Rider Tip Turn like a compass

Описание: In riding turns, many riders turn their heads and shoulders too far in the new direction, while their pelvis remains more or less straight. The horse, however, tends to follow the alignment of the rider’s pelvis. He will typically go where the belly button is pointing. If you want to leave the current line of travel by riding a turn, you have to indicate this by rotating your pelvis and pointing your belly button in the new direction. One mental image that helped me to improve my turns was that of the compass in geometry. It consists of two legs that are joined at the top. One leg ends in a needle, the other one in a pencil. To draw a perfectly round circle, you stick the needle into the paper and move the pencil around the needle. As long as the distance between the needle and the pencil remains constant, the circle will become completely round.


You can think of your pelvis and your seat bones as a compass. The inside seat bone is similar to the needle, and the outside seat bone is comparable to the pencil. If you draw a circle with your outside seat bone around your inside one, you rotate your pelvis and your belly button points in the new direction. One advantage of this image is that it makes the rider think of her pelvis, instead of her hands, shoulders, or head. As a result, the rider tends to initiate the turn from her pelvis, and if her seat is well connected, this rotation of the pelvis will result in a nudge of the outside knee and rein against the horse’s outside shoulder, which supports the turning aid of the pelvis.

Thomas & Shana Ritter - www.artisticdressage.com
Now located in Portugal, Thomas is an International Clinician and author of "Dressage Principles based on Biomechanics" and "Long Reining: From the Beginning through the Levade" (published by Cadmos Press in both English and German) and countless articles in many publications. Shana is a USDF Bronze and Silver Medalist. Together they create and orchestrate the Artistic Dressage program.

Subscribe to our email newsletter to get thought-provoking articles (like this one!) about the art of dressage delivered straight to your inbox: https://ritterdressage.activehosted.c...

Artistic Dressage Store: https://courses.artisticdressage.com/...

Visit our Blog and Website - http://www.artisticdressage.com
Follow us on Facebook:   / ritterdressage  
Follow us on Instagram:   / ritterdressage  
Follow us on Pinterest:   / ritterdressage