Sossigpoker
Well-Known Member
Yes ?
Dressage high(?) hands
- Thread starter stangs
- Start date
sbloom
Well-Known Member
No.
If your body and brain are in perfect working order then you probably won't struggle to do align yourself, but most of us have deficiencies. It's impossible for someone who can do this easily to realise how much of a challenge it can be, witness riders being told the same thing over and over by their trainers, unable to comply. They don't get told how, though good biomechanics coaches have a lot more success with the how, but there's yet another layer of riders (probably a majority) who have proprioception, neural or specific joint imbalance issues that mean they can't align.
We also in so many cases don't realise what effect these inadequacies have on our horses, so we don't search out these kinds of approaches so I understand why you're cynical. I'm sure plenty of people were similarly scathing when Mary Wanless and Sally Swift first emerged but they have brought huge benefit for many riders. When you're out there working with these methods and seeing the difference you get converted really fast, as with my customer above.
I was part of a demo on Saturday. One very competent but still crooked rider was taken through a kinesiology drill. When she looked up and left she was then unable to resist the coach pressing down on her outstretched arm, after looking up to the right she was fine, a huge difference.
A leading RWYM trainer has always struggled on one rein and has to work way harder though looks aligned, as you can imagine. The coach discovered she has much less peripheral vision on that one side so her head, neck and body have developed compensations over decades. She is finding her ridden work much easier since just her first session with him and is recommending him to her customers and to other RWYM coaches it's been such a revelation what this approach can add to rider biomechanics. Neural pathways are a funny thing.
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planete
Well-Known Member
I had a lot of Alexander Technique lessons at one time to refine and correct faulty proprioception. It is enlightening to find out that your body is not doing what you think it is and when you are first put in a symmetrical position (or derotated!) it feels totally wrong.
sbloom
Well-Known Member
The de-rotation is just a way of looking at things.
Some biomex trainers concentrate on the pelvis - one focuses on activating glut. medius in most riders for example, RWYM is a much broader system, Franklin method uses balls and bands, natural movement systems are again completely different (see Refined Riding on FB as an example). They all have different paradigms and all can be effective.
The system I have been taught focuses on the rotation of the ribcage of the horse as the major factor in asymmetry and compensatory patterns. The upper body of the rider is often easier to fix, so if we de-rotate the upper body we can also de-rotate the horse and enable functional movement again, so the horse can push up in front. We all know that generally we need to achieve with ourselves what we ask of our horse, de-rotation is the same. All of this is actually about the forces working for and against horse and rider but that's a whole nuther discussion.
Sadly my website and therefore blog is under construction but here are two photos, classic examples of a right ribcage rotation.
Some biomex trainers concentrate on the pelvis - one focuses on activating glut. medius in most riders for example, RWYM is a much broader system, Franklin method uses balls and bands, natural movement systems are again completely different (see Refined Riding on FB as an example). They all have different paradigms and all can be effective.
The system I have been taught focuses on the rotation of the ribcage of the horse as the major factor in asymmetry and compensatory patterns. The upper body of the rider is often easier to fix, so if we de-rotate the upper body we can also de-rotate the horse and enable functional movement again, so the horse can push up in front. We all know that generally we need to achieve with ourselves what we ask of our horse, de-rotation is the same. All of this is actually about the forces working for and against horse and rider but that's a whole nuther discussion.
Sadly my website and therefore blog is under construction but here are two photos, classic examples of a right ribcage rotation.
rara007
Well-Known Member
I think my problem is I am a kebab that won’t stop rotating. Sorry- couldn’t help myself!
French photo
French photo
Sossigpoker
Well-Known Member
If the horse's spine and muscles have truly become locked in an unnatural alignment, you won't be able to fix that with riding alone , you'll need a chiropractic or osteopathic adjustment.
If the horse's ribcage is rotated to the right , you'll find that the pelvis is also rotated to the right and therefore needs to be released by a chiropractor or osteopath.
My horse finds left rein harder because of this rotation.
If the horse's ribcage is rotated to the right , you'll find that the pelvis is also rotated to the right and therefore needs to be released by a chiropractor or osteopath.
My horse finds left rein harder because of this rotation.
Cob Life
Well-Known Member
I used to ride like this, it was a bad habit when I was particularly nervous, I’d lock my elbows. My current instructor has fixed it by correcting other areas of my position (pulling my shoulders back so I don’t hunch, tucking my elbows in to my sides)
sbloom
Well-Known Member
Some will need a bodyworker, and I would recommend all horses see at least one type of bodyworker regularly. But a huge improvement can be made in in hand and ridden work if the work is right and the rider is in the right place.
maya2008
Well-Known Member
I have no idea as I have never made it to that level. But… as an adult on a 13hh pony (purely because she is horrendously naughty for a child but lovely for me…) I have found that it is almost impossible to do the ‘right thing’ in terms of my hands. If they are in alignment, due to her short neck and naturally low head carriage they end up kind of in my lap. If I raise them to where they would be on a bigger pony/horse, then the alignment is broken.
The low/wide hands though - that can come from the lower hands that are sometimes taught when first learning to go in an outline. It helps facilitate the idea and then as the rider learns to push through from the leg into the hand (or as the horse gets stronger) it isn’t needed. Some people seem to get stuck in that phase though…
The low/wide hands though - that can come from the lower hands that are sometimes taught when first learning to go in an outline. It helps facilitate the idea and then as the rider learns to push through from the leg into the hand (or as the horse gets stronger) it isn’t needed. Some people seem to get stuck in that phase though…
sbloom
Well-Known Member
It seems a shame to be teaching riders things they have to later unlearn.
milliepops
Wears headscarf aggressively
happens all the time though. ("pony club kicks", anyone?!)
Caol Ila
Well-Known Member
Yeah, I sure wish they'd stop teaching that. Ended up watching a wee jumping school show the other week, and there were a lot of kids kicking ponies around the course. Urgh.
Cortez
Tough but Fair
There is no circumstance in which lowering the hands can be useful or beneficial to the horse.
sbloom
Well-Known Member
If only there was more of this https://www.facebook.com/ThinkLikeAPony and https://www.facebook.com/Equitotslanark (other modern-ethical riding schools may be available 
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