I just had a skim through the April NZEF Bulletin. Two articles made me smile Bill Noble and Jennifer Stobbart, both good trainers talked about the importance of core strength for the rider and how important it was.

Once you become an established rider, maybe someone who has ridden with show ring or Dressage success for many years, it can be difficult, when you’ve reached a certain level to go back and relearn the basics!

You may realise that something isn’t right in your riding, but putting your faith in another person’s ability to diagnose the problem is a huge step. It can be extremely hard for a mature person to go back to being a beginner, in much the same way it is for a horse who’s had years of incorrect training to accept the lightness of the aids that Dressage riding requires and the rider to realise that they have to take some responsibility for how the horse goes.

I would not expect a horse who has been ridden with forceful methods to grasp the principles of a light contact, or a rider who has deeply ingrained habits in their riding, to do the same. For me the core strength of a rider is what will make this difference.

“If you always do what you have always done you will always get what you always got”.

For example, coming around a bend, you feel the horse’s inside shoulder falling in, if you have to form all the thoughts on what you have to do to bring him back into balance, before actually doing it, that moment has already passed and he may well now be falling out through his outside shoulder!

Many riders are afraid to try something different because they are afraid of failing or its always the horse’s fault.

If you have to think hard about what you are doing whilst all the time your body is screaming at you to do something different, most people give up fairly quickly.

Its perfectly all right to make mistakes. Horses are very forgiving creatures when you are genuinely trying to get something right as opposed to thinking you know what you’re doing and forcing the horse to do something he can’t, for one reason or another, comply with.

Taking that first step after recognising something isn’t right is a huge one. If you’re not aware of what you’re doing wrong in the first place how can you expect to improve ?

To quote Mary Wanless ” In the process of discovering what looks and feels ‘right’ we are all struggling with:

What we think we do – What we actually do – What we know we ought to do

Thankfully people like Mary have written books about human and equine biomechanics. Also many of the old Classics are being reprinted and go into much more depth of how and what rather than put leg here; use your hand like this and your horse will do that. Far from doing things differently we should be going back to these, very correct basics.

Improving your core strength and thinking about how you sit on your horse and interact with him is a big step. However I know from experience that your horse will reward you instantly and then you will know you are on the right path.