Poor posture and leaning can ruin a ride, whether it’s a simple trip around your place or a pattern at a show. It’s something almost every rider—especially young ones—will experience, and it’s fairly easily remedied with young-rider posture exercises that I’ll share here.
Always consider safety first. If the horse is un-comfortable with your child moving his body parts around in the saddle, recognize a potential danger, stop the work, and find a more suitable mount. Your child will need to ride one-handed with either a loop or romal rein. Split reins can be used but beware of the potential for a dropped rein. Practice in an enclosed space, such as an arena or round pen.
Exercise 1: Arm Up
If your young rider leans forward or tends to look down, this exercise can be a game-changer.
The Drill: Start at a walk, riding with the reins in one hand, ask your child to raise his off hand (non-rein hand) straight up above his head, reaching his fingertips for the sky.
The Result: This position straightens your child’s spine, lifts his shoulders up and back, and gets his head between his hips.
Exercise 2: Arm in Front
It’s easy for an inexperienced rider to look anywhere other than where he’s going. Reduce distractions by offering place to focus.
The Drill: At a walk, have your child hold the reins in one hand and raise his arm straight in front at chest height with the palm face-down. Tell him to focus on the tips of his fingers as he walks around the arena.
The Result: This teaches the child to look forward, reinforces turning his body as he guides his horse through a turn, and (as a bonus) helps square and lift his shoulders.
Exercise 3: Amp It Up
Once your child is confident riding one-handed with these young rider position exercises, there are many ways to increase degree of difficulty and build strength that’ll help keep him in position and looking ahead as he advances.
Change Gaits: Work both exercises at walk, trot, and lope as the child builds confidence.
Try the Longe Line: If the horse is reliable and the rider is ready, take away all hand control and put him on the longe line. Your child can raise both arms above his head or put both arms out in front, palms down, for a total-body adjustment. You can also use increasing speed on the longe line.
Add 15 Seconds: This can be challenging for little muscles, so work at a pace suitable for your child. Increase the time he holds the position by 10 or 15 seconds every so often to build stamina and confidence.
Try It Over Poles: Set poles appropriately distanced for the chosen gait, and try the exercises as he walks, trots, or lopes over a set of poles. The arm-up exercise can keep your child centered in the poles, and the arm-out drill can help keep him looking forward.