Stop the Tilt

I’m sure you’ve heard me say the phrase “stay straight on circles” or being equal left to right.

Perhaps you are aware of it on yourself or as you watch other people that there is a tilt or a shift of the ribcage in an otherwise beautiful position.

Firstly, why does it matter?

Any deviation of your weight is noticeable to your horse, if that’s a full tilt, it could be almost half your bodyweight being shifted to one side of the horse. In order to balance himself he will drift away from the side you are leaning to. For example if you are tilting left he will drift right.

This can affect everything from general straightness, circles, lateral work and of course the wear of your saddle and most importantly the muscles of your horse. Perhaps your Saddler and Horse Physio could give you a clue as to which side you sit heaviest on.

So what can you do about it?

Most importantly is becoming aware of it. If you have no idea you’re tilted then you aren’t going to make the effort to fix it. Ask a friend to video you on both reins in 3 paces, then on circles and some lateral work.

Once you’ve spotted which way you tilt you can start to notice if you do the same pattern at any other time, driving the car or sat at your desk for example.

When you get on your horse, close your elbows into your sides and notice whether they sit at exactly the same place and pressure on both sides. If you can equal them up this will be your first self-check as to whether you are level.

Whilst riding around I like to use the imagery of a pair of boards on either side of your body and you have to push them together. This will help to switch on your “side” muscles to stabilise you and keep you level.

Out of the saddle we are looking to strengthen your Oblique’s and Transverse Abdominis. These are the muscles that wrap around your waist between your pelvis and rib cage.

A great no equipment exercise is the Side Plank. This can then be changed up to Side Plank Dips or Thread the Needle (which is a rotation underneath yourself) to challenge your muscles in movement.






In the gym or with a band I like Woodchops on the Cable Machine, Kettlebell or Dumbbell Windmills or Single Arm work that requires you to stabilise the other side to stop tilting such as single overhead press or single arm kettlebell swing.

Check me out on Instagram for videos!


Improve Your Rein Contact

In my classes and with my 1 2 1 Clients, I train shoulders and backs a lot. This surprises people as they expect it to be all about the core. However in terms of riding your back and shoulders are part of your core. They are a vital part of your torso box and it’s over all stability as well as the foundation of your rein contact.

In order to absorb the movement of your horse underneath you, you need to be equally strong in torso back and front. In order to be able to truly ride with an independent and soft, giving hand you need a stable foundation at the shoulders. If your rein contact comes from your chest and your arms whether you think you are or not, you are bracing against your horse.

I have coached several riders with “strong” horses that as soon as they stop trying to resist the horse with their arms and instead just form a solid base at their shoulders and relax their arms the horse stops fighting.

Also if like me you have a wishy washy rein contact, or perhaps find your arms straight out in front of you (it’s like I forget I have elbows!) just focusing on retracting the shoulder blades brings your elbows back and firms up your contact.

So, what are these mysterious back exercises…..?

Well depending on where you do your training and what equipment you have access to there are loads of variations you can do.

If you train in a gym things like Dumbbell bent over row, Narrow Grip Cable Row, Lat Pull down are great rider specific back exercises. Just ensure you are focusing on using the muscles between your shoulders blades and not tensing up your shoulders.

If perhaps you have a resistance band you can do Narrow Row and Rein Position Band Pull aparts (Dumb waiters with a band if you are a Pilates fan).

Without equipment? Then Dumb waiters, Tricep Press Ups, Superman Pull Down.

For examples of these exercises go to my YouTube channel or keep an eye on my Social Media this week as I will be posting them after this blog goes out today across the week.

What do you struggle with in your rein contact?


The Weight of Your Head on Your Shoulders

Do you think about the position of your head much when you ride?

I have a little per hate of the amount of riders I see looking down, although it’s slightly hypocritical as I have a tendency to cock my head to one side-it’s my concentrating pose!

