Equine Affaire 2009 Clinician Mark Rashid

Improving the Rider to Improve Communication with the Horse

Nov 15, 2009

At this fall's Equine Affaire, Mark Rashid was a featured clinician teaching about harmoniously working with and riding horses.

Mark Rashid taught two lessons per day at the four-day symposium called “Equine Affaire,” held at the Eastern States Exposition (Big E fairgrounds) in West Springfield, Massachusetts. His unique background as a horse trainer consists of aikido (a martial art), from which he derives his training and teaching philosophies. He stresses that communication is key to happy riding, and encourages his riders to blend their own energies with those of the horse. His methods remind some riders of centered riding teachings, or perhaps those of natural horsemanship.

Clinic Topics at the 2009 Equine Affaire

Mr. Rashid presented his expertise in a few different presentations – some required horse and rider demonstrators and some did not. His topics included

His presentation, “Unveiling the Secrets of Sitting the Trot Easily and Correctly,” was pertinent to both the Western and English crowds, because riders of both seats must be accomplished in this seemingly difficult task. His clinic on sitting the trot was based mostly on having the rider feel the horse’s movement with the various parts of her body, and allowing herself to sit the trot with a side to side movement (contrary to what many riders have been taught!).

Know When the Horse’s Hind Feet Pick Up and Step Down

Mr. Rashid explained that the horse’s outside hind leg leaves the ground when his barrel swings to the inside. His outside front leg leaves the ground when the barrel swings out. The rider should feel a side-to-side movement in her pelvis as the horse moves forward.

How the Horse’s Trot Moves the Rider’s Body

Understanding how the horse’s body moves the rider’s body is the major point of Mark Rashid’s clinic. The rider should feel the same side-to-side movement in her pelvis in the walk, trot, canter, and even a spook. The movement created can be visualized as if a ball was centered in the rider’s center of gravity: in the spine, nestled between the hip bones. The ball is slung forward into the point of one hip bone, and then slung back to the starting point. It is then slung into the point of the other hip bone, and back to the start point. Mr. Rashid explains that this is energy swinging back and forth in the rider’s pelvis, and she must not fight it. If the rider can feel this movement and allow it to happen freely, then she will always be able to sit the trot, sit the canter, stick with her horse through tough moments, and ride harmoniously. This side-to-side movement is the same movement that the horse creates, so the rider must match it.

He stresses that many riders attempt to ride the sitting trot with a forward and back movement in their backs – which is tiring and actually inhibits the rider from creating larger, more elastic gaits in her horse. The side-to-side movement allows the rider to sit through faster gaits and larger gaits, without tiring or hurting herself. When the back gets tired after riding with a back and forth movement, the rider will lock up and become tense, and bouncing in the saddle results. A rider will not become tired from riding with a side-to-side movement.

Mr. Rashid also notes that a human’s back supports her throughout the day – it gives the body structure and support to the muscles. When riding, the core (not the back) gives the rider’s body support. The back must be loose and free to follow the horse while riding.

Side-to-Side Movement in Other Gaits

Mark Rashid also spent some time during his clinic addressing the posting trot. His side-to-side movement still applies, but the rider feels as if the energy moves in a circle instead of a ball slinging in her pelvis. The energy for the posting trot moves around a circle between the belly button, inside hip, pubic bone, outside hip, and belly button.

In the canter, Rashid describes the energy flow as a spiral originating the strike-off foot (the outside hind) coming up through the rider and out the horses nose. He explains that a rider with a locked up back inhibits the flow of energy, stops it from going forward, and sends it down and out her own foot. He believes that this is why many riders ride with their inside leg a bit forward of the girth.

Overall, Mark Rashid’s clinics at Equine Affaire were well-received and highly recommended. For horse lovers and owners looking for more insight into how they communicate with their horses while riding, they should definitely check out what Mr. Rashid has to say.

The copyright of the article Equine Affaire 2009 Clinician Mark Rashid in Horse Training is owned by Wendy Picard. Permission to republish Equine Affaire 2009 Clinician Mark Rashid in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.