Body position when viewed from behind while riding

Scarlett 001

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Sep 16, 2003
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I was just reading the thread on "hollow back" and it made me think of body position and what I learned at the riding clinic I attended a few weeks back. I never shared this yet on this forum so may as well...

In the clinic, we were videotaped from behind doing sitting and posting trot. Then we all watched the videotapes in slow motion. The person giving the clinic (he has a degree in biomechanics I believe and works with top showjumpers) was examining if when viewed from behind we were vertical (ideal position) or tilted one way or another...

Most of the riders in our group (about 6 of us, including some very experienced riders and jumpers!!!) had a crooked body position when examined from behind :( Apparently, many people have this problem - even very good riders! Of course, this can affect your balance and affects the horse too so is not good. Several riders had a classic C-shape - that is the rider's weight was focused on one hip (sort of slouching or leaning on that hip) and their head was also tilted that way - hence making a "C" shape when viewed from behind. I was somewhat of an S-shape - my weight was on my right hip, yet my head was leaning a bit the other way, making a sort of "S" shape! :D Amazing how you think you are sitting straight, yet when caught in slow motion you are not actually sitting as straight as you think you are! I recommend trying this or having an instructor watch you from behind...interesting to find out what you are doing! I'd love to hear back from anyone who tries this.

Funny thing is that since then I noticed that I also slouch on this same hip when driving my car, sitting in my computer chair etc. So I have to retrain my body not to do this. Also, I noticed my right side of my back is more prone to lower back pain, and I now think it is because of the stress on the muscle from this tilting. So I will consciously work on this not only while riding but while driving etc.

Anyway, not really asking for any feedback with message, just thought this was kind of interesting and worth sharing!!! :)
 

Yeah I have this exact problem. I have undoubtedly ridden crooked for years and no one seemed to notice. It was only when I got a jumping equitation instructor in at one stage that it was picked up on... and it is actually quite bad. I now realise that I always sit over to one side when riding, even on my bike. I also tilt when I walk and run. I often have awful pain in one shin bone when I ride and I have consistant back, hip and knee pain. All of which I associate with crooked hips as a result of riding crooked. My old instructor also had this problem and was nearly crippled from the back pain.

I really will have to get it sorted out one day... though I'm not sure what he best route would be. Alexander Technique would be good but I would have to find someone and pay them... (lets hope I get this job I'm going for). I do do yoga as well, I wonder whether that would help?

I will post a picture in a little while which demonstrates just how crooked I usually am (would do it now but the silly computer is playing up :mad: )

 
This is very interesting...my dressage instructor has been after me since I started with her a year ago to straighten myself. I would try and try to do it, but I was still hanging off the right side, and my saddle would always slip over that way.

I spent one week at a clinician's place in Georgia (riding twice a day) and she managed to completely correct my problem!

She gave me suggestions such as putting all my weight in my left stirrup, swinging my left hip further forward, and lowering one shoulder. I felt incredibly awkward and unbalanced at first but by the end of the week I was straight!

My coach is amazed, having been somewhat skeptical of how much I could learn in one week, and mentions at almost every lesson how great my seat has become.

My horse is also performing almost equally well in both directions (school figures, lateral work, etc) - previously I had thought he was the crooked one!

I am going to try and go back every year for a position tune-up!
 
I very much understand the problem.

i ride with what is known as a collapsed hip, and apparently it is a very common problem, yet when doing research, could I find a book to solve the problem! I even asked my instructor and her answer was 'It will be something you will have to sort out yourself' Gee and I was paying her!

I now have to resort to very uncomfortable measures to knock my hip back into place, but it is an excerise that has to be done regularly or it is back to old habits.
 
Interesting responses...

I recall at the clinic we were told that one of the nicest things we could do for our horses was to improve our riding. He said that things like this tilting/balance issue are really important to resolve as the horse would be much better balanced and better able to do his/her job readily and, hence, be a happier horse!!! I suppose a horse is more likely to notice a huge change in our balance/posture (that makes his/her life easier) than a flashy new halter or pretty saddle pad!!! ;)

(still, not sure I can resist those shopping sprees!!!)
 

Yes ever since I have discovered this problem I have been very concerned about riding like that. I haven't actually been riding very much since that time so I have put of getting it fixed or looked at but coming into a job where I will be training for my instructors qualifications I think it will probably be very important to sort it out.

As I have become a more alert and sensitive rider I have found that horses I ride don't bend and flex or respond to leg aids as well on one rein... which has to be a direct response to this problem, so it really does cause problems beyond your own. It's definitely interesting to know just how many other people have this problem, and as a budding instructor probably a good thing to note and look for when teaching.
 
the first thing i would say to anyone who is crooked is to get yourself checked out by a chiropractor/osteopath. most of us are asymmetrical, and you can do yourself a lot of damage forcing yourself into uncomfortable positions if there's a physical cause.

i am crooked (as this picture shows admirably!) and this is due to flat footedness on one foot that twists my leg inwards and pushed the other hip out and forward, and an old injury to the hip on the flat footed leg that probably caused the flat footedness inthe first place - i got spiked in the joint by an old jump cup and damaged the cartilage, so that hip doesn't open up as it ought to.
i have regular chiropractic sessions to put my hips back where they ought to be and to release the tension that happens by compensating for the bad joint, and an osteopath has given me exercises to do to support the joints and insoles for the flat feet. i also ride worse in winter as i am arthritic in the bad hip and it seizes up - so i do less schooling and make allowances for it.

so do look to yourself, but don't assume it's just bad habits, as there is often a physical cause that needs sorting out.
 
