This holiday season there are bound to be many parties filled with festive music, strong drinks, and good friends. The next time you attend such a party, take a second to think about the logistics of communicating in such a setting. Music is blaring, there are many other people talking and laughing, and maybe you're having trouble communicating over all that noise. You can make basic points by yelling like "I like this song!" Or "want another drink?" But more complex thoughts are lost in the background chatter.
Now, let's imagine your friend is your horse. The blaring music is your seat that hasn't quite figured out how to move with the motion, and the conversation and laughter are your hands and legs that haven't developed the ability to become independent from your seat. You can make basic points like "stop" and "go" with loud aids, but more complex thoughts are lost in the background chatter.
We use the word "quiet" to describe good riding for a reason. A quiet rider makes very little "noise" unless he or she has something to say, and when it comes time to communicate, a quiet rider can whisper instead of yell with the aids because there is no background chatter with which to compete. While parties are good fun, your horse will appreciate you not creating a party-like atmosphere in the saddle with your body. Instead, imagine you and your horse have found a cozy corner in the house after the party has ended where you discuss the meaning of life and the wonders of the world, because at that moment you will be experiencing both of those things.
I was very overwhelmed while pondering everything for which I'm thankful. There are so many things! This is a fantastic problem to have, and after stressing about, and over thinking what should be a very simple to paragraph to write for hours, I think I've narrowed it down. This past year was a tough one. I spent a good portion of it injured and incapacitated, and those of you that know me know that sitting still and resting is not my forte. I lost my mind a little less thanks to these three, amazing guys.
Dave, he husband who took the best care of me, always keeping a good sense over humor about things,
Kalvin, the saint who patiently tolerated my uncoordinated flailing when I decided I NEEDED some horse time despite still being on crutches,
and Helix, the court jester who was always finding new ways to entertain me, whether it be attempting to wash his grain pan in his water tub, or rearranging the barrels and cones in the arena.
Riders sometimes have these crazy double standards. We are willing to pick our horses apart piece by piece to determine strengths and weaknesses to devise a plan of attack to make improvements. Now ask yourself this. How often do we do this to ourselves? Pretty much never, right? Well I have this rule where I won't submit my horses to anything to which I won't also submit myself. Just like horses, there is an ideal conformation for a rider, and just like horses, there are strategies to make those with less than ideal conformations highly effective in the saddle. I think that people frequently use a one size fits all training program for horses and people. While certain concepts are universally true, treating each horse and each person as an individual is key for success.
Well today I'm going to objectively examine my own conformation to determine strengths, weaknesses, and a strategy for improvement. Let's just start off with a little disclaimer.
Disclaimer: This article has nothing to do with whether or not we should feel good about our bodies and how we look. It is only about maximizing our own potential by properly strategizing using a training plan based around our particular body. All the citizens of Horse Nation look super hot in their boots and breeches (or in their Justin's and jeans), so don't even worry about it.
So here is one of my biggest pet peeves.
This is conformation
This is confirmation
Ok. So now that we've cleared that up, let's look at my conformation.
I'd say the most important aspect of rider conformation is the leg to torso ratio. A high leg to torso ratio is favorable for a rider because it makes for a body shape that is more innately stable in the saddle.
So we want long legs, and while my legs aren't runway model long, they're not bad. I'm 55% leg and 45% torso, so naturally, I am pretty secure in the saddle without having to work too hard at it. For a long time, being secure in the saddle was my only talent as a rider BECAUSE I didn't have to work too hard it. I'd like to note that these percentages are based on length and not weight. Determining these percentages by weight would the most accurate approach, but since I'm not quite ready to donate my body to science, and I couldn't find a magician capable of slicing me down the middle and weighing my two halves before putting me back together, I decided this was best option.
So if you are someone with shorter legs and a longer torso, that's fine. You'll just have to spend a bit more time working on core strength and balance. Despite a common misconception (because of certain anatomical feature us ladies possess; I believe the technical term is ta ta's), men are more likely to be top-heavy than women.
The next piece of my conformation we are going to look at is the longitudinal (up and down) shape of my spine. While in horses a rounded spine is preferred, in people we look for what is called a neutral spine. A neutral spine occurs when the top of the pelvis sit level, and there is extension upwards from the top of the head while remaining relaxed through the shoulders. This is where I struggle. I am a chronic booty toocher as you can see by the exaggerated arch in my spine. Because my posture is something I struggle with so much, I have sought professional help in the form of private pilates classes. This is something I highly recommend even for just one or two classes. It wasn't until someone physically positioned me correctly in a neutral spine that I realized just how out of whack my posture is.
Lastly, we're going to look at the lateral (left to right) alignment of my spine. As you can see in the picture below, I lean left, and I don't mean politically (Helix and I are both proud members of the Cocktail party).
Correct lateral alignment is achieved when the spine is perpendicular to the ground. My crookedness is the result of injuries that have caused me to carry myself in a less than balanced way. Luckily the root cause of my crooked nature seems to be uneven muscling, so I should be able to make some improvements.
