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Ineffective right leg. Advice plz?

To make a long story short, my right leg is my “bad” leg. I have problems in my hip, knee and ankle.
I have trouble putting my leg on when riding. And my horse knows it. My trainer calls it “right leg syndrome.” 🥲

Recently I noticed in ALL my pics from events that my right toe is turned in.
What can I do to get over this….is there a type of stirrup that can help me? Any advice appreciated !

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Stretching and PT exercises.

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McTimony Chiropractor, Pilates, yoga, swimming

Feldenkrais!

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I would distinguish between where your leg naturally falls, and how effective it is. Work on effectiveness, and don’t worry about position.

I have two friends with distinctly asymmetrical foot position. Since I’m primarily a dressage rider, I register that one of their feet sticks out too much :slight_smile: rather than that one is too straight ahead. But it’s the same thing you show.

For both, it’s a known problem in the hips or pelvis. One also has mild scoliosis. The other has a diagnosed hip anomaly but I have forgotten the name.

I expect you have an asymmetry at the hip or pelvis level and it sounds like you already know that. I would suggest a sports physical therapy appointment to get a clear sense of what your limitations are, and then off the horse exercise targeted to ameliorating this.

You need to be able to squeeze, to two point, and to move your leg around for different aids. You don’t need to have your toes pointing right off the horse for this, like a 9 year old pinching with the calves over cross poles :). Toes pointing straight out is not an inherently functional jumper position. But being able to squeeze for aids and stay up in two point matter.

PT may be able to give you exercises or you can continue on to the various good suggestions given above. But first find out what your functional limitations really are. It changes things if you have scoliosis or an uneven pelvis, etc.

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Thank you scribbler, you make some good points.

I do a lot off the horse to help my strength, flexibility and fitness. I suppose I could do more yoga!
I’ve never been to a sports doc for my lower half…may be worth the try. Giving birth definitely rearranges things :flushed:

When I jump, I want to be able to put my calf on actually. Not my knees or heels. I don’t want my toes sticking out East and west, but if I have them pointing straight forward it takes my leg off. In this case my right leg.

I’m Wondering if I can make any adjustments to my tack to help me get there :wink:

I would start with trying to adjust your body, honestly. There’s no magic stirrup for asymmetrical human bodies.

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You may try an offset spur on that side that angles in bit. They can custom make such a thing.

I agree that this is likely something in you hips/pelvis. I work with a guy (technically a chiropractor although he no longer has that kind of practice) who does a form of soft tissue manipulation called Active Release Technique and I also weight lift with a trainer he recommended a couple times a week. Getting my posterior chain stronger (reversing quad dominance) has had more benefit for my riding than any other off horse fitness I’ve ever done–and I’ve done them all. I know I can see a butt sweat mark in my saddle that’s off center, go get worked on and be majorly improved the next day.

On tack you might find a stirrup that has a twist in the the leather insert might help. It helps me deal with an offset patella issues. The wider footbed helps too.
http://mdcstirrups.com/welcome.html
Or possibly play with a stirrup pad that is raised on one side to better distribute weight across the bottom of your foot. That may not solve the physical part but it might give you a bit better base of support. The reality is you may make some improvement with therapy but doubtful you make a compete change so figuring how to maximize where you end up will be key.

Look for help from professionals who work with pro athletes if you can. Take these pictures!

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Clearly I need to change something up off the horse .
Some great ideas here…I’m definitely going to start asking more questions and researching.

Thanks y’all

These pictures would be interesting from the back, too. I wonder if you’d see the crookedness in you pelvis/rear end and see how it is impinging on the drap of your leg?

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Weird question: do you have any shoulder disfunction on the right side?

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Yes! I partially tore my supraspinatus (sp?) 5 years ago. Did PRP and tons of PT. Still not quite right

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I have had the same problem.
I can tell you a few things that are “make it or break it”.
Number one, you have the weight rolled to the outside of your right foot. That takes your calf off, cramps in at the front of your hip joint, shoves your right sitting bone back, and just generally makes a mess of things.
Now, of course is this the chicken or is this the egg? Bodies are all connected everywhere so you can’t really break that down easily. Anything that’s as obvious as this in your foot is also happening up in your pelvis and ricocheting up the rest of your body column as well.

I have had fantastic luck with the Franklin balls, and an instructor who really targets biomechanics. That’s more common in dressage, So you may need to do a little cross discipline excursion to get to the bottom of this.

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