Cross C Equine

11/14/2026

🖐️Rider Position: What Does Your Dominant Hand Have to Do With It?🖐️

Have you noticed that riding in one direction feels easier than the other? Or that one shoulder, hip or leg seems to have a mind of its own?

A recent Dressage Today article explores research from the University of Guelph into how riders’ natural handedness and leg dominance relate to their position in the saddle.

One interesting finding: left-handed riders tended to demonstrate more symmetrical riding positions than right-handed riders.

It made us think about traditional horsemanship.

In the California vaquero tradition, the reins are traditionally carried in the left hand, leaving the right free to handle a rope. Other mounted traditions also required a free hand for a sword, lance or garrocha.

Those were practical necessities. But they raise a fascinating question: when our hands are occupied with other work, how much more must we rely on our seat, balance and body position to communicate with the horse?

Importantly, the study examined natural handedness, not whether riding one-handed improves symmetry. That’s a different question worth exploring.

In the meantime, try watching a video of yourself riding. Are your shoulders level? Do you sit evenly? Does your position change between left and right turns?

Sometimes improving our horse’s balance begins with noticing our own.

Do you feel more balanced riding in one direction than the other?

📖 Dressage Today: “Does Handedness Affect Riding Position?”
https://dressagetoday.com/news/does-handedness-affect-riding-position/

🔬 Original paper: The Impact of Horseback Rider Laterality on Riding Position
https://doi.org/10.1163/17552559-bja10060

📷 .unstable — Jeff’s clinic in Germany. Thank you for the beautiful photograph!

For more information on the Jeff’s Teachings ⬇️
Website
💻➡️ jeffsandershorsemanship.com
Online school (new cattle 🐄 sections are coming soon!)
💻➡️ californiabridlehorse.teachable.com
Jeff’s Hackamore and Two Rein & Bridle books on Amazon
📚🚚 https://amazon.com/author/jeff_sanders_vaquero_author
YouTube
📺

11/11/2026

When your closest friend is an AQHA Trophy winning conformation Judge along with professional sale prep/ halter fitter for Terry Bradshaw Quarter Horses you take full advantage! Thank you Samantha Cawyer of Broken Bar C Horses for fitting Penny for our final show of season. She looked like a Bryer horse 😍.

11/10/2026

11/06/2026

My PEMF machine, 2 saddles, a fully piped arena 🤕, Saddle blankets, and bridles….. so many freaking bridles because she packs a bit so well I enjoy trying them all. Not to mention the ✨custom ✨The Old Spanish Trading Co. bit she has coming for Christmas 🎄.
Wouldn’t change it for the world though ❤️.

What's the most expensive thing your 'cheap horse' talked you into buying?

A saddle? A trailer? An entire property?

That purchase price was really just the cover charge.

11/04/2026

11/03/2026

It's easy to look at a horse and focus on where his head is, how his neck is shaped, or whether his legs are reaching where we think they should.
But those are the result, not the starting point.
If the hindquarters aren't strong enough to carry more weight, if the back isn't able to stay supple, if the horse doesn't have the balance to organize his body, then putting him in the "right" position doesn't fix any of that.
Build the strength, balance, coordination, and understanding first.
When the body is capable of producing the movement, the position starts showing up on its own.