So after examining a few key aspects of my conformation, we have learned that my greatest strength (based solely on the shape of my body) is stability, but I need to work on both longitudinal and lateral alignment of my spine.
I encourage anyone who is serious about riding to take an objective look at his or her conformation (while chanting "I am hot. I am hot."). This is not an exercise to define your limits, but an exercise to identify tools and strategies you can use to shine.
I remember as a child growing up in a mixed-religion household being surrounded by holiday music of all sorts. One of my favorite's was Adam Sandler's Chanukah, a song where he tells all of the lonely Jewish kids not to lament because there is a long list of Jewish celebrities who are Jewish just like them. Every once in awhile, he'll alter one of the verses to include a new Jewish celebrity. Well It's time for an update because American Pharoah was just named to the Forward 50, a list of the 50 most influential Jewish individuals, for the year 2015. Holy Moses! A Jewish horse! A Jewish horse named American 'Pharoah', nonetheless.
I know this announcment will raise some questions. How can a horse be Jewish? Is he circumcized? How will they lift the chair for the Hora at his Bar mitzvah? Ok ok. Pharoah may not officially be Jewish, but his owner, Ahmed Zayat is, and being the first horse to win the the Triple Crown in 37 years it seemed appropriate to include him on the list.
Then I got thinking. What other equestrians will be celebrating Chanukah this December. So here it is, the equestrian version of the Chanukah song.
Chanukah is a festival of lights. Instead of one day of presents, we get 8 crazy nights. So when you feel like the only kid at the barn without a Christmas tree, Here's a list of other equestrians who are Jewish just like you and meeeeeee!
American Pharoah lights the menorah. Ahmed Zayat spins a dradle on the floorah.
Guess who drinks Manischewitz, dressage great, Robert Dover, and Margie Engle at H.I.T.S.
Georgina Bloomberg's half Jewish, and you know I'm half Jewish, too. Put us both together and that's one horse crazy Jew!
So many Jews are in the horse biz. George Morris isn't Jewish, but I hear his accountant is.
So put on your yamaka. Here comes Chanukah. So much funakuh to celebrate Chanukah. So put your helmet onukah and ride a lipizzanukah, but only if you wanukah have a happy happy happy happy Chanukah!
Last week we talked about the importance of a round horse. This week we're going to talk about how to begin initiating roundness in our horses by encouraging relaxation in the muscle groups that run over the top of the back and neck, but first, since I'm a nerd, and I believe it is fundamental to properly training a horse, let's talk about how muscles work.
Nerdy crap to impress your friends (aka the "bio" in biomechanics):
Muscles are composed of several bundles of long, cylindrical, muscle cells. Each cell contains actin and myosin filaments. The myosin filaments look like a string of tiny hands framed by an actin filament skeleton that has been split down the middle with a little bit of space between the two sides. When your horse's brain wants to signal a muscle contraction, it sends an electrical impulse through a nerve releasing a flood of calcium ions. These calcium ions essentially create tiny handles on which the myosin filaments can pull the two sides of the actin filament skeleton together. This causes the cell to contract.
image by San Diego State University College of Sciences
If what you just read came across as "blah blah blah science blah blah," have no fear. Here is the take home message. Muscles function by pulling, not by pushing.
So now, with what we know about how muscles function, let's think about what happens when we ask our horses to bend laterally. The muscle groups on one side of the body contract, and the muscle groups on the other side of the body stretch. In the video below, I once again have the horse's body represented by a slinky (I may have a slight slinky obsession), and I've added some silly putty to represent the longissimus muscles groups which run down either side of the spine and right under your saddle. As I bend the slinky from side to side simulating what happens when you laterally flex your horse from side to side, you'll notice that the muscle groups alternatingly contract and stretch. Now much like your horse's muscles, the silly putty starts off quite stiff, but through gentle manipulation it becomes quite elastic and pliable (though it takes a little longer with actual muscle ;-), making it easier for the horse to stretch forward and down over his top line.
So now that we know (one of the reasons) why lateral flexion aids in achieving round, let's discuss some simple exercises in which it is utilized.
Since I'm using Helix as a reference and he is quite green, all exercises will be performed at the walk. Also, the sizes of these figures may seem small, but I am riding a relatively small, incredibly short backed horse, so if that seems too small for your horse, feel free to make them larger.
10 meter circle curly q's: Start from the rail and make a 10 m circle between the rail and then center line. When you return to the rail, take 4-5 strides straight down the rail. Then circle again.
10 m bowties: For this exercise, begin on the rail and make a 10 m half circle towards the center of the arena. Once your horse's body is parallel to the rail, ride your horse back to the rail, changing the direction of bend as you approach. As your horse horse becomes more comfortable with this exercise, you can push the lobes of the bowtie closer together.
shallow serpentines: All of my students know this exercise. It is one of my all time favorite warm up exercises. Alternate between a gentle right and gentle left bend down the long side of the arena making a slithering, snake-like shape.
After performing these simple stretching exercises, baby Helix offered some really nice stretch. It's not perfect, and it's not consistent, but it's a good effort which deserves celebrating.
