Débutant

To have a straight back, it is crucial for the eyes to look towards the horizon. To help yourself, fix your eyes on something in the distance, quite high up… something in a tree for example.
In the course of my life, I had the “luck” to suffer from a bad back. This may seem astonishing to you, but it was thanks to this episode that I became aware of the importance of looking after my body. I had to find the solution, the primary cause. My motivation to continue riding was stronger. Therefore, I learned how to no longer suffer from this problem, without medicines or an operation.
Usually it is “problems” that lead to a desire to change one’s life style. Certain people wait for a heart problem or a disease before changing their habits; and then stop smoking, drinking, and start eating healthier food…
I am convinced that, with patience and motivation, it is always possible to improve one’s physical condition.
Riders aren’t usually aware of the length of their back. They vaguely locate their back between their shoulders and their low back. In reality, the back starts at the base of the skull and goes down, up to the tip of the spine, at the end of the coccyx. The back is the key player in maintaining the rider’s coordination and balance.
We can compare it to the main beam of a construction. It holds up the whole body and our verticality. In this way, the longer our spine stretches up, the better our balance is which leads to a better use of the other parts of our body.

Personally, I start by creating a communications code that will be established between the horse and me, before I ride him.  Equally, watching his behavior when I speak, allows me to know in advance if my voice will be an effective aid or not.
The number one objective is to establish trust, hence an interest in listening as much as possible and having an overall view: being both actor and spectator. I touch,I pat, I speak... and I watch the reactions.
The more positive the experience, the more the horse’s reactions will be favorable for establishing good communications with the rider and human beings in general.
In the wild, animals first attack their prey’s sensitive points: the flanks or the head. This is why with horses it is preferable to approach them between these two parts of the body: at shoulder level and preferably on the left side.

The thighs should fall as vertically as possible. The calves are in contact without gripping.
A rider must also make sure his joints are working correctly. Like a skier on a hill with many humps, he cushions the movements allowing his hip, knee and ankle joints to give. The same applies at the rising trot. Stay well over your feet to ensure you don’t hang on to the reins.
Leg pressure must, under no circumstance, be continuous. The grand theory of the older instructors who believed that to be a good rider it was compulsory to have strong legs: «legs, always use your legs» seems to me an obstacle in establishing effective communication with the horse.
I believe that the best leg action is the one obtaining the maximum effect, using the minimum pressure.

Why are the eyes so important?
It may seem obvious to you, but it is thanks to the messages gathered by the eyes that the rider analyses the situation and gives orders to his body and to his horse.
There is a great difference between what I call the focused view  and the wide-angle view.
The focal view is rather like looking through a tube: the eyes focus on one spot, eliminating all the rest.
When jumping, for example, it is easy to understand the influence of the focus of the eyes on the rider’s position.
Generally speaking, if the rider fixes his eyes on a specific spot, he will change his balance to such an extent that he will lead his horse to this precise spot.
The wide-angle view, on the other hand, enlarges one’s field of vision to a maximum. While jumping a course, it allows one to receive the maximum amount of information about the course, the turns, the approach, the fence, the landing, and the next fence…
As far as jumping is concerned, it is of course best to start with a course of poles on the ground. In the beginning choose something to look at in the distance, if possible something pleasant such as squirrel, a handsome boy or a pretty girl at the edge of the arena, a monkey in a tree… this is better than looking for something in an empty sky or the spider webs in the riding school. A wide-angle view means a broad and distant view but it does not exclude one from looking at a precise object sufficiently high up and far away. Looking vaguely around is too difficult, one must attribute importance to the place where one wants to go.
Train yourself to be aware of where you are looking. If you look down, ask yourself why: « What was it that made me look down? « Try to control your thoughts and approach the pole on the ground again trying to control your eyes. After succeeding over poles on the ground, train over cavalletti, then uprights and oxers. Start training at home or at the yard where you ride, then try in a small class at a show.
You could ask for help from someone watching you and signalling every time you stop concentrating on where you are looking. You yourself are, of course, your best teacher… if you are honest and don’t cheat!
I can already hear the sceptics saying: « Yes, but I’ve seen this or that great rider winning, and he always looks at the fence’s ground line «.  Remember we said never say “Yes, But…”. My own technique for keeping my actions under control while approaching a fence is to use my wide-angle view. It allows me above all to anticipate, which as we have seen is of crucial importance. The control tower is always vigilant. Your role is to be present: be here and now to better anticipate the future… and this happens first through the eyes.

Should one ride seated or using the forward seat? This is another often- repeated question. This is what I would answer if I were a horse: «I prefer to be ridden by a rider with a forward seat because in this position he can absorb (cushion) my movements with his hips-knee-ankle joints. Balanced and with low hands!... That’s even better. I can fully use my back and my neck; it is ideal for nice round jumps and working correctly».
Of course the forward seat requires the rider not being positioned too far forward or too far back, to avoid preventing his horse’s shoulders and back from moving freely. Unfortunately, too few riders manage to comply with all these conditions, usually due to unsuitable physical conditions: too heavy, too much swaying, too tall, too rigid… This is why I always advise my pupils to vary their seat between the seated position and a forward position. While the truth lies in the middle, one must however be able to ride in the two extreme ways: very close to the horse or very high over the saddle. There is an entire range of possibilities the rider must be capable of exploiting, between a work out course jumped in an indoor school, where one prefers a seated position, and outdoor equitation such as
eventing or riding a derby class, where the forward seat is more suitable.

Contact with the mouth must also be established through supple fingers and with the arm joints free of all useless tension. The horse is sensitive to the slightest rigidity, the smallest tension… his confidence in the rider’s hands is extremely fragile. It must be safeguarded at all costs, and above all… be aware of the natural reflex that leads one to hang on to the reins and move the hands back towards oneself.
The rider must, on the contrary, move his hands forward without changing his seat and this must occur whatever movements the horse’s neck may make while jumping, extending the canter… or each time the horse needs to relax after working in a “fixed” position.
To keep constant contact, imagine that you are riding with elastic reins allowing variations in tension to be eliminated. In reality, your arms will act as ‘shock-absorbers’ by moving forward.
You can also imagine that the bit is linked to the ends of your reins with nothing else keeping it in place… no cheek pieces, only the light and soft contact you establish with the horse’s mouth. If you lose contact, the bit will fall out of the horse’s mouth… and communication with the horse is interrupted.

To work on the position of the feet, move your toes exaggeratedly forward and backwards without stirrups, at a halt.
Do this a number of times as if your feet were the balance wheel of a clock.

The 5 Tibetans are movements meant for softening, invigorating, and improving the good flow of energy in our body. The best would be to practice them every day, preferably in the morning.
Each Tibetan movement has to be executed 21 times.
Of course, if you’re not trained for this kind of exercises, it will certainly take you a couple of days  or even a couple of weeks to be able to go through the whole series.