RIDER'S MOUNTED CHECKLIST

RIDER’S MOUNTED CHECKLIST:

By Catherine Sampson

Checking our center line of balance:

1. Look level and straight ahead.
2. Line your ear up to the center of your shoulder.
3. Follow down this imaginary line to your point of hip bone.
4. Continue on down until you line up the back of your heel with your hip bone.
5. Point your toes forward and raise them.

Softening:

1.     Breathe in deep until your belly expands and not simply your chest.

2.     Exhale quickly and feel your shoulders lower and your muscle groups relax.

3.     Allow your arms to hang loosely from your shoulders.

4.     Bend your elbow so that your forearm is level.

5.     Round your wrists with each thumb point in the direction of the horse’s opposite ear. 

6.     Roll the knee inward to the saddle.

7.     Soften the calf muscle and draw back until feel the horse’s barrel or have attained the heel to hip relationship.

8.     Transfer the weight on the ball of your foot out through the heel and raise the toe.

9.     Feel the three crucial points of balance in your “anchor” aka your seat.  The three points of contact are your two seat bones and the pubic arch. 

10.  Take a deep breath once again and ask to the horse to walk off.