Leaning on one side

[Slaptail]

I have been riding for around a year and a half in lessons and recently I’ve been having a problem where I put more weight in my right stirrup/seat bone.
It isn’t all that bad on smooth horses or at the walk on any horse but on horses with bigger trots/canters it is obvious and throws me off balance toward that side. It makes me put even more weight on to balance myself, which causes the saddle to slide and then I get even further and further off. Recently I’ve needed to readjust the saddle multiple times per lesson, even after checking the girth/tightening multiple times and having my instructor check, too.
Two months or so ago I started getting really bad ankle pain on that side, when I am posting the trot. I have a feeling it could be related to the leaning, that I am putting too much pressure on that ankle and it is causing the pain or that I am posting off of one leg somehow without realizing it.
I’ve tried putting a bit more weight than I usually do in my toe to try and take pressure off of the ankle, but it didn’t help at all.

How do I fix it? Lunge lessons aren’t an option, the barn I am at doesn’t do them (and neither do the other barns near me).

[Scribbler]

Why can’t you ask your trainer for a longe lesson? It is no big deal. Put a longing cavesson on under the bridle, keep your reins, just have the horse go on the 20 metre circle with a little extra control by your instructor, so that you can focus on your seat.

If your instructor completely refuses, then work on your seat without stirrups on a loose rein.

Often, the “obvious problem” in a problem with seat or balance is not the real problem. You are feeling this problem as a leaning towards one side that you can’t control. The pain is in your ankle. The problem is likely further up your body, and based in a tightness in your hip or side. Maybe one leg is shorter than the other. You might even have some scoliosis in the back. Putting more weight in one stirrup won’t help fix this.

Thoughts:

1. Go to a chiropracter or good massage therapist, and have your hips/pelvis/back evaluation for balance and symmetry. Start to work on these problems.

2. I am sure that this balance problem is not the only, or even the most significant, position problem you are having. I am guessing you are a beginner or maybe “advanced beginner” rider? How much clear instruction is your coach giving you on position, leg, pelvic tilt, etc? If your coach is not able to give much, try to get at least a few individual lessons with a better coach in your area, maybe at a clinic, or someone known for seat lessons.

3. Ride without stirrups, ride bareback, with a lose rein so you are not grabbing the horse in the face if you lose balance. You can do this on the longe line or not.

4. If you are a beginner, maybe you are just not ready to ride a bigger gait yet. Go back to riding the smoother horses, and practise your position and ride without stirrups.

5. Check the saddle! If you are in a lesson program, the saddles could be old and worn out. Are the stirrup leathers symmetrical? Are they the same length? Is the saddle correctly stuffed, or is it flatter on one side? Do the saddles fit you more or less?

[tbchick84]

Drop your left stirrup or make it a hole longer so it feels like you’re off balance (which is what you cannot feel now) and ride that way until you develop new muscle memory.

[Pennywell_Bay]

http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?487148-Leaning-kid-out-of-ideas

I had a kid riding one of my horses that leaned. She leaned so much she fell off. 2ce. Update to this thread (note: kid got checked by a doctor):

1. Kid checks her girth. Sounds like a no brainer but check it (horse had a custom saddle that fit him).
2. No stirrup work.
3. Developed her core (not just on the horse)
4. She leaned to the right so we shortened her right stirrup (when we let her have stirrups)
5. Now her stirrups are proper length, even. She constantly has to think about her position (she’s tall and kind of awkward as she is growing).

We also tried many different saddles, brands a few sizes. The trainer was kind enough to let us cycle through them.

[2tempe]

IMO, if your trainer isn’t all over you about your seat and position, you should find a new trainer. I don’t mean to sound harsh, but I’ve had some similar position issues, and only when I found a trainer who was big-time focused on the rider’s seat and aids, did things correct.

