The ABC of Riding; Awareness Before Change

 

What is awareness? ‘The knowledge or perception of a situation or fact’.

What is change? ‘to make or become different’.

 

How does this relate to riders?

 

Change is hard. Most of us resist it vehemently. Most of the time we can acknowledge that big change is best to be avoided to save our sanity, but how many of us really cope and embrace the small changes; the ones that upset our daily habits and those that interfere with a learned technique or skill?

Riding a horse, just like riding a bicycle or learning how to swim, relies upon the body learning a technique and creating some muscle memory. The muscles remember that technique when put in the same situation, and the triggers for that movement pattern are alighted. Research tells us that learning a new skill the correct way first is, not surprisingly, ideal. However, if we have learnt a technique that is incorrect, it apparently takes 10,000 hours of practice to create new muscle memory and neural intelligence. That is a lot of hours. That may be a lot of baloney, but I think the sentiment is accurate. It takes a long time to ‘unlearn and relearn’ a skill you have been doing one way for years.

 

The new approach to equestrian sports is certainly now focusing on horse and rider interaction, rather than it being all about the horse, but historically, riders were very rarely taught about the impact of their position on the horses’ way of going. Our focus then of ‘fixing’ the horse means we are neglecting to tap into our biggest tool in the kit, which is us.

I believe that most riders are not taught about what their bodies are actually doing in the saddle, and it is this body awareness that I think is step one to becoming the riders we would like to be. The work I have done with riders supports this theory; The riders who are more body AWARE can adapt to the horse and to new training with much more efficiency and ease than those riders who may not have such an evolved awareness of what their body is doing.

 

So what is Body Awareness?

Technically, body awareness can be split into 3 areas, the Body Awareness Trifecta;

Proprioceptive or ‘Where is each part of my body?’; information to the brain on where we are in space, delivered from joints and muscles

Vestibular or ‘Where am I?’; Central Nervous System which receives communication from receptors in the inner ear that allows for balance and spatial awareness

Tactile; External ‘touch’ system

 

Riding a horse is quite a phenomenon for the human body, and if anyone has seen a beginner on a horse it demonstrates quite well how many new neural pathways have to be developed and how the body relies on all 3 of the body awareness areas in order to stay on!

For the more experienced rider the need for awareness isn’t quite so obvious, but it doesn’t mean the need isn’t there. Experience has created a more sophisticated level of competence in each system of the trifecta, the body doesn’t have to be in pure survival mode, so it has the ability to make more refined adjustments.

However, because our bodies are naturally asymmetrical, habits and patterns of movement are adopted from the path of least resistance..ie the easiest way possible. This starts from the very beginning; the brain is desperate to make sense of what is going on, so has to quickly sort out where it wants the body. These positional habits are set up each time we ride and it gets to the point where the brain tricks us into thinking we are sitting straight, or our hands are level etc etc.

Unfortunately, the brain is relying on patterns of data that tells us ‘honest lies’. It tells us a lie about the positioning of our bodies that it believes to be the truth. Our work to unravel this false information is incredibly difficult. Take a moment to think of a time that someone has made an adjustment to your position; you immediately feel crooked and ‘wrong’, even though you have actually been moved to the more symmetrical and even spot. This is because the signals from the body are all of a sudden at odds with the lie your brain wants to hold on to and it requires a lot of energy to create new patterns of behaviour/movement/habit.

 

So how do we become AWARE?

As a riders’ journey evolves, they may start to question how they are doing things; they may get a more talented horse and struggle to ride it; maybe they are not getting the results they would like or maybe they have a lesson with someone who brings awareness to their riding which gives them a massive mind shift (or all of the above and more). The awareness for the need to change can come from a variety of places, but my advice would be to seek guidance. The first step would be to have a friend video you ride so you can watch it back and see what things are looking like. This creates a connection between what you feel when you ride, and then what you see. Often we can watch a video of ourselves riding and start to cringe when we see that it looks quite different to how it feels!

Knowing how to change your position and where to start is quite a complex challenge, and requires an experienced coach or a rider biomechanics session with someone who specialises in that area. Regular video sessions of your riding is essential, and be sure to have the conversation with your coach if you have seen something on video that you would like to work on.

Taking part in off-horse activities like yoga and pilates are an excellent way of bringing real attention to how your body functions and are a great option to help get the body more symmetrical, aware and controlled.

 

So the take home message from me to you is to deepen your awareness of exactly what you are doing on your horse. Take time to feel and check in every few steps on where your body is and what you are finding difficult. Take frequent videos to see what you are doing and gather some trusted advisors to give you constructive feedback. Get to know your body better, its limitations and its ‘go-to’ patterns.

Once you are on the path to awareness you will be able to set up change, which in turn will bring you a much more positive and progressive journey with your horse!

 

To find out more about how you can get involved with our Equestrian Movement Journey coming in 2017, be sure to sign up for email updates, just register your name and email on the website form!

 

 

Happy Riding!