Needing Tips/Advice for keeping a quiet lower leg in posting trot

[Smthn_Like_Olivia]

Hello All,
I’m an adult just getting back into riding after about 25 years. I started learning dressage last May and am obsessed! I purchased my first horse, a safe and sane 18 yr old mare, last December, but we are both, however, green to dressage. She is very forgiving and learns quickly, but I have a lot of fixing to do with myself in order to keep her progressing. We typically ride 5 days a week and lesson once a week with a trainer. We have a schooling show coming up on April 30th and a lot to work on from now until then.

I video every ride to take note of my errors but despite my best efforts, I cannot seem to maintain a good leg position in posting trot. I feel like I am posting too much off my stirrups and in an effort to keep my heels down, when I post, my toes are pointed completely outwards. It looks awful and my legs look like flapping wings. Because of this, I also struggle to maintain a balance and rhythm in my horse and keep her straight or going in the direction we need to go. At walk or even canter, I do not have this problem because my legs are virtually still.

This forum is filled with so many knowledgeable riders that I’m hoping someone can help me tackle this and develop a better seat in a posting trot. How do I post without using my legs so much??

[scruffy_the_cat]

Your lower leg will be busy if you are gripping too much with your thigh. Release your thigh and the weight will come down your lower leg and it will become quieter. Stiff boots will help this by making gripping of any part of your leg impossible. You will be forced to ride from your seat and core and everything will quiet down. Your toes will come in and your weight will naturally go into your heels, too.

You can imagine if you are one of those marionettes with just a bar across for the hips and the legs just dangling down. No tension anywhere from below your core. Drapey towel legs.

Lots of good images in Sally Swift’s book, too.

[soloudinhere]

you really want to think about the post coming from your abs and the front of your thighs. “hips to your hands” might be the visual. If you’re leaning on your toes/stirrups you are probably also rolled forward on your crotch, so this can help tuck your butt and open the front of your body as well.

My lower leg was quite obnoxious to watch until I stopped kicking my leg forward in an effort to get my heel down and underneath me. Keeping a level heel, wrapping the whole leg down and around the horse, and posting from the front of the body are what fixed it. Once you can do this, the toe will come in because you will be controlling your motion from your thigh and core.

It takes quite a bit of strength to do. I think buying stiff boots if you’re still in the phase of trying to drive your heel down will make your life more difficult as you’ll just feel like you can’t stay on the horse.

Make the front of your body longer than your back and post from the bellybutton. You’ll find you won’t need the stirrups at all to post from this mechanical position.

[Bogey2]

good advice from scruffy, also rotate your heel out and think “kneeling” when you post.

[Smthn_Like_Olivia]

Yes! Thank you! When I am legging forward, especially at the trot, I always feel myself applying pressure with the underside portion of my calves. I need to train myself to be more conscious of this!

[Lusoluv]

Also, in addition to all the great ideas above, don’t post too high! You barely need to clear the saddle as you re-learn how to post. The closer you stay to your horse’s center with your center, the less flailing about occurs Your hips should slightly glide towards your hands vs. popping straight up and down - which draws you slightly behind your horse’s forward movement.

[IdahoRider]

@Smthn_Like_Olivia;8604587

I feel like I am posting too much off my stirrups and in an effort to keep my heels down, when I post, my toes are pointed completely outwards.

I spent years posting from my stirrups. And I had a very loose, unstable foot and leg because of it.

I started to fix that when an instructor told me to start thinking of the rising movement as a growing up from my core/hips and not as a lifting up from my foot.

This made all the difference in the world and once my leg (and feet) quieted, so many other things started to fall into place. I found that my foot position in the stirrup improved because I was no longer moving my heel around as I moved up from the ball of my foot.

Good luck!
Sheilah

[GallopingOn]

Try holding a yoga ball or large beach ball between your legs ( like the horse’s barrel ) and pretend to post without dropping the ball or squeezing with your knees. You will know if you squeeze your knees because it will distort the shape of the ball and if you squeeze your thighs, you will have a difficult time rotating your hips. Tight thighs or quads = tight hips.
Scissor kicks at the beginning of every ride helps to loosen your hips. Once your hips are loose enough to allow your horse to push you up into a post, remember what your lower leg felt while ‘posting’ with the yoga ball.

Hope that helps

[MissAriel]

A lot of good advice already. You may find it easier to implement these techniques while riding on the longe line if your horse and trainer are amenable. It helps to be able to focus on your legs and core without worrying about hands and steering at the same time.

Give it time. It takes time to develop the strength for an independent seat and steady legs. It will come with proper training and hours in the saddle.

[Hayburner]

I’m in the same “club”, and relearning the posting trot. You probably learned. Heels down. Don’t think heels down , pushing down causes your lower leg to move. Let it rest in stirrup and use your thighs to rise. Make sure your knees are well bent, but not gripping, put your weight in your knees.

