In the saddle
Our experts
Sue Chadwick is a British Eventing Level 3 coach and has competed up to four-star level.
Anthony Clark is an eventer and coach who is a three-star team European silver medal winner.
Sarah Gorvett is an Australian International Grand Prix dressage rider.
A core workout
My horse has a strong back end but is lazy about using his core – what exercises can I do to improve this?
Jane Cox
A Anthony Clark answers:
To help engage your horse’s core, try to encourage him to travel forward into an even rein contact – if you can feel equal weight in each hand this normally means your horse is pushing equally from behind.
You could also introduce some lateral work, such as shoulder-in or leg-yield. This is an effective way to encourage your horse to step under with his inside hindleg, which really helps to activate his core muscles. However, it’s important to keep the sessions short and make them fun.