Are you striving for a balanced and effective riding posture? We can help you find success. A key checkpoint while riding is ensuring your ears, shoulders, hips, and heels align. Can you maintain this posture in the saddle? If yes, you’re on the right track to refining your skills. If not, don’t worry; consistent practice with the right rider alignment exercises will strengthen your position over time.

In January 2003, Penny Woodworth, who lives on Vancouver Island, BC, was taking a jumping lesson. “Smallish jumps, nothing exciting. My long-time error is looking down, which I did that day. My horse stopped, and I tumbled off. Not a bad fall at all, except that I landed with one butt-cheek on the ground pole. I got up and carried on, but I was crooked and stayed that way. After a week or so, still riding crooked and feeling shooting pains down my right leg, I went for physiotherapy. I had dislocated my sacroiliac (SI) joint. Regular physio treatments and exercises finally got it to stay in place and I continued riding.

Although organized therapeutic riding programs emerged in the 1950s, the benefits of horseback riding for people’s physical and mental health were recognized as early as ancient Greece. The rhythmic motion of the horse’s walk replicates the human walk and promotes core strength, postural alignment, flexibility, balance, and normalized muscle tone. Learning to guide the horse with seat, arms, hands, and legs fosters fine motor skills and improves coordination.

When you create clear, realistic riding goals and take steady steps toward them, you’re far more likely to see results. Putting those goals in writing helps make them stick—it’s a promise you make to yourself. This season, consider focusing on your body position to become a more balanced, effective rider.