If you don’t feel yourself, you surely won’t feel your horse. Skilled riders aren’t perfect. They’re present. They feel every shift in themselves first, which allows them to feel and respond to shifts in the horse.

Feel is one of the most sought-after qualities in a rider. It’s the finesse that allows you to be in sync with your horse, respond in real time, and ride with effortless communication. But here’s the hard truth: you can’t develop feel if you don’t have body awareness. If you don’t know where your body is, what it’s doing, or how it’s affecting your horse, you’ll always be a step behind.

Horses respond to energy, pressure, and movement. They’re interpreting your shift in weight and the use of your limbs. Riders who are disconnected from their bodies miss these subtleties, often without realizing it. If you don’t feel yourself, you surely won’t feel your horse.

Photo by Marcella Gruchalak

Body awareness in riding means having a conscious understanding of your posture, alignment, weight distribution, muscle tension, and movement patterns. It’s the ability to feel whether your hands are even, your seat bones are balanced, and how your legs are making contact.

Riders with strong body awareness can notice small changes in their horse, like cross firing or the horse’s shoulder dropping, because they aren’t confused in their own movement. They can fine-tune cues with tiny shifts because they’re in control of their own balance and intention. Riders without body awareness often feel clumsy and uncoordinated.

Photo by Marcella Gruchalak

If you’ve ever felt disconnected while riding and unsure if your horse’s reactions are caused by them or you, it might be a body awareness issue. Here are seven signs it might be you:

  1. You can’t tell if you’re sitting straight until someone tells you you’re not.
  2. You rely entirely on your eyes or mirrors to know your position.
  3. You struggle with giving coordinated cues that require legs, seat, and hands.
  4. You feel unbalanced or off-center, especially in transitions or tight turns.
  5. You overcorrect your horse because you’re unsure of what’s happening underneath you.
  6. You have trouble following your horse’s gait, especially at the canter.
  7. You feel tension or stiffness, but can’t pinpoint where it’s coming from.

If any of this sounds familiar, it’s a body awareness issue, a skill that needs more development.

Photo by Marcella Gruchalak

Feel is the ability to notice subtle changes and respond with timing, softness, and accuracy. You can’t notice those changes if your own body is sending mixed messages. If your hands are stiff or your weight is uneven, your horse is going to feel that before you even ask for anything. Without awareness, you may correct a horse for something you caused, pulling on the reins when your balance shifted, or kicking when you meant to support. That creates confusion and makes learning harder for both of you. Building awareness takes intention, repetition, and a willingness to slow down and focus on the basics.

Photo by Marcella Gruchalak

Ride with purpose. Don’t put yourself on autopilot. Don’t just go through the motions. During each ride, take time to scan your body: Are you in correct alignment? Are your legs constantly gripping? Regular self-checks retrain your body to notice and adjust.

Use mirrors, videos, and feedback. Sometimes you need external feedback to learn internal cues. Watch videos of yourself riding. What does it feel like when you’re centered versus leaning? Work with a trainer who can describe how your position affects your horse so you can connect the cause and effect.

Practice off the horse. Yoga, Pilates, balance work, and even dance can dramatically improve your proprioception. Exercises that build core strength, flexibility, and coordination directly translate into better riding mechanics.

Ride bareback or on the lunge line. Bareback riding increases your awareness of how your body follows your horse’s motion. If that’s too intimidating for you, riding on a lunge line without reins or stirrups frees you to focus completely on your seat, posture, and rhythm without having to steer or manage pace.

Slow down and simplify. You don’t need advanced maneuvers to improve feel. Transitions, circles, and lateral work at the walk and trot help you notice the fine shifts in balance and energy. The slower you go, the more time you have to feel.

Narrate your ride. Talking through what you feel while you ride, out loud or in your head, helps bring awareness to the moment. Left hip kicking out. Leg too tight. Need to soften hands. This practice builds the brain-body connection and teaches you to check in regularly.

Focus on breath and relaxation. Tension masks awareness. A tight rider can’t feel clearly. Deep, steady breathing helps relax your muscles and bring your focus back to the present. If your breath is shallow or held, chances are your body is bracing and your horse feels it.

Photo by Marcella Gruchalak

You don’t have to be naturally gifted to develop feel, but you do need to start with body awareness. You have to know where you are before you can communicate clearly and cue with subtlety. Skilled riders aren’t perfect. They’re present. They feel every shift in themselves first which allows them to feel and respond to shifts in the horse. If you want better feel, don’t blame your horse. Look inward. The better you understand your body, the better you’ll understand theirs. That’s when riding becomes more than mechanics.



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JessicaGG
Journalist specialized in online marketing as Social Media Manager. I help professionals and companies to become more Internet and online reputation, which allows to give life to the Social Media Strategies defined for the Company, and thus immortalize brands, products and services. I have participated as an exhibitor in various forums nationally and internationally, I am the author of several articles in digital magazines and Blogs.

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