[Slaptail]

I’m a minor and i’m not sure if my parents health insurance would cover a chiropracter, which is why I wanted to try asking for advice first before asking my parents to take me.
I am right around advanced-beginner. My coach gives me instruction on position/leg, but not much on pelvic tilt. She was the one who pointed out the balance issue and she is trying to get me to become aware of it and become even. I live in a really rural area, there aren’t many instructors and I don’t know many of the horsey people around here.
The balance problem is probably the biggest out of all of my problems, it definitely isn’t the only one, though, but I think it is keeping me from fixing my other problems (which probably stem from the balance issue).

I’m pretty sure my instructor doesn’t do lunge lessons, even with the complete beginners. If they can’t control their horse, she runs beside it with a whip/lead to control it. She wouldn’t be thrilled if I asked her to do that for the amount of time in my lessons that I am trotting/cantering.
And even then, that isn’t the only issue with it. I don’t take lessons by myself, I ride with my mother and she wouldn’t be able to give me a lunge lesson while also watching my mom.
So I think lunge lessons are just out of the picture.

I ride without stirrups for a couple minutes in my lessons, but it is only at the walk. I only ride in lessons, and I’ve never ridden bareback so I think that too is out of question, at least atm. The horse I usually ride has a really rough trot and a canter that i’m not sure I could do without stirrups. To ride without stirrups I would need to be on a different horse, at least for the first few times.

However, I can’t pick which horse I ride.
A lot of the saddles that are used on the lesson horses are old saddles and the leathers seem decent, but I haven’t looked at them closely and they could be stretched. Ill try and look when I go to my next lesson.
Most of the saddles i’ve ridden in fit me decently.

[QUOTE=tbchick84;8663235]
Drop your left stirrup or make it a hole longer so it feels like you’re off balance (which is what you cannot feel now) and ride that way until you develop new muscle memory.[/QUOTE]

I will try that next lesson, thank you!

[QUOTE=Pennywell Bay;8663253]http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?487148-Leaning-kid-out-of-ideas

I had a kid riding one of my horses that leaned. She leaned so much she fell off. 2ce. Update to this thread (note: kid got checked by a doctor):

1. Kid checks her girth. Sounds like a no brainer but check it (horse had a custom saddle that fit him).
2. No stirrup work.
3. Developed her core (not just on the horse)
4. She leaned to the right so we shortened her right stirrup (when we let her have stirrups)
5. Now her stirrups are proper length, even. She constantly has to think about her position (she’s tall and kind of awkward as she is growing).

We also tried many different saddles, brands a few sizes. The trainer was kind enough to let us cycle through them.[/QUOTE]

Thanks, I will try these! Are there any specific exercises to work on my core that I should do, both on and off the horse?

[2tempe]

OK, plan B. In addition to the above suggestions, try putting your left shoulder back and also down, and riding with your left hand lower. Then think about your left seatbone riding towards that lowered hand. Its going to feel really strange, but it will help get your body centered and straight.
Do not get frustrated, it will take lots of repetition, you will fall back to old habit when tired or unsure, but just keep at it.

Good luck.

[Tuesday_s_Child]

Ditto those who suggested putting your left stirrup down a hole/right one up. I had a coach do that to me a month or so ago and it’s helping - felt funny at first but after a ride or two I got used to it! My stirrups were on the same numbered hole, but once I had my mare tacked up, the right one was longer (and felt SHORTER to me!). She has some unevenness in her shoulders as well that I think we have been throwing each other off for quite some time now.

As for the lunge/no stirrups suggestions - TALK to your instructor! Tell her you are really serious about getting a solid foundation and want to work on your position. Ask if she can let you work on no stirrups stuff, if she’s dead set against lunge lessons or it won’t work out because you ride with your mom. On the bouncier horses you may need to start out just with a few strides of trot at a time, maybe even with a finger hooked under the front of the saddle or a neck strap. I think having some unstructured riding time for you to play around and figure some of this stuff out at your own pace might be beneficial (if you are competent enough to do so of course). Maybe see if you can hop on and start your warm up 5-10 minutes earlier than your lesson start time, and try some no stirrups stuff on your own - likely your instructor is teaching another lesson then and can keep half an eye on you for safety reasons?

