my balance & more

Question
hi Echo,

(1)
i face a problem and i think as a horse expert u would be able to help me in it..

i've been ridding for 2 years & 3 months..
from the begining it was clear that my whole legs were so weak it was like a dead part of my body when i was ridding.. but it gets much stronger than before.. specially when i begin to jump..
i though it was strong enough!
but when i started juming higher fences (135 cm) i totally lost my balance.. although i can keep myself ON the horse..

so could u know where is the weakest point that make me lose my balance.. is it my knee?

all what i want is to have a perfect balance and to have an extremly flexible body.. how can i reach this? is there speacial sports that can help? or special exercises?

(2)
there's another problem with the horse i ride in jumping (he's not my own horse by the way)..
depending on my information the jumping horse MUST have a very flexible & a curved nick.. but my horse have a very straight and strong nick.. here's some pictures for him:

he's a German/15 years horse (and by the way this is an old pics, he was kind of sick when i took them)

http://drr.cc/up12/abl1.JPG
http://drr.cc/up12/abl2.JPG
http://drr.cc/up12/abl3.JPG

is there a way that can fix his nick? and in the same way is somewhat simple so i can do it myself? and how long do u think it will take?

i start using a (fixed bit) which makes controlling his strong head an easy job, but i want to fix the real problem beside that his nick in this way look ugly :D

(3)
about bareback ridding, can we ride any horse in this way or it need some training to be sure not hurting the horses back?

(4)
i always wanted to be an expert in traning horses, and to be able of teaching them all the tricks, i would like to start with a simple one: how can i make the horse bow as if he's greeting or saying hi :)can i do so when i'm on top of him?

kind regards,
sara

Answer
Hi Sara,

Balance is an issue for a lot of people and there are ways to improve it. Bareback riding would definently help even learning to walk across anything narrow would be excellent, such as a board and work your way smaller.  Stretching would help with flexability, such as tring to touch your toes everyday an trust me it woukld improve your flexability...I'm sure you can find more stretches on the internet! When you ride bareback I think the most important part is balance because you should be able to do it by just sitting there and not gripping at all but thighs would be a part of gripping when you start out.

I'm sorry but i don't really know how to fix the horses neck but it's not the neck that makes the jumping horse (photos wouldn't come through!) Any horse can jump and some better than others! It's really not the neck you should try different exercises with trotting poles and smaller jumps to build him up.

Bareback riding is great and can be done with any horse and your concern is great! But it won't hurt the horses back...unless the back is really narror and you have a very bony butt and it is done for hours at a time!

Alright bowing!...
The end result is to have the horse lift up one of its front legs and touch the nose to the knee.
To get this you first give the horse the signal to do it by touch them just above the leg you than support it by getting the horse to lift up there leg and you hook your arm around the knee and have a treat in your hand...shiow the horse the treat and they will sniff and when doing so make sure they touch there knee, when they do let go of the leg and than give them the treat...don't give them the treat when they have there head to there knee because they will than only do it when you pick up there leg for them!

DOn't get frusterated but this will take a lond while to accomplish it needs a ton of repetion, but it works because my horse does it really well and when I'm on him and touch my toe above his leg he will do it...Just remember that, that signal of touching the horse above the leg must always be don first so that your horse learns thi is when he is to do the trick...he will come to understand that doing the trick will result in getting the treat!

Echo Savage