I have a wild hypothesis: The majority of dressage riders vastly underestimate the importance of rider alignment on the horse. I'm not proposing that most dressage riders are ignorant. Of course we know about the ear-shoulder-hip-heel alignment, and the elbow-wrist-bit line. But there is so much more to it. And just how enormously one can increase rider effectiveness by improving bodily alignment I think goes undervalued, and under-taught. I say this because over the past 6 months of working with Tanya Vik, I have been taught to adjust my position and alignment piece by piece -- and every time another little piece falls into place I am absolutely stunned by the difference in effectiveness.
Today we "simply" worked on getting rid of my chicken wing elbows and keeping them at my side and lowering them. Not only does that look prettier, it aligns my spine differently and lets me sit deeper. You read that right: just putting your elbows where they belong gives you a better seat! Plus it allows for nice, quiet, non-fiddling hands.
I don't think anyone who is a fairly effective rider and who manages to sit pretty well in the middle of her horse is going to truly get this -- until they work with someone who can make that much of a difference. I say that because that was me 6 months ago. It's not that I didn't think I needed to improve, on the contrary, but how to do that was a bit mysterious. Especially if you involve the internet and ask Google etc. You'll find wild theories on "skeletal riding" and see Charlotte Dujardin making it look way too easy to see what she is actually doing.
Riding exercises is of course important to engage the horse and the horses's back. But the better you sit, the better and happier the horse will go, meaning over the back. Reaching for honest contact. No pulling on the reins and kicking the horse into a backward contact. This is such a big wake up call for me as a teacher as well. And I want all riding students who have the good fortune to have an instructor who diligently works on improving their alignment and position to know: It's not that what you are already doing is bad. It's that it could be better. And if your instructor cares enough, knows enough and believes in your abilities enough to put that kind of effort in, go with it. Never worry about being corrected. That's what you pay them for. If you're just having a day and need someone to tell you how lovely you are riding, bring your mom, or your significant other. I'm sure they'd love to be your ego-stroker-in-chief.