Good news

So, the physically intelligent, strong people have an advantage when learning horse riding, I'll just give up now and take up fishing instead.

Whoa!

It does take a bit of time to learn how to use the muscles in your lower body. It does take a bit of time to get the strength. (Here I very strongly advocate Pilates.) But, if you can put the time into learning and strengthening your muscles, then I believe you can pull up ahead of the physically intelligent person.

The physically intelligent person applies the "feel". Whereas the less physically intelligent person applies the "science". Usually, once we understand the science, we stop doing things by feel. Why? Because science is more accurate. Science gives us better results.

Engaging the hindquarters

I bring Crownie for a lesson with Anna. Anna studies the horse intently as I saddle up. Finally she hands me a pair of scissors "Here, if you're going to make her that pretty, then you may as well trim her tail. If it's too long it actually does get in the way."

Crownie works well in walk and trot. Anna gets me to do these tiny circles on her, for ever engaging the hind quarters more and more.

Then in the canter it all falls apart. On the left canter she just falls out and the circles become huge oblongs. I work really hard at trying to contain it all. In the end both the horse and I come back to walk in a puffing mess.

On the right canter she's stiff. She can hold the circle, but it's a battle to keep her going, and there's no softness. Once she comes back to trot, I can't seem to get another canter.

"You're still trying to get the horse collected from your hand, not from your leg", says Anna with impatience. "You need to be like the horse. You need to use your legs to engage the horse's legs."

Spot on. Plus physical intelligence and strength.

I think about the way I push a wheelbarrow, the way I carry a backpack while hiking, and the way I run down a steep hill with my daughter. A year ago I used to do these tasks relying purely on the strength of my shoulders. (Correction. A year ago I didn't run down the hill.) The bones provided the supportive structure, like one wooden block piled on top of another. But the muscles did relatively little. They stopped the structure from falling apart. That's all.

Now, thanks to a year of training with Anna, and three months of pilates (once per week) the muscles do a lot more. When I push the wheelbarrow I actually feel the strength coming from my torso. From my legs. I can actually run down the hill with my daughter. It's a great feeling to be able to run down the hill, feeling every muscle in your leg providing support, while your joints bend and flex without pressure.

But. It's not enough. Not yet. It's a long road. Enjoy the journey.

Physical Intelligence and the Coach

So how does one identify a good coach for the upper body physically intelligent horse rider? What does such a coach need to do that may be different to other coaches of horse riding?

The rider needs to develop physical intelligence in the lower body. This does not happen overnight. Nor does it happen in a single step. That is, physical intelligence will develop in various constituents of the lower body - hips, thighs, knees, calves, ankles and feet - at different rates. A supportive coach needs to understand this, and not punish the rider for developing physical intelligence faster in the knees and slower in the ankles and feet. Rather, the coach needs to encourage physical intelligence to develop in the other areas.

Have you ever heard the term "you're gripping with the knees" or "you're gripping with the thigh" barked in a lesson? The coach is correct in what they notice. What they need to realise is that physical intelligence has just developed in the knees or the thighs, but it hasn't developed in the ankles or the calves yet, so we need to focus on that.

Another thing the coach needs to be aware of, is that a lot of upper body problems stem from lack of physical intelligence in the lower body. So while the upper body position should be corrected, the problem will not go away until sufficient physical intelligence in the lower body is learnt. If the rider is hunching forwards, you can tell them to sit up straight. But sooner or later they will be hunched again. The coach needs to focus on building the rider's core strength and leg strength, as well as correcting upper body problems.

Physical Intelligence and the Horse Rider

The horse is capable of travelling at a gallop of up to 60km/h, negotiating obstacles, shying from dangers, and coming to a complete halt within a few metres. It should be obvious that any rider needs a high level of physical intelligence. Those who are physically intelligent by nature are the ones that can be galloping on their first ride. Those who have less physical intelligence, may need a few lessons before they feel comfortable cantering and galloping.

In addition some riders will have more upper body intelligence, whereas others will have more lower body intelligence. The truth is this. On a horse, lower body intelligence is more important. If you have lower body intelligence, you legs will naturally do a lot of the things that keep you in the saddle. If you feel secure in the saddle, you won't hunch and hang off the horses mouth. The horse will feel good, and be willing. You will gain confidence and ride better. As you ride better, then horse will gain trust. And so on. Upward spiral to success. Brilliant.

If you have more upper body intelligence (like me) then you need to work, think and train your legs. Your natural reaction will be to rely on your upper body to keep you in the saddle, rather than your legs. The only time the upper body will keep you in the saddle is if you hunch forward and hold onto the horse's neck. This will make the horse freak out, it will make the rider less confident and more likely to hold on more, which in turn makes the horse lose trust. Downward spiral to giving up.

The good news is that you can train your legs to have the required intelligence. It's not actually that hard. But you need a coach who understands your problem.

Physical Intelligence

One day, when we were downhill skiing, my brother said to me "Skiing is all about getting your upper body right. Once you move your upper body right, everything else just happens". I glared at him, as he easily beat me to the bottom of yet another run, in far superior style.

The problem is that my brother has a lot more physical intelligence than me. But most of that physical intelligence is in his lower body. So of course! When it came to skiing, his legs were already doing all the right things, and he just needed to work on his upper body. It was the same with dancing. When you watched him dancing from the waist down, you'd see chiselled movements of a well trained ballet dancer. (He was doing folk dancing, practicing once per week). When you watched him from the waist up, he was just your average guy doing spins, leaps and other dance moves. (Then he actually started working on his upper body, and those movements became beautiful too).

Each person has some level of physical intelligence, an ability to adapt to physical situations as they happen. And where physical intelligence is missing, good practice will make close to perfect. It appears that sections of our body can have various levels of physical intelligence too, as is apparent from my brother's example. In his case it was the upper body versus the lower body. But I presume it could be more refined than that. Possibly shoulders versus calves, or left versus right.