As for core workouts, I noticed a difference doing plank exercises. They work all your core muscles (back too), as opposed to something like crunches that mostly just work your abs. Try looking up some pilates exercises as well, they have a great focus on using your core and breathing effectively.

[Velvet]

Read this thread:

http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?352775-Crooked-rider-crooked-horse

[Slaptail]

My instructor allows me to get on and start warming up, but only at the walk (which I do without stirrups). She won’t let me ride outside of lessons for a bit longer.
I will definitely ask about lunge lessons and no stirrups, but if not then I will just have to keep lowering the stirrups and trying the other suggestions!
Hopefully she will allow me to ride out of lessons soon so that I have more time to practice.
I started doing leg raises a few days ago to strengthen my core, but I will try doing plank too!

[no.stirrups]

You are focusing on your right side being the problem, when really the problem is on the left. Most people have one side stronger than the other, for you it is your right side. So you unconsciously shift your weight over to the right, so your stronger right side can support the majority of your weight. This makes your right side even stronger, allows your left side to get even weaker, and makes you even more crooked!

The solution is to deliberately shift your weight to the left. Force your weak left side to carry it’s share of the weight, or more. It will feel weird to your legs, but from the hips up it should feel much better since you will be straighter through your spine. As your left leg gets stronger, it will feel much more normal.

Longe lessons from a person who doesn’t know how to give longe lessons are not likely to be productive, and may even be counter-productive. You and your trainer can both benefit from a copy of the book The Training Tree for Riders. It has loads of tips for longe lessons, and exercises for riders that would benefit from longe lessons but don’t have access to them, too.

[Velvet]

??? Getting heavy in a stirrup is most often created by one side collapsing. If you are falling to the right GENERALLY that would imply the left side is collapsing the hip. The way to know this is if you turn in more to the left, if the left shoulder is lower, or if the hand is further back to the hip. Making the left the currently (it can change back and forth) stronger leg. Lengthening stirrups won’t even out the hips. What does work is to have help fixing the root cause, which is the seat. And also addressing any tendencies the rider has to close and clutch with the stronger side.

Think about it, if you draw up and in on a side, your weight goes out to the other side. A way to test this is to think about which side the horse tends to fall into, because they don’t lie and will always give you away. The side they fall harder against is the one where the weight has shifted to. They do this to get under you, like you would do with an unevenly weighted backpack. The less intuitive part of this is to realize your other side is the current problem. It is clutching and you need to do two things to get more even. You have to relax the aids on the clutching side and actually turn your upper body so the shoulders face towards the side the horse falls into. At that time you should feel the formerly clutching side’s hip move forward and the leg stretch down and long.

[Slaptail]

I don’t get what you’re saying, Velvet. Do you mean that my left side is the stronger one or that I am collapsing my left side, which is making my right heavy?
If my left side is clutching and that is what is causing leaning to the right, then what I need to do is relax my left side?

[atlatl]

Ah, if only we could do a Vulcan hip meld or something. I tend to weight my left side more than my right. What I do repeatedly, throughout every.single.ride is check my self to see if I’m evenly weighting my seat bones. My mantra is “even hips, even hips, even hips.”

It will take practice and time to make sitting evenly your new “normal.”

All the advice about improving your core strength is good, but the real change is made in the saddle. Ask your instructor to help you and point out when you’re not even. Also, other exercises that emphasize having even hips, like ugh running, are also good.

Good Luck!

[Pennywell_Bay]

[QUOTE=atlatl;8664327]

It will take practice and time to make sitting evenly your new “normal.”

All the advice about improving your core strength is good, but the real change is made in the saddle. Ask your instructor to help you and point out when you’re not even. Also, other exercises that emphasize having even hips, like ugh running, are also good.

