The photo is of Alexandra Margalith and her horse Sinatra. Here’s what Alexandra had to say: “I’m a middle-aged hobby rider who started later in life. My horse Sinatra is a rising 7-year-old Trakehner, who I bought unseen and unbroken from a video as a 3-year-old. We are learning the ropes together with a lot of fantastic professional help. Together, we are hobby-professionals!”

After reading about Alexandra and Sinatra and evaluating the photo, I thought how lucky they’ve been. Buying an unseen, unbroken horse off a video without a profound horsemanship background and ending up riding him like she is in the photo is a big success story in itself. Well done!

The photo isn’t level, which makes the horse appear downhill. I’ve been told this is a common mistake in horse photography—in an effort to catch the moment, a lot of people lower the front of the camera, which creates a downhill effect. If you level the photo, the horse looks more uphill, and the rider appears less tipped forward but sitting with a lighter seat and forward tendency, which may be due to her posting the trot. 

Sinatra looks like a fun dance partner! He is trotting along with nice, open and long strides in an easy, working frame. He appears supple with light contact to the double bridle. Alexandra holds the reins of the double bridle in a very careful way—hardly touching the curb rein at all. This makes me think that this is new for both of them and probably one of their first rides in a double bridle.

Alexandra looks very concentrated, which is likely causing some tension around her chin and neck with her head slightly forward. Her hands appear soft and quiet, though they are a bit lower than the ideal straight line from the rider’s elbow to hand to snaffle rein to the horse’s mouth.

Her seat is light, above the horse and not yet deep and connected into the horse’s movement. This hovering, lightly forward position is not disturbing her horse but makes it difficult to support him for more self-carriage and later collection. Her leg has some tension in the back of her knee causing her heel to creep up.

Lengthen Your Upper Body for Better Balance

My initial thoughts are that Alexandra needs to lengthen her body. She should zip up the front and back lines of her body to stretch tall, lengthen across her collar bones and ground through her stirrups to open the back of her knee.

To help her horse find better balance, I would advise Alexandra to imagine that she’s the anchor for her horse’s head and neck. Her backline is needed to provide support for her horse so he can reach out and forward without tipping out of balance. There is a fascial connection, a network of connective tissue, (called the superficial backline) that starts at your eyebrows, runs over your head, spine, pelvis and seat bones and then down your hamstrings, knees, calves, ankles and lastly the big toe.

This fascial line becomes elastic and efficient when stretched and expanded. Lengthening the rider’s neck and lifting the toes—by thinking ears up and heels down—will give stability to the rider’s position. This rider’s backline parallels the horse’s topline. Horses too have fascial connections from the poll over the back to the pelvis and hind legs. 

If Alexandra learns to open and expand her backline by stretching up in her upper body and down in her seat at the same time, she will feel more stable and become more effective in her riding. To better understand this concept, stand in a doorframe and push up against the top of the frame with your hands. By doing this, you’ll feel more weight in your feet. Similarly, the rider who stretches taller with her upper body in the saddle needs to feel more contact and grounding to the stirrups. 

How to Relax Your Chin and Neck

There are several ways Alexandra can learn how to relax her neck and chin. We all have habits and facial expressions when we’re highly concentrated, but tightening the jaw limits elasticity and interferes with balance reflexes that are necessary in riding. Chewing an imaginary piece of gum can help to release this tension. Checking the position of your tongue is also important as any tension in the tongue will influence the balance of your upper body. It’s important for both the horse and rider to have a relaxed tongue position. 

To further help rebalance your head and neck position without unwanted tension, position two fingers along either side of your throat and lightly pull down on the skin. Then, gather some saliva in your mouth and swallow. When swallowing, you can feel how the throat pulls up for a short moment. To be able to swallow, the body automatically takes a position of better alignment because it’s more difficult to swallow with your head forward or upper body slouched. The automatic reflex of swallowing not only happens in the throat, but you can also feel it goes much deeper along the core and pelvic floor. It’s like a good half-halt executed by the rider—a short pull up along the spine followed by a release!

The visual image of getting ready to swallow could help Alexandra refine her head and neck position and allow her to open up more between the shoulders. Then, her hand can be carried naturally in a slightly higher position to create a straight line from her elbow to her horse’s mouth. The correction to her hand position should start at her shoulder, not in her hand. This may also encourage Sinatra to carry his shoulders and create more harmony for both of them.

My final advice is for Alexandra to lengthen her backline and align her upper body for the next chance to “swallow” her half-halts. It looks like she and Sinatra are on a good path of learning together. Enjoy the journey!

For More:

• For more clinics with Susanne von Dietze, click here.
• To watch hands-on training videos and live rider biomechanics demonstrations with von Dietze on EQUESTRIAN+, click here.

About Susanne von Dietze

Susanne von Dietze is a leader in equestrian biomechanics. A physiotherapist, licensed Trainer A instructor and judge for dressage and show jumping, she gives lectures and seminars throughout the world, including at the prestigious German Riding Academy in Warendorf. She is a native of Germany and now lives with her husband and three children in Israel, where she competes at the international level. She is the author of two books on the biomechanics of riding: Balance in Movement and Rider and Horse, Back to Back. 

This article originally appeared in the fall 2025 issue of Practical Horseman.