We were delighted to have Pilates instructor Lindsay Wilcox Reed come to Daneswood on Saturday. Places were fully booked up and everyone had great feedback on how useful Lindsay’s sessions were. Riders were postures were analysed on the saddle horse in front of a mirror and then alterations made to align their spines and find the neutral pelvis position. Exercises on the mat were then given to each individual to help strengthen the muscles needed to help correct the position. It was amazing to see how the then corrected position then affected the horse often helping schooling problems just be sitting correctly.

Natalie is shown here in her natural position (far left) Her tendancy is to round her back and sit too far back on her pelvis and round her shoulders. Lindsay gave her exercises to tilt her pelvis up at the pubic bone, bring her sternum up and shoulder blades back so that her spine was correctly aligned - see middle picture. One of the exercises was called the Cleopatra (pictured right) to help Natalie build up the muscles to alow her to stay more open through her shoulder area and keep her spine in line. When riding her lovely horse Al Nat has a tendency to drop her right shoulder and collapse through the waist area on the right which in turn makes her leg come to far forward. (Picture below left) When she applied Lindsay's techniques she became more level and her legs just fell into the correct position, (picture below right)

Michelle is almost the exact oposite of Natalie, she has too much arch in her back and sits too far forward on her pelvis. Once Lindsay had aligned her spine she placed her hands on areas that needed to relax more and used breathing techniques to get Michells to control and relax specific areas (picture left) To help michelle build up her abdominal muscles she gave her exercises on the mat. Closing the distance of the front of her body helped reduce the arch in her spine so that it was aligned more in the neutral position. Michelle is also quite tight in her hip area so some gentle exercises were prescribel to loosen this are and make it more comfortable for michelle to sit with a relaxed hip position.

Rebecca pictured on Puzzle a stunning skebald gelding by Jumbo has a good basic position but tends to get a little tight all over. She has a tendency to tighten and lower her right heel, see picture below left which results in her hips staying a ;ittle tight, Lindsay worked on getting her ankles to feel a little more supple and not to let her shoulders come to round and forward which tends to happen if Puzzle gets a little strong. Lindsay worked on getting her core muscles to do more so her legs and hands did less!