Thinking of your torso as a cardboard box whilst riding can really help you avoid contortions when you turn, in transitions and in your general riding. Think of the box going all the way from the top of your shoulders all the way down to seat bone level.

The idea behind of the analogy...

You have front, back and side panels. These panels can be creased inwards or bulge outwards. You also have the corners of the box too. One corner can be lower than another corner. To give you an idea on how you can use this analogy ask yourself the following questions.

For Front-Back Panels ( Diagnosing whether you are in neutral spine )

1. Is the front and back panel the same length?
2. Is the front or back panel bulging out or caving in?
3. Is the bottom front and bottom back corners of the cardboard box level or is one higher than another?

Item 3 can be used to diagnose if you have all the weight on your front corners or on your back corners. The weight should be 50/50. If you are the kind of person who hollows their back then you may have more weight on your front corners than your back corners.

For the side Panels ( Diagnosing issues with collapsing to one side which becomes more prevalent on turns, circles and lateral movement)

1. Is one side bulging or caving in?
2. Is the box twisting in the middle or at certain levels?
3. Is one side of the box further down than the other side? You could be dropping or raising one side of your pelvis or lifting/dropping your seatbones on one side.

If you have one panel that is collapsing you can think of filling into it to help take out the collapse.

Did you know that, as a member of Dressage Training TV you can submit videos of yourself for our coaches to review and help you out. They can help diagnose your postion and where your problems lie, along with giving you doable fixes to help you improve.