To correctly influence your horse, you must have a basic understanding of how rider biomechanics function so you can find the most effective position to go with his movements. In Part 2 of this series on biomechanics for adult amateurs, based off her videos on EQUESTRIAN+, Stephany Fish Crossman continues working with adult amateur Cindy and her Lusitano gelding Dangi.

The USDF medalist and Dressage Today Podcast cohost is an expert at helping her students better grasp rider biomechanics in order to improve their position, fine-tune their aids and enhance overall communication with their horses. Here, she helps Cindy correct her leg position and learn how to keep her seat still in order to apply her aids effectively and stay with Dangi’s movement at the trot and canter. Plus, she offers nuggets of wisdom that all adult amateur dressage riders can employ to hone their skills and partnerships with their horses.

Prep for Correct Trot & Knees To the Ground

“You’re never going to get a good trot from a crappy walk. So before you trot, go back to the walk so you’re better prepped for the trot. At the walk, aim your sternum out, push you ankles out and back and pull your abductors in.

“Now, look down the length of your thigh and imagine that your knees are pointing to the ground. So, your patellas or kneecaps are aimed at the ground while your sternum is aimed toward your horse’s bit. I’m going that much farther down your body to help you create a better front-to-back balance.

“When you think about pointing those knees to the ground and your sternum at the bit, you’re able to keep your horse more underneath you. But the second you start to lose the position of your knees, your glutes take over and insist on doing all the work.

“This must be an all-the-time thing because when you’re thinking about it, this is where you are positioned upright. Then, you can feel that he’s not trotting away from you. He’s getting fabulous with you—not despite you.

“When your patellas are aimed at the ground the thrust of your post should be stronger than the weight in your reins. You are the bearer of the rhythm. It’s fabulous that your horse has 17 different trots, but we don’t want him to pull them all out within one rotation around the arena. We want to know that those trots are at your disposal, but we don’t need them all at once.

“Through our work, we’ve found that you tend to be more forward. So, what we’re trying to do here is to put you in the driver’s seat instead of you being in the back seat as you keep trying to grasp for the steering wheel.”

Carousel Pole For Canter Work

“Before we begin our work at the canter, I want you to think about all the things we’ve already established. I don’t want you to just canter off. I want you to think about the little details so you’re prepared.

“Think about a carousel horse. There’s a pole that creates a vertical line just behind the withers; it goes all the way up to the top of the carousel down through the horse’s heart girth to the ground. Imagine you’re that pole. So, if you lean back, you’re tilting the whole carousel horse back.

“Take a chance and really fold yourself forward for a second. Think about putting your collarbone against that pole. I know you’re looking down right now and I don’t care. Then give a tiny ask for the canter and stay in a carousel-pole position. Fight for it! Be super weird. We don’t care. Keep using more hamstring and point those patellas to the ground. Now transition to the walk while maintaining the carousel pole.

“Here’s the thing about riding schoolmasters like your guy. It can be a little daunting because they know more than we do. But horses don’t have frontal lobes. So, he’s not going to just all of a sudden say, ‘Oh, we’re at a show, so I’m going to give her the good stuff today! Or, she gave me three carrots today instead of two, so I like her.’ He’s going to use as little of himself as he possibly can. It’s not because he isn’t a lovely horse; it’s because he is a horse.

“When you tell me that you sometimes get a good canter, then I’m going to tell you that sometimes you’re in a carousel pole. But we don’t want sometimes. We want all the time. The piece that ultimately makes a difference is you becoming more aware of where you’re sitting. The more you sit still, the more your horse can feel your asks.

“When you don’t sit still, you’re asking a lot of questions that you might not even know you’re asking. I really like this carousel pole piece. When you think about that along with kneecaps down, it puts you right where you need to be. And you may not have a lot of brain space to think about it at the moment you’re cantering but when you do those two things it helps your glutes stay loose.

“Cindy asks me a great question—how to keep her knees down while staying on the inside of her leg—because right now when she tries to point her knees down her lower leg is kind of flailing back. Practice applying your inside leg and then try rotating it out. So, think more out than back. What we’re eventually trying to do is move your thigh and not your calf. Right now we’re using your calf to create that rotation because your thigh by itself is like, ‘I don’t care.’

“So we want the calf to go back to doing its job better, but it should never be out in front of you again. If you’re looking down your leg, you should never see your toe in front of your knee. Over time, you’ll find that when your leg is in the correct position you can make one tiny movement for an aid. ”

For More on Adult Amateur Biomechanics:

• Read Part 1 of Stephany Fish Crossman’s series on adult amateur biomechanics, “Use Biomechanics to Improve Balance and Communication,” here.
• To watch her full series on rider biomechanics for adult amateurs on EQUESTRIAN+, click here.
• For more training videos with Fish Crossman, including rider biomechanics for upper-level and grand prix dressage riders, click here.