You Can't Have Self Carriage Without Self Carriage

I always try to remember that we cannot expect our horses to have "self carriage" if we do not have "self carriage".

Many times we, as riders tend to use our horse for support, from the big things of leaning on the neck, or slouching in the saddle to the little things like resting our hands on the withers while we ride.

I always tell my students, if the horse can carry you, the least you can do is hold your hands up and carry yourself.

In asking for collection in Dressage, we ask our horses for "self carriage" and it is only in holding our frame upwards in our own "self carriage" that the horse can truly rise to our expectations.

In jumping, we ask the horse to carry our body over fences and we can help our horse by holding our own "self carriage" on the approach, take off and flight, and landing of the fence. By keeping ourselves in balance with the horse, and not throwing our weight forward, falling on the neck, or pulling on the reins in the air, we are allowing the horse the freedom to use their body fully without interference.

I have my own challenges with this in my own riding. I have developed bad habits and I am always trying to remind myself to have more self carriage in my body as I ride. But by reminding myself that even though I am concentrating on my horse, training a youngster, or showing a champion, I need to be more aware and more effective in my riding by having better self carriage.

So whether you ride English or Western, next time you ride...think about your "Self Carriage" and see what impact that can make on your riding.

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