Understanding rider biomechanics is a crucial component to your success in dressage. To correctly influence your horse, you must learn how to position your limbs and stabilize your core to best go with his movement. USDF medalist and Dressage Today Podcast cohost Stephany Fish Crossman is a master of helping her students understand biomechanics in order to improve communication with their horses.

In her video series on EQUESTRIAN+, she evaluates an adult amateur riding an upper-level Lusitano to help improve her position, balance and aids by focusing on the weight of her thighs in the saddle, the weight of the her feet in the stirrups and the aim of her sternum.

In Part 1 of this two-part series on biomechanics, Fish Crossman provides hands-on advice that all adult amateurs can utilize to improve communication with their dressage horses.

Balance Your Weight Between Thighs and Stirrups with Biomechanics

“We can see that Cindy wants to ride off the back of her body, which is a pretty typical place to be in dressage as and adult amateur. And she’s pushing with her seat, so she’s using her condiment aid, which we’ll revisit later, and overall she’s more attached to the back of her body than the front.

“As she goes into the rising trot, we can see that her knee is pretty open. She’s trying not to push into the stirrups but it’s hard because if I were to divide her in half from the front to the back, the majority of her weight is in the back half of her body—through the back of her shoulders and seat through her hamstrings. So, that’s going to travel down into her heels and the back of her legs and pushes the stirrups forward. And she’s using her reins in a manner to help her balance on the horse.

“After we shorten Cindy’s stirrups a hole, I want her to think about maintaining a nice bend at the back of her knee so her legs make an arrowhead shape, meaning there’s any even amount pointing down and up at the same time.

“I ask Cindy to stand up in her stirrups in order to completely take her thighs off the saddle to help her feel what it’s like to have 100% of her weight in her feet. Then, I ask her to sit back down, rotate her thighs inward and lift her feet in the stirrups to allow the weight to come up into her thigh until she feels her stirrups dangling on her feet so get a sense of how it feels have 100% of her weight in her thigh.

“Next, I ask her to put 50% of her weight back into her stirrups. Imagine that your stirrups are coming up to meet your feet as much—if not more than—your feet are pushing down in the stirrups. It’s a little bit different way of looking at things, but because the stirrups become part of Cindy’s balance, I want to start here.

“If your sternum is not engaged, then your chin tends to jut out. To bring your chin in, you need to push your sternum out and this will also help you engage your lat muscles better. You shouldn’t lean back into your lats—you want to balance forward and backward between them.

“If you’re not certain what right feels like just yet, let it go wrong so you at least have something compare and contrast with. As you’re working to find the right position, think about engaging your abs so you don’t get heavy in your butt and squeeze your glutes. The glutes end up taking over a large portion of the work for a lot of riders. As much as we give them credit for, our glutes don’t hold us in the saddle the way some people think they do.

“Aim your sternum toward your horse’s third cervical vertebra and explore this concept as you’re walking. Does your sternum stay aimed there or does it change depending on the different phase of the walk? Most riders find it moves up and down, which is not staying the same. So challenge yourself to imagine boring a hole through the third vertebra and never letting it come off as you walk. This might require some mental effort, but if you’re dedicated to doing it, you’ll be able to keep your thighs attached at the front.”

Biomechanics To Access Different Muscle Groups

“As we go back to rising trot, I want Cindy to get crazy about pushing her heels back, making sure they’re pushing out so she doesn’t inadvertently pop him with the spur. Once she pushes her heels back and out, you can clearly see how her hip opened up more. That’s what we’re looking for.

“Next, I ask Cindy if she’s abducting versus pinching at the knee? Here her sternum is doing brilliantly, but her glutes want to get tight, which pulls her into the back of her body. She needs to think about keeping her seat wide and soft and her heels back.

“It’s important understand isometrics versus kinetics here. Isometrics happen without a lot of other things going on, so it doesn’t look like there’s any motion, but there’s energy going on. With kinetic energy, there’s active motion going on.

“I provide resistance against Cindy’s legs with my hands against so she learns how to access the different parts of her legs. Visualize your thighs as having an outside, inside, front and back. You want to learn how to use the whole muscle group equally—not pinching with the knee or any other part of your leg.

“So in the resistance exercise, when Cindy tries to push her legs against my hands, she’s just overpowering and exhausting herself at the same time. You have to realize that you’re on a constantly moving animal, so there’s no one thing you’re going do. You’ve got to do, do, do lots of little things. So think about all those tiny motions. Then it doesn’t get your glute muscles and prevents creating tension in your back.”

For More:

• You can watch Stephany Fish Crossman’s full series on biomechanics for adult amateur dressage riders, click here.
• For her advice on biomechanics for upper-level and grand prix dressage riders, click here.
• And don’t miss her insightful interviews and expert tips on the Dressage Today Podcast here.

About Stephany Fish Crossman

Stephany Fish Crossman began riding as a young girl in Maine and by 18, she discovered dressage and left college to join Michael Poulin as a working student. After a successful management career in Florida’s hospitality industry, working for large and small animal veterinarians and grooming for Jane Savoie, she attended the now defunct International Academy of Equestrian Studies in Warendorf, Germany, where she graduated with her National Trainer Certificate. She’s also a USDF bronze and silver medalist as well as one of only nine accredited coaches for Mary Wanless’ Ride With Your Mind Biomechanics System in the U.S. She is currently based in Brooksville, Florida.