Presuming you have become relaxed, we must work on the rest of the body. We start with the legs, because they are the parts of the body which are the most difficult to get into the correct position.

Not only are they required to stretch out sideways, but they seem to require an unnatural curve to stay down the side of the horse. Anyone who has seen bandy legged cowboys in the old western movies know just what I mean.

The hip joint must be loosened to allow free movement of the leg. Tension in the top of the leg will prevent the rider from sitting properly on his or her seat bones. Most riders have the upper leg too far forward, which forces the lower leg forward so that the rider look like he or she is sitting on a chair. The correct position for the rider is achieved when there is a straight, vertical line through the shoulder, hip and heel .

The first exercise for the legs is simply to lift the knee as high as you can, keeping the heel tucked under your bottom. This loosens the hip joint, stretches the back of the leg and, equally important, it rounds the lower back and pulls your bottom underneath you. Hold the leg up for the count of five and slowly lower it to a position as close to the vertical as possible, hold there for five seconds and repeat. The idea is to perform the exercise slowly and carefully with complete control and don't forget to breathe. Repeat the exercise 10 times for each leg, are more relaxed and you are sitting deeper in the saddle.

To increase the difficulty of this exercise, the leg is lifted up and the lower leg is brought over the horse's neck in front of the saddle. It helps here to have one hand on the front of the saddle and one on the back to assist with your balance and confidence. The hand on the back of the saddle, should be on the same side as the leg being lifted, otherwise it's in the way.

Now that the legs are relaxed, we must pay some attention to the ankles and feet . So many instructors say "put your heels down" and so often the rider is thinking "I am" or "I can't" or "they won't go down".

The answer is easy, firstly many people have very little movement in the ankles, so doing circles inwards and outwards with the toes is recommended, then push the toes down as far as you can, then lift them up as far as you can and feel the muscles near your shin really working hard. Once we have our ankles a little more mobile, move the heel back under your hip and lift your toes.

There we have it...heels down.