05/22/2026
Quality Riding, It Is Up To The Rider 🫵
"When I first started my dressage journey, I used to pretend I was Robert Dover when I rode. Thinking about how he rode while I was mounted made me sit up straighter and present myself on the horse. Trust me, I did not start that way. I was rounded in my shoulders and slumped. But I desperately wanted to be a good rider, so I did yoga, swam the backstroke, and started sitting up and thought about my posture and how I used my body ALL day!"
First appearing in the Three Rivers Equestrian Association newsletter, "TREA Branches" (September 2024), this article was a nominee in the 2025 GMO Newsletter Awards for first-person experience articles for GMOs with 75-174 members.
Click the link below to keep reading about how rider posture affects your ride (hint: it's a lot!):
🔗 https://wp.me/padgUY-q2P
✍ Kristin Hermann
📸 The Dressage Seat, from Principles of Riding (Kenilworth Press), p. 48