Help! uneven feeling in stirrups

[buck22]

Calling on the collective wisdom of CoTH for some help, please!

Just getting back to riding after several years away. I’ve been riding the same horse for the past few weeks - one who is teenaged with low miles, so equally out of shape. He’s tricky to fit saddle-wise so I’ve been going through my tack arsenal, trying different combinations of saddles and pads.

With each ride, increasingly, I feel as if my right stirrup is shorter than the left. My ride yesterday was almost distractingly so.

I examined my saddles and the trees are straight, stirrup bars even, panels attached symmetrically and flocked evenly. Stirrup leathers are even, and I’ve also tried swapping them around. The feeling occurs no matter which saddle I ride.

Before going looking at the horse for unevenness - risking falling down the rabbit hole of corrective shimming, etc., I wanted to check myself out.

Standing on the edge of a stair on the balls of my feet last night, I let my heels down as far as comfortable and asked my boyfriend to see if they were even. He immediately noticed that my right heel wasn’t flexed down as far as my left.

I did suffer an injury to that ankle last year and the Achilles is still sore and tight feeling sometimes.

So, now I’m unsure how to proceed and I have a million questions… help!

Could the fact that my right ankle doesn’t flex as much as my left one cause my right stirrup to feel shorter?

If so, does that mean I’m unevenly weighting the saddle when I ride? I spend most of my time in the irons, posting, 2pt., even cantering is in a light seat. The horse’s back is very underdeveloped and it will be a LONG time before any seated work is done.

Am I going to cause unevenness in the horse? In my saddles? My pads?

What the heck do I do about this???

thank you!!!

[Tanny98]

We all get crooked from inactivity, and good one you for picking up in it. There are a multitude of one leg and one arm excercises all over the Internet you can do at home or at gym. Also look up an exercises and moves you can do to begin help you achieve neutral spine such as quadruped and dead
bug excersises. Also any exercise pertaining to cross body tension. As with any new exercises it important to have someone experienced helped you to ensure proper form and reduce risk of injury. I was raised in a school where additional exercise program to your riding is considered important and I don’t see near enough
riders doing the same.

[Nestor]

How do you mean your right stirrup feels shorter? You feel more weight in that stirrup? You feel like you have more bend in that knee? Different feelings arise depending on where you are crooked/uneven. I would make sure you are also sitting centered in the saddle, and not off to one side (likely the right). Sometimes you are sitting centered, but you have one hip that is tighter than the other, so it draws that leg up and makes it harder to weight that stirrup (which would be your left, if you feel you have more weight in the right stirrup). Sometimes your hips themselves are just crooked, and you aren’t weighting your seat bones equally.

I like to start my ride without stirrups, to loosen up my hips and let me legs hang and stretch out. Horse is walking on the buckle, and so am I. :lol: I make sure my hips feel loose, that I can feel my seat bones equally, and that I’m sitting centered, before I even pick up my stirrups. I tend to sit to one side, so that creeps back in as I continue my ride and I just have to monitor that.

We’re all at least a little crooked, or have a weak point in our position. Good for you for wanting to address it!

[ThreeFigs]

Excellent advice here! A while back, I had similar sensations. No injuries myself, but I had a strong tendency to contract my right side --dropped shoulder, contracted right leg. Besides all the good exercises and stretches suggested here, have your ground-person, whether a teacher or just a friend, to check your position in the saddle from behind in motion and at the halt. Have that person to remind you IF you are sitting crooked, to “fix” the problem, whether it means stretching your knee down straighter or lifting a shoulder or whatever.

I especially liked raising my right arm above my head, straight up, to open my ribcage on that side.

And good for you for spotting your issue. So many of us ride along happily crooked and have no clue!

[Dajuliz]

I have a similar problem. Best thing that you can do is to develop an independent seat so that you don’t depend on your stirrups for balance. Ride without stirrups for a month and then you can see how you feel about your balance. Just ride a walk for the first week and make sure that you are sitting on both seat bones evenly when you ride. Improve your core strength so that you have the physical strength to ride correctly. You might want to consult with a physical therapist to determine if you have any structural, physical challenges that might be impacting your riding. ( I have one leg shorter than the other and I see a chiropractor regularly to keep everything in line). Sally Swift’s book Centered Riding has some great exercises to help you become more even.

[hoopoe]

almost everyone is uneven in some fashion. i would not fuss with the saddle or leathers, but rather focus on bringing yourself into as good an alignment and balance as possible. Pilates really helped me and there are programs aimed specifically at riders. i suggest Beth Glosten as a resource

http://www.riderpilates.com/

There may also be an issue , neurological, in receiving equal signals from either side of your body. Again a program might help with this, or it may simply be part of getting older. Pay attention to your posture in your day to day life, not just when you are riding

[Zonderpaard]

Here’s an exercise to try. I will warn you, it’s a bit diabolical . . .

You need a steady horse and help from the ground to set this up OR be able to mount from a mounting block without using stirrups. You might want someone to lead your horse for you if you are worried.

Remove the stirrups from the saddle and unbuckle the leathers, then rebuckle them to each other so that the two leathers form one big loop with the irons threaded on it.

Lay the leathers over the top of the saddle, adjusting them so the buckles are near the bottom. You will probably have to have the buckled at the very longest hole to do this so there won’t be much of a tail dangling.

No you get to ride. If you unevenly weight the irons, the whole business will slide to one side and you will find yourself with a jockey stirrup on one side and the other one at your horse’s knees.

Just stop, readjust and try again. Most people get about 5 steps before they are scrambling. It normally takes only a handful of times and you will very quickly find what ‘even’ is (or fall off).

In walk, this is pretty simple. Try it posting and sitting trot.

Once you have it figured out, as you ride around focus on that evenness in your irons, your leg, your seatbones, shoulders and so on.

The other thing that happens is that the irons actually fall directly from the deepest part of the saddle, so it’s an interesting way to open your hip.

[piedmontfields]

@Zonderpaard

Here’s an exercise to try. I will warn you, it’s a bit diabolical . . .

The other thing that happens is that the irons actually fall directly from the deepest part of the saddle, so it’s an interesting way to open your hip.

It is slightly diabolical. But I agree that it is super helpful for opening the hip and clarifying position.

[buck22]

Wow, thanks everyone, what excellent advice!

I guess because I’m only just returning to the saddle after several years any unevenness is glaring to me, which is a good thing!

Nestor, it feels like my right knee is more closed than my left knee.

My ankle has been slightly tight and sore since I injured it, but now that I’m aware of the limited range of motion I can really feel how much less it flexes. I think starting rides without stirrups and just being sure my seat bones are equally weighted is a great tip, I can rebuild my muscle and sensory memory from there. Paying attention to my posture throughout the day is a great idea too, as is strengthing.

I can’t WAIT to try the stirrup see-saw exercise! Diabolical is right!

All the advice is wonderful, thank you!!!

[Fairview_Horse_Cente]

Everyone’s legs are slightly different. Adjust the stirrups to your leg, when sitting straight and legs hanging and relaxed. The may not look even from the ground.