Perhaps one of the most important things a rider can do to ensure she feels safe and secure in the saddle is to develop strength and consistency in her leg position. When a rider has a solid lower leg that stays correctly in place under her hip even if the horse trips, spooks, or does something else unexpected, it is probably the closest she can come to wearing a seat belt while in the saddle.

Equisize book cover.One of the fastest and most effective ways to strengthen and tone the leg muscles that riders need to achieve this security is to practice the two-point position. When I teach novice riders—even if they have no intention of learning to jump—I always include two-point in their early lessons. Two-point is so important to a rider’s overall fitness that when I created Equicize, the position became an essential component to the entire system.

The two exercises in this chapter—Two-Point/Chest Press and One-Handed Chest Press—are based off the rider’s ability to execute a correctly balanced two-point position. If this is a new position for you, be sure to review “Two-Point Fundamentals for Equicize,” back in chapter 3 before proceeding further. But riders will also need to practice another new position to do these exercises—Chest Press. Chest Press is often novel even to jumping riders, and I will break it down in more detail below.

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