Keep Your Head Up – Day 20 Of Being A Better Rider
One of my biggest challenges that I have found while riding is to make sure I am looking up.
I video myself riding (since I don’t have a trainer) to “see” what I look like while I ride. And the one thing I see over and over again is that I am consistently looking down. But how do you stop?
“Stop looking down at your horse, he’s not going to disappear!”
One reason looking down is a bad habit is because it changes your balance, and tips you forward. To be a better rider, you have to have better balance. And looking down infringes on your balance. This is why we want to stop looking down.
If you don’t have this problem, I am super jealous. But all kidding aside, this is one area in my riding that I am consistently working on improving. And I thought I would share some different ideas of how I am doing it. Maybe, if you struggle with this, these exercises might help you too.
Repetition
Keeping your head up simply requires you to remember to do it. Thin about it when you first get on, and then periodically throughout your ride. When you find yourself looking down to your horse’s shoulder, or even his mane remind yourself to look up and focus on where you are traveling.
Set up a Focal Point
If you still have a tendency to look down at your horse while you are riding around your arena pick out a focal point. What I mean is to find something, a tree, a car, a building, etc. to focus on. You want it to have the focal point be at least 200 feet away, so you can continue to stare at it while you are riding.
By having something to focus on while you ride, you will be more likely to keep your head up, instead of looking down at your horse.
Look Where You Want To Go
If you are looking down at your horse while you are riding him, how do you know where you are going? By planning your course, or your pattern or your ride, you will have a goal of what to focus on. This in turn should help you to keep your head up, and looking forward.
Keep Your Chin Up
This may seem to simple, but it works. I used to do this when I would be showing in a western class. I would concentrate on keeping my chin up. If your chin is up, it is really difficult to look down.
Hopefully these tips will help you. If you, like me, have the bad habit of looking down. A way to measure if you have improved is to either take a riding lesson, record yourself on video riding your horse, or have someone else record your riding session.
Once you have practiced this today, don’t forget to write down how long you were in plank, and then cross off day 20, and only 10 days to go! Well, actually 11, but close enough.
