Okay, I need ideas. Is it me, the horse, or both of us… Tracking left, posting trot. My right (outside) leg keeps wanting to come markedly forward. This is a fairly new development, and I can’t quite seem to put a finger on why. It’s coming enough forward to make me feel twisted in the saddle. It does not happen when tracking right.
So, is it the horse? If so, why and how do I fix it? Or is it me, and if so, how do I fix it?
I need some ideas to try. Thanks!
yoga and tai chi has given me amazing awareness and control over my body parts. Highly recommend
If you can, have someone video you , so that you can see what is happening with your body.
You may be compensating for the weak side of your torso and thus trying to make your aid stronger.
If you are comfortable and trust your horse, you can try dropping your stirrups. This is generally a good way to tell if you are sitting evenly on both seat bones.
You may also want to check that your stirrups are hanging evenly .
Your horse may also be weak on that side, so that is something to check also. Video may be useful here, also.
Hope this helps.
I would start by looking at what the effect is on the horse. Is she still bending and traveling correctly on a single track on the circle? What happens when you ride a smaller circle? You could put out cones to ride through to test this out, and of course video helps. When my horse is traveling to the hollow side, her tendency if for the haunches to come in, so I have less need to guard the haunches with my outside leg. However, going to the other direction, I have to ride with almost an intention of haunches in to get a correct bend on a smaller circle.
If your leg coming forward is allowing the haunches to drift out and the horse is losing the bend, then you’ll need to address the issue. I would work on it in walk, changing circle size frequently. If your horse does lateral work, doing a few steps of HI, then SI, the renvers, etc. can make you more conscious of your aids. You can also simply try leg-yielding in off of whatever line you are riding to see if your outside aids are effective.
Your position does not need to be static and as prescribed for doing whatever specific thing. It should be functional for achieving the line/movement you are riding.
Also check your saddle. I hate fighting against a saddle.
I find that a lot of riders have a preferential diagonal seat, either to the R or L. Most people aren’t ambidextrous and are one-sided to some degree. The OP says this is a new development, but I bet you’ve just noticed it - it’s been there all along, but now you’re feeing it. Most of my students have irregularities: one shoulder they carry higher or lower than the other side, one leg that likes to remain more forward than the other, a seatbone heavier regardless of direction they’re traveling, etc. A rider at my barn just started lessons with me - she’s been riding here for 3+ years. She said her horse always leans in/turns too sharply when tracking right. I saw right away her R shoulder is lower, her ribcage hollow. I described this too her and she was puzzled. I took several pics on her phone when she was trotting towards and away from me. This was AFTER I told her and encouraged her to stretch tall, etc. She was horrified when she saw the pics - said she never would have believed the degree to which she did this if she hadn’t seen it. She made some “funny feeling” changes and her horse totally changed his R hand turns. It was uncomfortable for her, but her horse went better. She asked why her other trainer never told her about this. Good question!
It’s a lifelong endeavor to make the rider and horse even 
@lusoluv - you say perhaps it’s been there all along and I’m just now noticing it… No arguing here, but let’s discuss please and thank you! (and it absolutely is a lifelong endeavor!) Why now…would be my first question. This ain’t my first rodeo, lol, but some things with my horse changed in the last 2 weeks. Shoer made a modification to her hind shoes (she is NPA) and now she’s going unbelievably well, better than she ever has. But it makes me wonder if now that she’s moving so well, something has changed…? Not doing a good job explaining here. For reference she’s an OTTB, I have her 4 years and have done all the retraining.
It only happens in the posting trot, not sitting. Doesn’t happen in the canter. If I had to exaggerate it, I would tell you my right leg wants to come so far forward I could swing it over her neck, and that’s just plain weird.
When tracking left, she wants to drop that shoulder, and give a false bend. Usually I ride that direction a bit leg yield feeling so I get that left hind under her, and use my outside (right) rein to remind her not to fall on that shoulder.
Tracking right, she wants to be crooked to the left, and I try to keep a bit of a haunches-in feeling.
I am going to play with a bunch of different options when I ride today and try to pin this down a bit more. One is I’m going to get off the circle and trot some straight lines and see if that helps. If it does, then something we are doing on the circle is creating this.
And no, I’m not ruling out my own crookedness.
Updating after today’s ride, for my own benefit if nothing else. First off, my right knee is killing me. I have arthritis in it, and lately it’s been really aggravated. When I try to put weight in the stirrup, it hurts. Letting my leg come somewhat forward and up alleviates the pain. Reminding myself to pay attention to this helped me.
My horse. Couple things. One, getting her more firmly into the outside (right) rein helped a lot. Even a little counter-bend here n there. I set up cones to ride a 20m circle completely off the rail, so no cheating that way. It feels like she’s guarding or avoiding something. Entirely possible, I know this mare pretty well, combined with having adjusted her shoeing and she may well be telling me something hurts.
What else. Warmed up with a lot of walking serpentines and 10m circles paying strict attention to correct bend and weighting of hind legs. Making sure my seat was even and my legs were. Looked down at my toes a few times to see if my feet were even on both sides (they were). Shoulder in, counter shoulder in. Haunches in. Leg yield.
Trot work, spent time first just going smartly forward, then started bringing it back/up then forward again. Tracking right, she did this very well. Tracking left - the side I’m struggling with - she did not do so well. Kept wanting to just fall on the forehand rather than actually bring her balance rearward. She slows down fine, but the ‘sit’ part was missing. Usually, going left is easier than going right, so that’s another “tell” that something physically may be amiss.
I think I will just keep riding like I did today - with lots of awareness, and go back to lots of correct walking, until I can noodle this out further.
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