However your head has a huge impact on both your own posture and therefore performance and wellbeing. Your head can weight around 4.5-5kg, add to that your hat and you’re probably looking at 6kg-that’s just shy of 1 stone!

If you are looking down you are transferring that weight to your horse, which often has the effect of pushing your horse onto the forehand. If it’s tipped to the side you are unbalancing your horse on that side.

In terms of your riding this is an important point to take notice of.

With regards to your own bodies overall performance and wellbeing this puts a lot of tension on your neck and upper back. As I have mentioned before, being out of neutral alignment does not allow your body the best chance of absorbing the movement of the horse underneath you. This puts extra strain on the joints and muscles surrounding the neck as they take the load instead.

I use a technique that has foundations in both my Equipilates™ training and the Franklin method.

Take your fingers to the base of your skull and find the two indents either side of your spine. You should feel a little dip and also the neck muscles –which may feel quite hard if they are tense.

This area is the equivalent of your horses’ poll. Now keeping a little pressure on those muscles begin to flex your poll (tilt your head forward) and then extend your poll (tilt your head back) Think Rolkur to Nose in the air! Just do this gently and slowly several times, you should start to feel the muscles relax. Once you stop you should feel like you have re set your head directly on top of your spine-Magic! Now remember this feeling and try to maintain it as you ride-I know if you have a concentration tilt like me this is super tough!

Breathe yourself a good seat

You may not believe this but your breathing has a huge impact on your riding, and not just by stopping you from passing out due to lack of oxygen. Your breathing actually has an impact on your biomechanics.

This is mainly because of our diaphragm. The diaphragm is a muscle that separates our thoracic cavity (your ribs essentially) from the abdominal cavity-stomach. The Diaphragm contracts as we breathe in and relaxes as we breathe out. I like to think of it as a Jelly Fish sat under your rib cage with its tentacles the attachments to the spine. When we breathe in our diaphragm should flatten and drop down to create more space for oxygen to be drawn in.

The thing is many of us don’t use our Diaphragm to breathe.

We spend so much of our day hunched over a desk, breathing from what is then a narrowed chest area. You can test this by putting your hand on your stomach as you breathe normally, does it rise and fall as you breathe? Or does the movement come from your chest?

The diaphragm as well as being involved in the breath, is part of your core structure. The Diaphragm connects to our lumbar spine and this attachment sits on top of the attachment of the Psoas muscle. (a hip flexor that passes from the lower back to the front of your thigh bone through the pelvis). When riding your Psoas muscle enables you to be long down the front of your thigh and have a relaxed swing through your hips and be able to flow with the movement of your horse.

When our Diaphragm is activated it sends a message to our brain via the Vagus Nerve to relax.

If you are anxious just breathing with your diaphragm can help to relax not just your brain but also your hips which in turn is your seat. If you are tense in your seat you are immediately sending your horse a message that there is something to be wary of.

This can be the case even if you are not anxious but you hold tension in your hips. Your seat will be tense which in turn can make your horse tense, which means you try using more muscle to control him which tenses you up even more……..

Luckily, there is an easy and un strenuous fix. Breathing exercises!



Try this both sitting/standing and lying down. Relax and breathe normally first to see where you are breathing from. If most of the rise and fall is coming from your chest, really concentrate on breathing in through your nose and filling you abdomen with air, imagine breathing right down into your hips and then breathe out through your mouth to release.

Then try it whilst on your horse. Maybe when you first get on and are just walking around spend a couple of laps just concentrating on your breathing. First get breathing with your diaphragm, then imagine breathing down into your hips and see if you can feel them relax. Then imagine you are breathing down and into your horse (just try it don’t over think it) and see what your horse does…..Let me know if you get a reaction!

I use this technique as I am an anxious rider, but it is also why I sometimes sing when I’m particularly tense when riding. As singing ensures you are breathing and encourages you to use your diaphragm-I ignore any comments about the possibility my pony is spooking at my singing……