and training horses for 15 years – including horses that when purchased lacked impulsion or were a problem horse. She is passionate about continual and further education for horse and rider advancement. If you are looking to advance your equine performance and horse back riding skills, and increase your understanding of the equine language, whilst building you and your horses comfort zones and your leadership with the horse, so you are both confident and happy then click on [http://www.smarthorseandridercoaching.com] to get free training tips, join the mailing list and easily access comprehensive equestrian horse back rider training!

Author: Suzanne Garrard
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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