It can also be the horse

I sit slightly to one side and it was something that had never been picked up on in the riding school. When I started riding a private horse, her owner picked it up - and I felt like I was straight. When I had a lesson my instructor asked what I wanted to work on and I said my position because I sit to one side. She got me to walk, trot and canter on both reins with no stirrups and then much to my amazement told me it was actually the horse pushing me over to one side as she is more arthritic in one hock than the other.
 
I should also mention that although 6 of 6 in the group were not straight, the degree of the crookedness (leaning into the hip) was only really really noticeable for one of the girls in the group. For the others, it took a slow motion videotape and pausing to see it by my untrained eyes. I think without the slow motion video it would be quite difficult to see or know that you do this (how often are instructors standing right behind us as we ride - they often tend to see us from the side).

All of us in the group were slightly leaning into a hip - as I said some very experienced, good riders (eventing, jumpers) in the group. My crookedness was quite subtle, but was there. I had no idea I leaned at all into a hip. He said the funny thing is that as you work on straightening the hips, you will feel you are leaning too much the other way as your body is now "trained" to tilt and the muscles/brain have to unlearn this...

The point he was making was that a majority of riders he has witnessed (he has videotaped hundreds and hundreds of riders or maybe more) have a tilt of some degree - not just people with serious issues (where there is a more serious underlying cause as Es suggested). The guy doing the clinic pointed out an animal that can feel a fly on its back and respond to subtle aids we give them etc., can likely notice even a minor crookedness on our part and it can affect both our balance and the horse's balance.
 
I have this problem too, and am constantly being told by my instructor to stop collapsing my hip to the left and thus leaning to the left. As I read this thread I have realised that I am sitting, hip collapsed and slouched to the left... Apart from trying to constantly remembering to sit straight is their anything else one can do? - I also think it may be a physical thing for me, as I tend not to be able to walk in completely straight lines either :rolleyes: I veer off into people sometimes.....
 
i know that i ride incredibly wonky! i have fusing vertebrae in my spine and neck and arthritis in all my joints. the problems with my neck prevent me from looking over my left shoulder and i occasionally get nerve problems in that side of my body. this means that altho i can ride reasonably straight in walk and trot( when i have more time to conciously adjust myself) in canter my left leg often 'wanders' back and forth, and moves upwards so that the stirrup is dangling under my foot. i know its happening but i cant seem to force my leg down, i try and try but it seizes in place and i cant stretch it down.my horses however learn to compensate for this and the fact that i cant use my left leg, so it doesnt actually interfere that much.

mazpup- lol! i cannot ever walk straight. im always side swiping people!
 
Very interesting. Most people have a spinal curvature of sorts, and it will get progressively worse over the years. For most people though it’s not noticeable and does not cause any problems.

I have a curvature which was ‘corrected’ when I was a teenager, the condition is called Scoliosis. It’s still very noticeable, depending on what I’m wearing but defiantly when I ride, I’ll post up a photo when I get a chance.
 
it might help if rather than thinking about straightening the hip, you think about the space between ribs and pelvis instead...

cos its all connected. So if you just focus on one part, you can then put another part out. (Like the "S" shape described above - the centre of gravity is closer to where it should be because another bit of body has adapted to the collapsed hip). You want overall straightness, throughout your body. As one of the pictures shows, a collapsed hip changes the angle of the hip and the length of leg either side, affecting weight distribution, effectiveness of aids etc. It is the overall picture you want to correct, so it may help to think that way as well, rather than focusing on one bit of you.

So build yourself up from the scratch. ie sit on horse and think of each vertebra being on top of the other like a tower of building blocks. If the tower is crooked, it will not stay up (and the rider is not in self-carriage).

Now your rib cage hangs off the upper part of the spine, and your pelvis sits on the lower part. They both need to hang 'straight' and level. If the gap between the bottom of your rib cage and the top of your pelvis is less on one side, either your hip is tipped up, or your shoulder tipped down, or both !

So think of both being level and having an even gap either side. Imagine you have a big ballon sitting in the gap so that you can't collapse it.

And yes - I'm describing this cos I do it too :D ;)

Now legs should hang evenly either side, equal weight in seatbones (assuming no problem in saddle or horses back). Upper arms hang evenly by your side - useful check on eveness of shoulders - are your elbows equal ?

If you have a safe horse, sitting on them bareback can help do the body work as you will be more aware of the small changes (I find).

But I thoroughly recommend Alexander Technique. It may seem expensive but it is really good value for money.
 
I was reading about this recently in For the Good of the Rider by Mary Wanless, you may want to check out the chapter "Asymmetry" (I think! :D).
 
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