Good Luck![/QUOTE]

It took weeks of “left, left, left” from trainer and the parents and myself for the kid to really know she was uneven and WORK on it. There is no easy fix, but really being conscious of where you are in the saddle.

[Velvet]

[QUOTE=Slaptail;8664235]
I don’t get what you’re saying, Velvet. Do you mean that my left side is the stronger one or that I am collapsing my left side, which is making my right heavy?
If my left side is clutching and that is what is causing leaning to the right, then what I need to do is relax my left side?[/QUOTE]
Okay, to make it more clear…you are grabbing more with your left, which pushes you then over to the right too far. Yes, you need to release more on the left, and to stretch it out by turning your body to the right. Think of riding along the rail and going to the left. When doing that, turn your upper body to face the wall. Then, feel what your hip on the left does. It should open the hip angle and move a bit forward. If you are also relaxing your legs, the left should start to even out…not that you will feel particularly even in the saddle, because changes like this often make you feel a bit crooked in your seat until you learn the new balance.

Straighten your upper body to face forward, leaving your lower body with the newly opened left hip and longer left leg. Do this whenever you feel you are falling out to the right. The degree of turning to the outside with the upper body will decrease as you learn to reset your position more and more quickly. Remember, the upper body is only helping you force your hip open, into the new position. This is about the seat and collapsing. If someone focuses on a shoulder higher or lower, they are only looking at a symptom. Not the root cause. The root cause is the seat and hips, and then the leg, and sometimes hand (if it likes to crossover the horse’s neck) which will make it worse and feed the issue. Once you are straighter, you should feel the horse more evenly balanced between the legs, and he won’t fall out over to one side or the other to catch you anymore.

[alibi_18]

Me thinks your saddle isn’t fitted properly/girth not tighten enough.

Your saddle shouldn’t slide even if you are leaning on one side or another. You shouldn’t need to readjust your saddle at mid-ride.

When a saddle is too loose, without realizing it, the first reaction is to grab it with our upper legs/knees. Which make us loose our balance/get unstable, … leading to shifting our weight…

Fix the saddle issue first.
Walk 15 min : tighten the girth.
Trot 5 min : tighten the girth.
Start working : Check girth - tighten if needed.
Usually, there’s no need to tighten more than 3 times in a ride.
If your saddle is still turning after that… tighten some more or change the saddle because it doesn’t fit at all.

[Velvet]

Um, well, you also never want a saddle cranked to the point where it is uncomfortable for the horse. And if a horse has a more round shaped barrel and lower withers, there is no such thing as a well fitted saddle that will not shift if a rider is constantly leaning.

[Wicky]

Try this exercise. Post the trot on a 20 meter circle. Drop your outside stirrup. Can you post an entire circle? Pick up the stirrup and drop the inside stirrup. Is this easier or harder? Post an entire circle. Pick up the stirrup, reverse directions, and repeat. Is one stirrup harder to drop and post no matter what direction you are going or is it always the inside or outside stirrup that is harder to post? What do you notice with respect to your position with each of the four options?

[alibi_18]

[QUOTE=Velvet;8664705]
Um, well, you also never want a saddle cranked to the point where it is uncomfortable for the horse. And if a horse has a more round shaped barrel and lower withers, there is no such thing as a well fitted saddle that will not shift if a rider is constantly leaning.[/QUOTE]

Who said cranking the girth?!?
A loose girth is as bad as a too tight girth anyway…and way more dangerous…
Maybe this trainer thinks like you and prefer loose girths thinking the kids will learn to balance themselves on sliping saddles?!? :rolleyes:

The OP is talking about multiple lesson horses. Not just one round pony.

The OP said she had to readjust the saddle and re-tighten the girth multiple times in her lessons. This is NOT normal.

If the girth is tighten correctly, the saddle shouldn’t move around. If the horse is too round/ni withers, they should have figured out ways to keeping the saddle in place (cruper/anti slip pads/anti slip girth…) and the wisest thing would be NOT to put a student with leaning problems on it anyway as it is dangerous.