Sharon is right. You want to minimize (though you really can't
totally eliminate) the tightening of the thighs. If you tighten your
thighs, it will tend to lift you up and out of your seat to some degree, thus
lifting your center UP and de-stabilizing you. Instead you want lift from
your tail as you rise into your hands. Visualize a thin thread of line
running from the pommel of your saddle, through your pubis bone (the front bone
of the pelvis), to your tailbone. Now, reel that line in and "feel"
yourself raise - with minimal effort - towards and over the pommel (unless you
have a horned saddle, and if so, please stop short of the horn).
For those with good knees, you can practice on the floor. Kneel
on the floor with your lower legs bent underneath and behind you, as if
praying. Now, sit back onto your heels. Now, raise from that
position, to an upright position, using your tush to elevate you. Then
LOWER in a controlled fashion. Remember, it is not the "up" phase that we
initiate, since the horse lifts us, but the "down" phase that we control.
Karen Everhart MEd Centered Riding Instructor Distance Horse
Conditioning and Training www.horsecalls.com 316-648-5082
personally
don't find that it tightens anything except my butt, but maybe I'm just a very
controlled anti-diarrhea rider. -Sharon L. in
Maine
