Our horses and ourselves are all asymmetrical, this is quite normal, we all have one dominant hand and foot and horses have a dominant hoof/leg too, you can see it when you watch them graze and feel it when we ride as it’s always easier to do circles or turn one way than the other unless the horse and rider have done some symmetry training.
During the year I do quite a lot of symmetry training with my own horses and students but in the Winter I have less opportunity to work with them so I work on myself more and this is what I call my ‘Other Hand Exercises’ .
SO…what are OHE’s? They are simple things I do to help use my other hand, muscles and whole body to make me more symmetrical and this helps when I ride to keep me and my horses more symmetrical too. I am right handed so I work on my left hand, my husband is left handed so he works on his right hand although funnily enough most left handed people are more adept at this due to the nature of our ‘right handed world’ 😉
I work slowly and as consistently as I can, doing a few small tasks first and building up on it as and when I feel I can progress. I will be putting up tasks weekly and hope you join in with me to help your own symmetry. Remember to go slowly and not to over do it as you can strain muscles (just like your horse can), do what you normally do with your ‘normal’ hand and put in a wee bit of the OH when you can and remember to keep having fun with it.
WEEK 1 – Stirring with a spoon
Beginners: stir your tea/coffee.
Medium: stir your tea/coffee and try your horses/dogs feed.
Advanced: stir tea/coffee, horses feed, and also when you cook or bake.
NOTE: Today, whilst stirring the horses feed I realised that with my ‘normal’ hand I stand straight BUT when I work with my OH I lean a bit….having now realised this I am making sure I stand straighter when working with my OH. Amazing how, when you become aware of things, how much you notice and it reminded me of a saying I learned a long time ago…hope this
one helps you too.
- Shelley – HorseSavvy