Posted: 12th July 2018 | Back to news feed
Have you ever had your asymmetry professionally measured? Our recent assessment of 160 riders using a state of the art pressure mat found that 155 sat with their weight disproportionately to the right.
You can improve your fitness and your posture, which will help, but skeletal asymmetries in adults are not going to alter. Every time we sit on a horse we are effectively taking it to the gym.
If you went to the gym and every piece of equipment you used was unbalanced, say biased with more weight to the right, what would be the result? Your muscles would develop unevenly.
Without access to sophisticated equipment, you can still get an idea of your own asymmetry, and the improvement in your position if it is corrected. Take two pieces of thin felt such as Fybagee, the size of a A4 page, and fold each one two-fifths of the way down its length. Place one under the back of the right-hand panel of your saddle, and the other under the front of the left-hand panel. This crudely mimics adjusting flocking to correct rider’s weight to the right/horse is right hind drive.
If you do sit to the right, this will feel much more balanced. Switch the positions of the foam pieces to right front and left back; most riders won’t want to complete their first circle – unless of course they are one of the few who sit to the left.
What is the solution? It is to adjust the flocking to counteract the rider’s asymmetry. With Flair air flocking, this is easy to do in a matter of a few minutes, with the rider in the saddle.
As the horse progressively improves, becoming more level, the asymmetric flocking can be reduced.
You will sit more centrally and ride more comfortably and effectively – and your horse will work more evenly on each rein, to the benefit of his long-term wellbeing.
For more information, visit www.wowsaddles.com
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