Kinaesthesia in equestrian training

Horse riding is one of the most complex coordinative sport disciplines, where " the feeling of the horse" is no less important than the feeling of the opponent in combat sports. The concept of "horse feeling" is so multipronged, interdisciplinary, and specific that it is very difficult to define it. In the rider training a kinesthetic information channel has been used, as the sight, hearing, smell, and taste channel reached its limits. The kinesthetic effects change being influenced by the burden of basic and supplementary training, the sports discipline played including typical symmetry and asymmetry of movement, the level of sports advancement, the training period, the type of warm-up stimulating the sense of balance, massage, and visualization training. Kinesthetic effects are initiated in proprioreceptors, which are sensorial endings in muscles, tendons, ligaments, and particular surfaces of the bones. Shaping a type of a feeling specific to a sports discipline should be developed from the beginning of sports training through improving the body feeling and the feeling of movement. Immediate information about the movement performed is of the greatest value in kinesthesia improvement. In horse riding, it can be a large mirror placed in a manege, or a training or competition video analysis. All kinds of signals located to inform the rider with a sound in the event of an incorrect movement or positioning of the centre part of the body are also helpful. Another method of improving the kinesthetic effects are all kinds of limitations like covering the eyes (image training), putting a very thick shoe on that makes the calf driving difficult, or a very thick glove that limits the reins driving, covering the saddle with a thick blanket that muffles the horse mounting, and isolating both upper and lower limbs, together or separately. The quality of motor coordination, spatial and temporal accuracy as well as broadly understood endurance will become the main determinant of the level of kinesthesia.