I had to take a 6 month break from riding. I’m back but holy smokes is my core and lower leg unstable! If I take my feet out of the stirrups I feel like a rockstar and stable in my thigh, heel, and butt like my seat is velcro 
. The second I pick up my stirrups I’m bracing against the motion and feel like I could be popped right out of the tack at a moment’s notice! What kind of exercises can I do to get the mojo back and security in the stirrups?
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Check the length of your stirrups and saddle fit first. If your saddle is rocking it will pull your stirrups right off. And check length of your stirrups, they could be too long for your current strength and that means reaching for them and bracing.
For lower leg, some two point for balance, being sure you are not gripping just sinking into the stirrups. Also try alternating posting and sitting trot - 2 strides posting, 2 sitting. If your balance is really off, you may wish to get longeing lessons so you can take your legs off and balance on your seat and do rider balance exercises.
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Generally the answer is shorten your stirrups.
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Well, that is a conundrum cause I actually feel like my stirrups are too short!! Yesterday each time I posted I felt like I was about to pop right out of the saddle. With my feet in my stirrups I feel like I can’t wrap my leg around the horse’s barrel effectively and that the stirrups are keeping my legs too close to my body. It’s my personal horse and my own saddle so the stirrups have not changed since I rode last.
The good news is I just had a lesson and my instructor lengthened my stirrups two holes and repositioned my thigh a few times. That helped but I don’t remember feeling this spongy after a break before. I’ll try some half seating tomorrow and I love the alternating posting/sitting idea to help me build some muscle too.
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Keep in your mind the image of riding on your thighs instead of weighing your stirrups.
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I went through something similar after coming to dressage after some time away. To be honest - it was just a matter of time and fitness, and concentrating on not being tight through the hip and thigh. I rode the sitting trot without stirrups for the first few weeks until I re-developed the muscle memory to let my leg (particularly my thigh) hang AROUND the horse rather than into or ON the horse (for some reason thinking about almost ‘bowing’ or ‘scooping’ my thighs around the horse really helped me not feel like I was just propped on top.) Once that tightness in the hip/thigh had resolved, my core could operate better, I could ride a proper half-halt while still sitting the big gaits, etc. (and I was able to lengthen my stirrups.)
I did then go through a period where my lower leg was very bouncy, while I was re-learning how to maintain the elusive balance between stability and following! My trainer said this symptom is very common as people are developing their seat - and indeed, that problem also resolved itself within a few weeks simply through more riding/muscle memory building!
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The only thing that helps me is to consciously focus on relaxing my hip flexors. I’m not sure how to describe it, but as soon as I do relax my hips, I find it easier to go with my guy’s movement. Yoga helped me.
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“my hips are made of jelly. my hips are made of jelly. my hips are made of jelly.”
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I do not know if this will help, mainly because I ride Forward Seat and not Dressage.
My lower leg was wandering all over creation. With my MS I cannot feel where my lower legs are. My riding teacher got after me about my lower leg for years.
Then I read Chamberlin’s “Riding and Schooling”. There was one passage in which he said that a completely relaxed thigh resulted in the lower leg wandering all over the place.
So I started tensing my Rectus femoris muscle (front of thigh, top muscle reaching from the hip joint to the knee). My problem was solved. Yesterday I was doing one of my exercises, combining the “rider’s push-up” with the “Vertical Far” position, I get up into two point, lower my chest so it hit the horse’s mane bending at my hip joints, then I raised my chest and straightened my legs so all my weight went down into my ankle from my straight leg. Usually I have trouble keeping my lower leg from swinging back, but when I tense my Rectur femoris muscle some (NOT a lot) my lower leg stays stable all through this exercise.
I have absolutely no idea if tensing the Rectus femoris muscles would interfere with the draping of the rider’s legs.
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I think you’re absolutely right.
