Tips for getting a rider to look up please?

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pipper

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I am currently teaching a girl to ride - she is a nice little rider but has a bad habit of always looking down, which causes her to tip forward. I am forever saying 'look up' but cant seem to break her of the habit....
Is there any tips you can offer to help her/me to break this annoying habit please?
 
Tell her to look between the horse ears towards where she is going .
I was a looker downer must have been told to look up a thousand times until a German trainer told me to look between your horses ears to where you are riding it cured me I think because it taught me to focuse on the horse what it was doing where it was going rather than look up which sort of left me lost.
 
If all else fails, do what Queen Victoria's governess did to her when she was a little girl - pin a sprig of holly under her chin. Every time she looks dow, she will prick her chin. Simples!
 
Keep reminding her you end up where you look. And if you can, give her a physical object to focus on. Eg get her to halt before a straight line & pick an object directly ahead to look at. So when she goes up the longside you might be shouting 'look at the tree' or across the diagnonal it could be 'the corner of the barn' for example. If she's got a skull & silk on, adjust the peak so she can't actually see unless she keeps her head up. If she's very novice or on a quiet type pony, you can also get her to balance something on top of her hat. Connect 4 pieces are good.
 
Pull the peak of her hat down over her eyes so she has to peer out from under it.

Either that or start doing group lessons in open order - you have to look up to make sure you don't crash! I've fallen into the habit of looking down since I've mainly been schooling and having lessons with the school to myself, when I used to have lessons in a group with as many as eight horses working in the school at once (all doing totally different things) I always looked up!
 
Goldenstar said:
Tell her to look between the horse ears towards where she is going .
I was a looker downer must have been told to look up a thousand times until a German trainer told me to look between your horses ears to where you are riding it cured me I think because it taught me to focuse on the horse what it was doing where it was going rather than look up which sort of left me lost.
Click to expand...

^ this
 
Make it fun. Tell her she has a bird flying about 12 inches ( or whatever is appropriate) above her ponies ears that she has to look at to keep it in the air - if she doesn't it will fall to the ground and hurt itself.

Ask her what type of bird she is going to have - owl, eagle,parrot - it can even have a name.

If she looks down just shout 'bird'. It is nagging, but in an imaginative NLP sort of a way.
 
I have this problem :)
My instructor makes me were one of those sleep mask things (you know the ones that cover your eyes while you're in bed) over my nose and mouth. My nose makes the fabric stick out enough so that it's like I am riding with blinkers or a nose roll on... Now i know how race horses feel.
It helps heaps, as sometimes I don't even realise I am looking down and now in order to look down I really have to throw myself off balance to do it :)
 
Ahhh! The Jedi schooling method! If you focus on the head it will stay in the right place!

All the above suggestions are good, but also don't forget the importance of tucking the bottom under and sitting further forwards in the saddle. This can help break the habit as it makes it more uncomfortable to look down without slouching and rolling your back and shoulders!
 
Trainer was recently trying to make me look up rather than at a trotting pole. He sat on the fence behind the pole and moved his hat to different positions, making me tell him the angle/ position of his hat each time. Giving you something to focus on really helps. With my OH, who has a huge mare, he suggested putting a flag up at the centre of the circle, and focusing on the flag.
 
Do you know about TagTeach?

It is far more effective to train using rewards for the behaviour you want than nagging when you see the behaviour you don't :)

You agree with the girl what you want to see (head up and nice position). And you agree a marker signal that you'll give when you see this (can be a click/cluck/ping noise, whatever you like). With kids, you can agree that every 10 pings gets them a token, and tokens can be saved up to buy sweeties ;) It's the most effective way to teach any physical skill...

Follow the link to a few videos of people using the method... http://www.tagteach.com/TAGteach_dance
 
Big Ben said:
I don't suppose that it is PC anymore to stick a fag in her mouth, hang a ring on it, and tell her not to drop it:D:D
Click to expand...

*snigger* but that only works for a few minutes or so until the fag goes out. Unless you get into rolling 12 skinners for a longer effect:D
 
I have learned riding in Germany so my old school teacher gaves me after my bareback lessons
a whipe to put and stick it in my back (great for seat) and the tip Look between the horses ears (you dont look down than)
 
with her chin up stick some duct tape on back of her neck

Every time the chin goes down the duct tap pulls on the little hairs and hurts

chin up = no pain

(except of course when you go to take the duct tape off at the end:D)
 
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