[scruffy_the_cat]

Some days I just pull my legs completely off the horse and just ride like that for a while. Usually my horse gives a big sigh of relief. Works a treat rather instantly. The other bonus of getting your legs off is that you sort of instantly become less “sided” or collapsed on one side.

Half-chaps are the kiss of death for a problem leg like this one. Keep that in mind.

[Smthn_Like_Olivia]

Thank you all! This all makes sense and helps a lot and I will start trying to re-learn this tomorrow. I feel like all of this has contributed to my ineffectiveness at the trot. I struggle keeping her forward because I can’t find any fluidity between posting and executing leg yields. At times I’ve found myself sitting the trot to leg her forward, then posting again. The awkwardness in my posting also makes my transitions difficult and unbalanced. My core is admittedly weak, but I am working on it!

I did a clinic in Jan with a GP rider whom I absolutely adore and I felt like we looked a hot mess! Lol. He is returning next month and I am determined to show him a dramatic improvement in my riding!

[Samantha37]

I’m working through this myself right now. I’ve tied my stirrups to the girth for the last couple of rides (at my instructor’s recommendation) to really help build the muscle memory that I’m struggling with!

[Scribbler]

A lot of this is strength and flexibility, and will improve over time. Depending on how your legs are hung from your body, it may be easy or very slow to develop the correct toes more-or-less forward position. Some great little kids riders have it from the start, others are already good enough to jump and show, while their toes point out

Dressage instructors are far less likely than hunter/jumpers to do posting without stirrups and two-point exercises, but they are very useful for dressage riders too.

Some longe lessons to work on basic balance would also be good.

You might also consider temporarily shortening your stirrups a few holes to give you more stability, especially if you are fighting to keep your feet in the stirrups and your toes up. I’ve learned that the length of leg riding has less to do with the actual length of one’s leg standing up, and more to do with the flexibility of the hip muscles and the amount of bulge in the inner thigh. This is why skinny folks can ride with a seemingly longer leg than the rest of us :).

Finally, if you have a massage therapist or chiropractor, ask if there is any imbalance in your legs or hips, or curve in your back (scoliosis). These can all affect your balance and position in complicated ways.

One thing to keep in mind is that the visible or obvious position flaw in riding is often not the actual cause of the problem. A good friend was diagnosed with mild scoliosis recently, in her late 30s after a lifetime of riding, and has realized this impacts the eveness of her hips, and is responsible for the fact her legs always fly back and she tilts forward. And she can’t get her toes pointing forward to save her life. So the problem with your legs could be originating further up the body, or just be a basic balance problem that some longe lessons could help solve.

[Velvet]

Listen to Scribbler. I would have posted the same advice. Ride without stirrups. Post and 2-point without them. Then sit (which also helps the sitting trot). When riding without stirrups lift the toe with the muscles on the FRONT of your leg (think the ones that run up the shin). Honestly, this is one of the best ways to also learn better balance. If you do it too much you can build up the wrong muscles, but by the way it sounds, you are a long way from those concerns right now.

[MysticOakRanch]

Lots of good advice already. One very simple trick that can help - spread your toes. This forces you to stop swinging your leg, and forces you to stop “jamming” your heels. It actually does help stabilize your leg.

[right_horse_at_the_right_time]

Take a lesson with a very good biomechanics clinician so that he or she can see exactly what is going on with you, your saddle, and your horse.

I had to think of posting from the front of my thighs, and I had to imagine a bar through one knee, thriugh the horse, and out the other side. Knees are anchored but not at all squeezing.

[merrygoround]

Among all the other pieces of advice keep in mind that "heels down " can lock your ankle, and stiffen your lower leg. It is more important that as you ride, you feel the weight dropping down through your heels with a relaxed lower leg that is quietly attached to the horses side. This will allow your inner calf to lie by his side, and be available for a squeeze.

As far as rising goes, keep your shoulders over your hips, and lead the up ward phase up and forward, from the hips.

[Boo]

I haven’t read all the above but something i’ve seen work time and time again is actually standing up in the saddle at trot (on a safe horse). Not 2 or 3 point but actually standing up and keeping heel hip alignment as much as possible. The strength this builds is amazing and creates an incredibly secure lower leg that doesn’t move.

[mtngirl]

This will sound weird, but it helped me a lot.

Do this on a lunge line first! While at a halt, let your legs hang straight down…then put your HEEL on the front of the stirrup. (Be careful not to wedge your heel too tight, and DO NOT do this with spurs). I started with one leg at a time, at a walk. For me, if I bared down too hard, or pointed my toes, I’d lose the stirrup…I had to keep my leg quiet in order to keep my heel on the edge of the stirrup. I’d practice this at a walk, then posting trot. It was VERY hard for me to do in posting trot!

BUT, for me it worked. After practicing that for a few minutes on the lunge, first with one leg, then the other, then both legs, my legs got quieter.

Be forewarned that this can make you quite sore at first and it takes practice. If your legs swing, especially out in front if you, you will not be able to keep your heel on the stirrup.