I have a bad Habit -HELP

[francesca=]]

So within the past 3 days I started getting into the dreadful habit of "Looking down!!!" dum dum dummmmmm

I've neverhad this habit before and I don't want it to progress. So a quick little brief..

I'll slowly lower my head, not knowing that I'm doing it and then my trainer is like "Stop looking down before I put a nail under your chin!" =]

and then I look down for my leads but I can feel if I'm on the wrong lead but i look anyway!

So anyway.... anybody have any tips to break the habit??? =D plz?!?! :) :confused: :)

[cursivenight]

Well...If you REALLY concentrate hard on something that's up and above - I use the horizon, or a cloud. You have to try really hard, but it works. And if pick a spot on your horse that you can only see when your head is too far down, then check frequently to make sure you can't.

That's all....

[Alwaysridin09]

i had that problem too. than i remembered that your horse can see where u are going. thats what i have been living by ever sinse. just think, if u are lookin down, where is ur horse gonna go? as for the lead changes, relax look down if u have to, you'll get the hang of it. when i first started riding, and still today, i concentrated too hard. one day when i just rode and didint try so hard that my brain hurt, i relized how much more fun, relaxed, and better of a rider that i was. if u have to, choose something to look at. the barn, horse and rider in front of u, anything to keep a steady gaze ahead. i sometimes look between my horses ears, that always helps me! :) the worst thing u can do is worry about it too much! ;)

[StarGirl]

If you're looking down to figure out which lead your horse is on, you need to learn to feel it, not see it...

A good way to feel the lead is to feel which of your hips is going farther forward....to start out, if you know your horse is on the right lead, concentrate on feeling your hips and you'll notice your right hip if moving more forward than the left, same when the horse is on the left lead. Before you know it, you'll be able to feel it!

[ashleygoesrawr]

i guess just always think about it, in order to remind yourself not to. like every time you know you're gonna change leads, think oh don't look down before you do. and like every time you approach a fence, conciously think "don't look down" and focus really hard beyond the fence.

[silverleprichuan]

practice doing lead changes down the center line and diagonals and have a friend stand at the end of the line. They can hold up a finger and change which finger every few seconds (for example: thumb, ring, pinkie, etc) and you have to tell them what finger it is. Sounds silly but maybe itll help break the habit

[moniexponie]

[I just wanted to point something out really quick -- all the advice about the lead changes is great, don't get me wrong. But she said she can feel it without looking anyways. lol Just thought I'd let you all know ...]

As for the looking down thing, my advice is the same as everyone else's. Pick a spot, think about it often.

[francesca=]]

Thanks everyone for the advice

and thanks moniexponie, I CAN feel my leads.. haha

I'm goign to try to pick a spot on the wall when I ride Tomorrow and see how it goes =]

[Alwaysridin09]

your welcome, glad to be of help :D hope your wall spot works out!

[StarGirl]

Sorry, misread your post.... :(

[francesca=]]

Sorry, misread your post.... :(

hah its okay...
it was very good advice anyway =] and i appreciate it :)

[alliekk]

two things that have always stuck with me (they're kind of silly, but they work for me) are:

1) "Quit looking at your horses head, you're burning a hole through it!!!" this scared me because I was young and didn't want to hurt my horse...haha

2) you are your horses eyes, if you can't see where you are going, then he cant see and he could get hurt. let him worry about picking up the canter, and you can worry about that log that you are coming up to rather quickly! lol

these two tips are engraved forever in my mind. they are the ONLY two things my trainer taught me when I was young.

[jilllovesgus]

Gahh I used to have this exact problem for the first year or two that I started riding. I would like, stare down my horse's ears, haha. Somehow I eventually broke the habit, I think because my horse, Gus, is difficult to steer unless you're looking where you want to go. So if I was just staring at his ears, he got confused and difficult. So I learned to look up and watch where I wanted to go, which helped with jumping too. However, I think I start to do it every now and again, but not as bad.

Bad habits are so hard to break. My worst one is slouching my shoulders. D: It's so annoying, I used to have perfect eq, and then I just like, forgot. Haha it's so hard to break, and it's like, uncomfortable to roll my shoulders back now. When I'm showing in Eq though, I don't even think about it and I keep them back, it's weird. Hehe, sorry for the off-topic rant there.

[thegrayhorse]

I sometimes do that... D: I've found looking up just really helps. Especially when jumping. With Airborn, if I'm looking down, he's going to duck out, no doubt about it, haha. So, I have to look up. I usually concentrate on something far off, like a tree or something. But when I'm just riding, I just think chin up, chin up...

Habits are so hard to break. My legs used to swing! That bothered me so, so much. But it's gotten much better now. :] And sometimes, my thumbs aren't up.

[mandyicequeen14]

what i do is look at an object or i look ove the horses ears that helps

[MarshmellowManda]

When I'm riding in the arena I always pic the one set of boards on the wall, they go around the whole arena at the same length. Always look like 10-15 ft ahead of you. of course don't pick something to look at thats extremely high, you dont want to look mental or like ur a stuck up snob ;)

[Max]

I would stick with the nail idea :D :D

[musiccraze777]

I don't really do this that much. A couple of times, I do linger down to the ears for a second, but I usually just barely look over the horse's ears. I like being able to see them in my view. It's kinda like a video game that way, but they're not my main point of view; I just can see them. But if the horse starts being a pain, I sometimes try looking high enough not to see them, just stare in the direction I want to go, thinking it will help, but I usually find the horse I'm on is just being a pain and still won't listen perfectly. And that's when I remember that I can't see poles looking that high up. Hehe.

But yeah, I think you just have to make sure you're not staring at the horse and your chin is not down. But since I never had a big problem with keeping my head up on a horse (off is a diff story; more people hound me about looking down off horsies, ha), I say listen to everybody else! lol. =) I hope you find something that helps you!

[Haley]

I suppose there really isn't much to say that hasn't already been said. It's good, though, that the habit has just developed over the past few days, which means it will be easier to correct since you're catching it quickly.

Just mark a level, aim for the tips of trees or buildings, when you're jumping or doing flatwork. Remember that if your eyes go down, your entire balance shifts forward and makes it more likely to fall or for your horse to refuse.

[Max]

You may be looking down because of a lack of trust in your horse. In other words, you can't focus on what your doing because you can't trust your horse to do his job.

Just my opinion :)

[francesca=]]

yay .. everyone has really good ideas.
pick a point ont he wall

and I has a lesson on tuesday and i didnt really look down as much...
I kind of forgot the whole pick a point on the wall think.. I pretty much just forgot about the whole thing in genreal but if i catch myself looking down I'll pick a point =]

and Max- as for the not trusting my horset thing... you might be right...
This horse is kinda crazy and we are always trying new things wih him so yeah.. you could be right =]