INTERNATIONAL show jumper and Olympic medal winner Michel Robert and leading British chartered physiotherapist Andy Thomas joined forces at the Horse Sport Ireland National Coaching Conference earlier this week to highlight the effect of rider imbalance and the horse’s way of going.

Working with riders Greg Broderick, Sophie Dalm and Captain Michael Kelly at Cavan EC, Robert focused on simple exercises to establish rhythm and relaxation in their horses. In each of three sessions, the Olympic rider encouraged the riders to allow their horses to stretch down with their necks and in doing so, lift through their backs.

“If your horse’s head is up, he will have adrenalin but if he has his head down, he will produce endorphins to relax,” he explained. “Stretching the neck down will raise the back and strengthen the muscles where he carries the rider.”

The riders were encouraged to use “panoramic vision” to look up and beyond the horse’s neck and immediate surroundings, as well as to turn their heads in a perpendicular direction to where their horse was facing. The aim was to prevent the rider’s weight shifting to the inside and avoid the horse falling out to the outside of the circle as a result.

“There is no point in looking down, there is nothing you can do there!” he urged the riders.

Robert asked them to use barely perceptible half-halts before and after poles on the ground, which would have the horse listening and ready to slow down, speed up, turn left or right, all of which would be necessary in a jump-off round. He added that Irish riders’ positions were “almost perfect but you are too strong in the lower leg.

“Each action needs preparation and then a result. Your legs should not always be saying ‘action, action, action.”

Physiotherapist Andy Thomas, having observed Greg Broderick and Sophie Dalm in the saddle, then took each rider onto his bench to demonstrate where most riders had weaknesses.

He outlined three main types of rider imbalance to the 400 delegates at the conference.

Some 80% of riders are Type I, where they are weak on one side of their body and tight on the other, while 12% are Type II, weak and tight on the same side. The remaining 8% are weak throughout their body with no tightness or restriction. The latter category, he explained, were often tall teenage girls just after a growth spurt.

Weak lateral stabiliser muscles and restricted hip internal rotation are a common problem for riders, he explained, which result in riders tipping to one side and their horses drifting to one side.

“I have found that some of the most balanced riders are the ones who have ridden from a young age and ridden lots of different ponies, ranging from ponies that needed to be kicked on and those that need to be controlled. Also riders who participate in other non-equestrian sports and other activities like the Prince Philip Cup (mounted games) and tetrathlon,” he added.

The physiotherapist works with top British riders including Olympic gold medal winner Charlotte Dujardin, world number one show jumper Scott Brash and eventer William Fox Pitt.

“Charlotte is an interesting case - in 2009 she mentioned to me that she was constantly losing two to three marks on a particular horse on one rein. However when we analysed all her results on all her Grand Prix horses, she was losing the same marks on every single horse. It turned out that the problem wasn’t the horse, it was her own imbalance causing the problem,” said Thomas.

Ever since, Dujardin completes a series of pre-test exercises including a ‘curtsey’ that Thomas demonstrated to the Cavan crowd, to eliminate her own imbalances.

A study of top level show jumpers riding a jump-off course showed that following some exercises to address rider imbalance, they were able to shave 0.3 seconds off their jump-off times.

Similarly British eventer Harry Meade, following a fall in which he shattered both his elbows, has addressed his own body balance and significantly improved his dressage scores as a result.

“These top riders know that small changes can be the difference between winning and losing,” Thomas maintained. “It’s not about changing one thing by 100%, it’s about changing 100 things by 1% that makes the difference.”

Breeding specialist and former KWPN inspector Jacques Verkerk opened the conference with an in-depth analysis of the conformation of the performance horse, explaining the relationship between the conformation of the horse and its ability to perform at the highest level.

Throughout the day he demonstrated linear profiling, which is used in the HSI mare and stallion inspections.