Riding balanced is an important topic and is one that can't be addressed in just one post. Today we will cover 4 main reasons why you want to become a balanced rider.
1. Even though horses are massive animals, they can be thrown off kilter by a small rider leaning this way or that. Horses will react to subtle shifts in the riders weight and will compensate by doing what is easiest for them. They may compensate by doing something that the rider does not want them to do.
2. Getting the most out of your horse's performance is dependant upon you learning to ride in balance. In order for you to get the smooth transitions you want, correct lead changes, or quality gait you want, you need to ride balanced so that the horse will know exactly what is expected of them.
3. As you become more balanced-walking,loping and riding will become more enjoyable and fluid for the rider. Your ability to do what you want to do on your horse will increase. You will be ablel to sit that stop, turn that barrel and make the transitions that you would like.
4. You may be teaching your horse bad habits if you don't ride balanced. A forward thinking horse whose rider is leaning forward from the vertical and whose shoulders are in front of their hips, may think that is a cue to speed up. If that's not what the rider wants, then the rider will pull on the reins which tips the rider farther forward with their lower leg sliding backward and possibly squeezing the horse. This makes the horse think you want to speed up and they will just run through the bridle. Or if your horse is just lazy and not inclined to speed up then they will just ignore you so you've just taught your horse to ignore your legs, weight and seat cues- which are all ways you communicate with your horse.