Oh, interesting video, thanks for posting. I’m not sure why my skeleton does at the post, but putting weight/balance on inner thigh sounds about right. I want to see what it looks like with a trotting horse. I think if one is used to standing/bracing with the knee or stirrup to post, as I was, being told to close hip angle (without moving shoulders forward/leaning on the neck) may achieve similar “swinging motion” results??
After a week of riding with what feels like my heels shoved out in front of me like I’m water skiing, I feel that there is hope. It still feels strange, but when I ride past the office windows and see my reflection, it really does seem my shoulder, hip and heel are aligned.
Everything feels more stable and balanced. I feel more relaxed in the saddle. Lateral work is easier because my legs are at the girth. My trainer has been saying to keep my inside leg at the girth, but I wasn’t hearing it or understanding it in such a way that it made a difference.
It’s a little tweak but is making a big difference. I’ll have to see some video of myself to see if my lower leg really is quieter.
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I went through the same thing. I had been riding for YEARS with my leg about 1-2 inches to far back. A lot of things stabilized when I started getting my leg a little more underneath me (felt like on the dashboard). I also had significant gains in stamina because I wasn’t working so hard to balance!
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Yup, me three, for keeping leg actually under myself and just behind/at the girth, instead of too far back (actually, due to riding a horse with a dropped hip, on every other horse, I still had one leg too far back and the other one too far forward… talk about crooked and ineffective).
Glad you’re having progress!
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silly question perhaps.
how do you two point without stirrups without gripping with your knees? the only reason I personally haven’t done this (I ride without stirrups though but no two point) is I was worried itll teach me to grip.
Use your core and inner thigh for balance, with your lower leg under you (at the girth) for support. All parts of the leg should be “around” the horse/tack, without gripping anywhere, especially not with the knee! It’s an inner thigh workout, and most/all people have to work up to being able to go around and around – with, very importantly, an effective leg that communicates forward/straightness/etc with the horse! (otherwise, what’s the point) – without stirrups or over a course.
Better to take you time and build up muscles correctly, than attempt to just keep going w/o stirrups and creating incorrect muscle memory, because your knee (or lower leg) grips to compensate for lack of strength elsewhere. You want your leg to stay looong and down and around the horse – if you get tired and it starts to creep up, that’s a sure sign you’re gripping with the knee or lower leg to get yourself out of the tack (and if you do it without stirrups, there’s a good chance that’s what you do WITH stirrups too, when your leg gets tired, which is why it’s a no stirrup work is important to build those muscles.
No stirrups just highlights the weak spots. IME, if you develop a solid core and inner thigh on a horse, all other position issues (whether it’s lower leg or upper body or independent aids) are much easier to fix – or get fixed/developed/educated along the way).
This has to do with strength. You can strengthen your legs off the horse as well as on. Jennifer Kries total body toning has leg exercises.
That makes sense I suppose. I can’t get myself out of the saddle without stirrups at all. I tore my adductor pretty bad back when I partially dislocated my hip. I really don’t think I grip (in fact a while back my issue was my knees flapping off the saddle flap) but I think my personal issue with lower legs IS lack of strength related
my legs are horrid at a positing trot. They come off my horses side in the rise and back on when I sit. But it’s almost like when I sit I put all my wait in my saddle and my legs completely relax and then I use the stirrups to push myself back up. I can’t keep my legs super still but when I think of keeping them engaged I can’t go for very long before I tire. My calves especially burn. I literally can on trot one lap around the ring before I need to stop for a break. I’ve been riding bareback to try to help with that…
[QUOTE=Bristol Bay;n10131747
That thing about not lifting yourself up out of the saddle but letting the horse lift you is something that theoretically makes sense but when I try to ride that way, it doesn’t make any sense. [/QUOTE]
^this!
Another way to think about it is that gravity brings you down to the Earth. Think of another force that lets you go up so as you are not stuck to the Earth indefinitely. Let gravity gently lower you into the saddle and let the other force lift you out of the saddle.
Synthesis, I love your terminology. After two weeks of “feet on the dashboard” there are some things coming together.
One is that I’m sitting deeper in the saddle, and just now realizing I had a bit of a fork seat. Well, no wonder.
Another crazy thing is my ability to maintain contact has improved.
Makes me wonder why I was struggling all those years.
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hmm… I don’t have any experience with a torn adductor. i am wondering if your stirrups are too long? or if your saddle is unbalanced for you. And also how/when do you close your leg to ask your horse to go forward. Leg should be on with the inside hind leg, which is when you rise – Will it help to think to close your leg, as if you’re asking the horse to go forward, when you rise, but without gripping/clamping with your calf. If your knee is off the saddle, could you be gripping with your calf, and over-using that part of your leg to compensate for the adductor/lack of inner thigh muscle?
My trainer had some of her students who were weak in the inner thigh squeeze a rubber ball between their thighs, like the thigh master exercises. I don’t know if that would help? or if it’s doable with a torn adductor; I don’t want to suggest you do something to make that worse. Also, I don’t know if calves are supposed to burn? Pretty much everyone I know complained about their inner thigh, but not so much the calves.
I think you can practice keeping your leg around the horse and on/working while at the sitting trot, too, or try posting for a few steps, then sitting for a few, then posting, etc. It’s just remembering in your own head to keep at a correct, functional position every step.
In a clinic I rode in back in November, the clinician actually wanted me to LESSEN how much heel drop I had. Shoving your ankles down more isn’t always the solution. Ankles should be relatively neutral in position…with the heel only sitting slightly below the stirrup iron. Sitting above or below that, is where problems can start.
I also tend to have busy lower legs. Changing saddles etc didn’t overly seem to help. What did? Working out my legs and core, at the gym.
Squats, lunges, calf raises, hip abductors, planks, etc.
I’ve found since i slacked off at the gym, my leg has gotten busier again.
Note: I do not own my own horse, so more saddle time and riding stirrupless isn’t as easy as an option, without being expensive. My gym membership is less than $20 a month.
My Pilates DVD was on sale for $4.95. I picked up the 1 cm thick foam mat from the Salvos for $2.00.
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I have a CWD that fits me well and I ride with my stirrups pretty short (I hack and jump with the same length)
I don’t know if Im gripping with my calf. I don’t think so because my calf comes off the horse in the rise. the thigh squeeze is doable. i see a physiotherapist. its really about keeping my legs somewhat engaged i think. right now it seems like if im not focusing on my legs literally my whole lower body collapses and my seat is super heavy in the down portion. I have found that riding bareback with my legs in the position they would be in the saddle is very fatigueing on my legs (rather than just dangling them) so i have been doing that in hopes that it strengthens my legs.
I will add I have a pretty still leg at the canter. I have trouble with the sitting trot as my horse is super bouncy. I was good at sitting trot but she’s super bouncy so I only do very small amounts.
