The last couple of weeks we have been playing around with balancing on gym balls.

This week I want to give you a couple of ides of things you can add which ever level you are at to improve your riding.

First test is once you are sitting, 4 point or kneeling on the ball and able to stay relatively still, why not see if you can carefully move from side to side and then go back to neutral -without falling off!

This is an exercise in muscular control and will help you to give very precise aids to your horse as you will be able to fully manage how much you move to give those aids.

How about trying to juggle, throw and catch a ball or have someone throw a ball to you? This is great fun in a group so why not try it with some friends at the yard. Again you can do this sitting or kneeling depending on your current skill level. This exercise works on your reaction times, as well as your ability to move your arms and remain stable. This helps with those unexpected moments and day to day your ability to give rein aids without unbalancing your seat.

Adding shoulder exercises perhaps with a band or cable machine combines shoulder stability with the already working hard hip stability. This again goes back to being able to give aids and remain balanced in your seat, but the elements of both hip and shoulder stability make this quite tricky as I have found many riders (including myself) can have great stability in the hips or shoulders when they focus on them but it is not quite so good when asked to have both at the same time!

I will be posting videos of some of these exercises across my social media.

If you check out my Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/equestrianfitnessnicola/

 

Or My new Channel on Instagram TV. *You need the IGTV App then  follow me on regular Instagram @nicola_equestrianfitness and when you go to IGTV it will show you my content there.