What Will-oh Revealed About One Rider’s Position

There’s a reason why people come to ride Will-oh! the horse simulator, and it is mostly personal. They understand that their riding fundamentals need to be brushed up. So often we work on our horses. Their rhythm, suppleness and contact and we forget that WE also need work to develop and promote our own position and depth within our riding.

Take Sarah (not her real name) who has invested in herself because she is going to take a riding holiday and she knew she would get the most out of her vacation if her fundatmenals were solid. And she decided to refresh her fundamentals by riding Will-oh! the horse simulator.

We were not starting over or fixing something “wrong.” Simply refining and refreshing her foundation so she could step into her holiday feeling secure, effective, and confident.

Her position wasn’t bad, just a little unstable. Not dramatic. Not unsafe. And in riding, and in particular when you want to enjoy your riding holiday, being safe and balanced matters.

We saw a very common pattern, especially in riders who haven’t checked in with their basics for a while.

• Uneven weight distribution
• Slouching to one side
• Unbalanced, weak core.

Nothing dramatic. But enough to matter over hours in the saddle.

On a riding holiday, this shows up as:

• Fatigue earlier in the day
• Less stability on unfamiliar horses
• More effort is required to stay balanced.

And ultimately, less enjoyment. Nothing dramatic. But enough to matter over hours in the saddle.

What We Refined

We didn’t overhaul her riding. We simply made her aware of where she needed to strengthen and balance her body, so her body worked *for* her instead of against her.

Step 1. Awareness, Riding Straight

Before Dropped Right Shoulder

We developed a straight and balanced position.

This means we established a neutral spine that was balanced left and right over the horse’s spine. We noticed that Sarah (not her real name) was collapsing through her right rib cage and dropping her right shoulder.

Although not a major issue it would, particularly on a long ride or a riding holiday, lead to fatigue and discomfort. AND if training a horse would cause your horse to compensate and be crooked.

Through a series of awareness exercises we were able to help Sarah (not her real name) to become straighter. The first step is awareness. Knowing what you are doing then being able to make a plan to correct it.

After Shoulders are More Level

Step 2. Exercise to Help a Dropped Shoulder

It doesn’t have to be a dramatic exercise but the first step is awareness. To actually know or feel that you are doing something that requires “fixing”. This is when eyes on the ground actually help. To see and say, “You’re dropping that shoulder. Let’s work on that.” Because the dropped shoulder is just the symptom of not sitting straight or a crooked pelvis and could be the reason why your horse isn’t straight, drifting or sore through their back.

Once you become aware of an issue then comes making a plan and exercises to help correct it. In this case it's the dropped shoulder. The first step is awareness and to help the rider feel:

1. They are slouching through their right side and
2. What a straight torso feels like.

Saying, “keep your shoulders level” won’t help. You have to fix the problem at its foundation.

I devised an exercise that would help her be aware of what it should feel like.

Her shoulders were unlevel because she was slumping through her right rib cage. This means simply telling Sarah (not her real name) to raise/lower shoulders wouldn’t help. We had to address the route cause of the issue.

The simple exercise was to visualize the distance between the top of her right hip and the bottom of her right rib being the same as the top of her left hip and bottom of her left rib.

Step 1.

Can you feel the distance by actually feeling the top of your hip and the bottom of your rib cage? Feel each side. Are they the same distance between hip and rib?

Step 2.

Stretch through your ribcage to lift the short side to equal to the longer side.

The easiest exercise for this stage was to raise both hands above her head.

What this did was to make her physically stretch through her body where we needed to lengthen and allow her to actually feel her rib cage and side of her body lengthen.

Both hands above her head. Notice that shoulders are level.

Step 3. Do The Exercises

Then with visualisation think of the area above each hip opening up and being the equal height on each side. And once you have the feeling of both sides equal, slowly lower the hands into the correct riding position.

This helped her awareness of how she slumped on the right hand side of her body. And Sarah (not her real name) was aware that she wanted to slump down on her right side.

Now, armed with this knowledge we can continue to develop strategies and exercises to help Sarah (not her real name) to become stronger and straighter in the saddle.

We know we are supposed to sit straight when we are sitting on a horse but we don’t think about it when we are sitting at our desk at work, or driving our car. You have to be aware that the posture we develop when we sit for 5 hours at our work desk is going to be the same posture when we sit on our horse.

A riding holiday is not the time to discover weaknesses in your foundation. It is the time to enjoy the result of having one.

If you’re planning a riding holiday, returning to riding, or simply want to feel more secure and effective in the saddle, this is exactly the kind of transformation we focus on at Will-oh! the Horse Simulator.

The simulator gives you a unique opportunity to:

• Isolate and understand your position without the variables of a live horse
• Feel immediate, measurable changes in your balance and biomechanics
• Build a position that stays with you, no matter where or what you ride.

This is not about correction. It is about clarity and awareness.

If you want to arrive at your next riding experience feeling confident, balanced, and ready to enjoy every moment…

Come ride Will-oh. Your foundation will thank you.