The Long Versus the Short of It

Leverage; what does that mean? The dictionary says,” Positional advantage; power to act effectively:” I am not talking about securities and stock type stuff, although security in another sense is a good thing! I wrote about balance in my last article and mentioned leverage. I have had some interesting discussions with my trainer and fellow riders on this. Have you ever given any thought to how your height in the saddle affects your ride? What happens if you tip forward on a horse? Leverage while riding is a very useful tool and one that you may not even realize you are using.  Some people do it instinctively such as my son, who is still on the smaller side. I am tall whereas, my trainer is more vertically challenged. She in turn trains with Denny Emerson who is tall. While Denny can achieve a certain balancing effect with a slight movement of his torso, Sue might have to use more muscular effort or rely on other methods to achieve leverage; in essence, to make up for the short lever. You may not visually see the difference, but it is there. Think of a long versus short lever, with the hips or seat being the fulcrum. Imagine the effect. How much easier is it to balance a short crop on your hand as opposed to a long whip? Think about cleaning a stall. You use a fork and if you have a very heavy load, you may need to move your hand down the shaft of the fork to lift it. How much effort does it take to lift a very heavy load if you try to hold the shaft from the tip of the fork, or for that matter, a snow shovel that is loaded?  Another example might be the use of an Allen wrench. There is always a long side and a short side. When we are trying to use the Allen wrench, at Trumbull, to change gullet plates, it is far easier to get the desired result with the long side of the lever. Translate this effect to riding your horse. Leverage can have a positive and/or negative effect. If you get ahead or behind the motion you are not optimizing your horse’s ability to balance. However, if you need to re-balance your horse and you just sit up a little or do some minor adjustment; leverage can be a good thing. How much effect you have and how much you should do really has to do with feel and the successful outcome…or not.  That of course, is determined partly by your conformation.  Sue mentioned to me that while Denny’s height in the saddle is a useful lever, she may have to push a foot forward a little or maintain her elbows by her side, in essence, to anchor herself, to create more leverage. In jumping, if you are behind the motion, the effect is similar to your horse trying to lift the heavy fork from the end. It is far more challenging.  The horse has to start the jump and then deal with the drag of a person. Of course, if you are staying with your horse then you are helping him. If you are behind the motion with not enough impulsion, the example Sue used was a roller coaster nearing the top. As the top car goes over, it travels slowly until the back one finally catches up and then, whoosh; not the effect we are looking for…struggle, struggle, struggle….catch up….lack of balance on landing. Personally, coming back to jumping after a few months off, means struggling with some of these issues.

Ideally, we/I should all be able to control our horses from our aids, and stay in perfect balance, but it is infinitely interesting to me how the tiniest adjustments can affect my outcome and what works for me, who is a tall person, isn’t necessarily going to work the same way for another shorter person. We are all built so uniquely, as are our horses and therefore, the myriad of balance challenges are endless. I can’t even imagine what it takes to be a successful trainer/coach, interpreting that data and creating a plan for a successful outcome. I would conclude that it requires some intriguing intellectual exploration. Clearly, I love to embrace the nuances of learning and riding. Gosh, I have miles to go to be good at it but I love to think about it and play with it. Could you tell? As an “aside”, I am having a heck of a time with the leverage issue at the moment!

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