Are your shoulders hunched? do you get ‘left at the altar’ or at the fence?

Try these easy exercises to tame your tension – PRONTO!

1. Shake, relax and roll – before putting your foot into the stirrup shake out the tension. It is that simple.
   Take a deep breath and when you exhale shake your shoulders, arms and fingers. As if a fly or mosquito has landed on your shoulders and you are trying to get it off.
   You can repeat this exercise while on horseback and should be repeated whenever you feel tension creeping back in.
2. Ride without stirrups. You must be relaxed to feel the horse and if you are tense then you can not:
   – feel the horse
   – influence the horse.
   Take your feet from the stirrups and stretch your legs down. Stretching will improve the relaxation in your legs.
   Step 1 – take a deep breath in and stretch down your legs pointing your toes down to the ground.
   Step 2 – Release your breath and let your legs relax.

If you find you are still tense, go back and repeat the shake – rattle – and roll exercise.

You will find when you continue to d3velop a relaxed feel and train yourself to release the tension you will receive more from your horse and get better results from yourself.

If you would like more in depth help getting relaxed send me an email. I have some proven techniques to assist people who are tense with their riding.

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