How can we separate riding from saddles, riders from the principles of balance and saddle fitting from the bigger picture of our riding styles

 

Horses move, live, eat and breathe as a whole. There is no separation and no compartmentalisation. Much as we try to organise aspects of horsemanship into different categories to help us learn, we cannot interact with our horses in this fashion. Horses asks us to approach them as a whole and when we do, we learn so much more, our communication is so much more effective and we learn to listen. What better way to enjoy our horses?

 

ReBalance clinics focus on saddle fit, horse comfort and balance, rider fit and rider comfort and balance. This is a multi tiered process which begins with evaluating saddles, recommending changes, and teaching riders how to better evaluate fit and saddle quality. Then riders move onto learning a better feel for saddle fit while on the horse as well as the feel of balance and harmony while riding for fun and/or performance. Horses are also evaluated for conformation and locomotion habits that contribute to balance or saddle fit issues. It is a common occurrence to see people riding unevenly and horses moving crookedly due to bad saddle fit.

 

As an avid classicist who espouses no one school of thought nor one style of riding, Zsuzsu’s ultimate focus is on softness, lightness and harmony between horse and rider regardless of breed, discipline or saddle style. Taught and mentored by international clinician, author and judge Charles de Kunffy, a long time instructor for Teaching Teachers of Tomorrow in Surrey, England (ttttrust.com), as well as many other clinicians and master horsemen, Zsuzsu works with participants taking them through classically informed movements and exercises using a novel perspective to release natural balance and allow a new level of understanding between horse and rider.

 

A one-day clinic format includes an interactive hands-on lecture on saddle fitting that ends with participants having a clear understanding of what defines a good fit and how to assess for it. The lecture is then followed by individual sessions. These sessions involve horse conformation and movement evaluation, a saddle evaluation and saddle fit assessment on the horse at a standstill, with the rider and with the rider taking the horse through all its paces. Recommendations are then given to help resolve saddle fit and balance issues.

 

The multi-day clinic format includes all of the above PLUS: additional theory sessions on balance, effective aiding and how to go beyond resistance; as well as individual lessons to ReBalance horse and rider. The ReBalance work comes in many different forms; groundwork or riding sessions, longing for horse and/or rider, exercises to strengthen and supple the horse as well as horseless exercises for riders to help with balance, feel and biomechanics.