From: Kendra
Dear Jessica, you are the best advice-giver in the world. Really. My riding teacher thinks so too, and she's like the second best advice-giver! Right now she is having a problem explaining something to me, so said I should ask you and then we would both know. She is a way cool teacher because when she doesn't know something she says O.K. let's find out!
My question is about rider strength. I want to be a very soft rider when I am a good rider. My teacher is still working on this so I guess it takes a long time. I am not a jock or anything, and she is trying to get me to take some classes in like gymnastics or dance or something to make me stronger, because I mostly like to ride my horse or else read. I even use the computer to write letters to my friends LOL! She says riders need to be strong. That doesn't make sense to me, I want to be a gentle rider with soft hands. I never see my teacher pulling or kicking or shoving or doing things that need a lot of strength, so why should I work to get stronger muscles that I don't want to use anyway when I ride? She says she is strong, but I have taken lessons with her for two years and watched her ride all the horses at the barn almost, and she never yanks on a horse or kicks, so I don't get why she would need to be strong since she is a soft rider. The last time I asked her this again she said she couldn't explain it so it made sense to me, but she knows she is right, and I should ask Jessica. So here I am asking. Thank you and I hope you answer! Kendra (and my riding teacher Jamie says hi)
Yes, riders need to be strong. You're right: They don't need to be strong so that they can jerk and pull and shove the horse around. Riders need to be strong so that they can sit quietly, use ONLY as much strength as they need to at any given time, and make tiny shifts in position and balance that will mean something specific and clear to the horse. Riders need strength (and balance, and coordination) so that they can have good control over their OWN bodies - and only then can they hope to become "soft" riders.
The gymnastics idea isn't a bad one - gymnastics, martial arts, dance, yoga, anything that helps you develop your own strength and balance and breathing and body control is definitely going to help you with your riding.
You use your computer to write your school papers? Fine - there's an excellent example of developing your strength and control. Unless you are using two fingers to hammer the keys whenever you write a paper, you probably had to learn good typing skills so that you can reliably tap the keys that you want to tap, and avoid indavertently tapping the keys that you DON'T want to tap. It takes much more fine control - and much more strength - to type a paper on a computer keyboard than it does to pick up a big rock and drop it on the keyboard. (It gets better results, too, unless your ambition is to smash the keyboard...) You probably don't even realize how much strength and coordination you've managed to develop in your hands and arms and shoulders, but without it, you would take forever to get one page typed, and you wouldn't be able to type it well.
"Soft" riding isn't sloppy riding, it's quiet and controlled and precise riding. The rider who can "talk" to the horse with the twitch of a calf muscle and a slight momentary tension in one finger is a rider with strength - the muscles needed for good riding are in good shape, and the rider can make tiny, controlled movements.
That's why a good overall-development activity is so helpful for riders. "Strong", for riding purposes, means "strong, flexible, balanced", not "huge and hard" and not "able to exert maximum force".
There's an old saying amongst riders, "You have to control yourself before you can control your horse." This is sometimes interpreted to mean "don't ride if you're having a temper tantrum", and I certainly agree, but the real meaning of the saying is somewhat different. If you are fully in control of your own body - if you have that mixture of strength, flexibility, and balance - then you will be able to sit correctly, stay out of your horse's way, tell him quietly and clearly what you want, and listen to his response. If you're not really in control of your own body, and you're all over the horse, you'll be sending signals you don't mean to send, the horse will be confused, and there's every chance that you won't be able to understand or even hear his response. That's when people get into fights with their horses. The rider ssues a series of confused and clashing signals, the horse either obeys whichever signal seems loudest or most clear, or is too confused to do anything at all, and the rider says "YOU'RE NOT LISTENING!" or "YOU'RE BEING ORNERY!"
So yes, strength DOES matter, because you need strength to be quiet and subtle. In you're first learning to ride, unless you're lucky enough to have a truly classical instructor, you're quite likely to get the (wrong) impression that riders desperately need strong hands and strong legs. It's not a matter of having strong legs and hands, it's a matter of having quiet legs and hands, and you can have those only when you have achieved a good seat... which will happen only when you have strengthened your abdominal muscles so that they can be in balance with your back muscles. Most riders think a lot about their back muscles, and rarely give a single thought to their abdominal muscles, but that's not the way to become a good rider. Your teacher obviously understands that it's your abdominal muscles, not your back, that move your pelvis - your back muscles need to be able to relax, release, and allow your abdominals to do their work. The rider needs to be strong in the same way that the horse needs to be strong - so that all of the muscle groups can work in balance. If you try to use your abdominal muscles and your back muscles are tight and hard, you won't be able to move your pelvis well, and your muscles will be fighting each other instead of cooperating and taking turns.
If you start doing some kind of physical training that will help you develop strength and flexibility and coordination and balance, you'll be on your way to becoming the kind of rider who is not only effective but gentle and helpful to the horse. I suspect that this is more or less what your teacher had in mind.
Jessica
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