THIS. I completely agree. I appreciate the solidarity!!
Thank you all so much for replying!! Iām taking each and every idea into practice and going to see what works! I did have a bit more success on my last ride until my right leg went rogue and decided to do bizarre thingsā¦but nonetheless I feel these will help! Iām sure I will be posting here quite often because dressageā¦well I want us to be friends but right now itās a bit of a frenemy. Practice makes perfect though?
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Oh, man, a lot has happened since that session, but I think I remember a few:
Standing poses were Warrior, Triangle, and Tree pose, also some Downward Dog transitions in there.
Seated poses - Pigeon, Bharadvajasana I (I donāt know the ācuteā name for this one), Bound Angle, Shin-on-Shin.
I think there was a Frog lunge pose in there as well.
You can Google āhip openersā and get some more ideas.
I have no solutions, but I can definitely commiserate. Even when Iām standing on the ground relaxed, I have natural ātoed outā conformation. If I force my toes forward in the saddle, my foot is not level across the stirrup-- my only contact point on the stirrup becomes the outside of my foot. You can see daylight between the inside bottom of my foot and the stirrup and it HURTS to ride like that. (the same thing happens if I try to stand with my toes pointed forward)
Iāve been trying to stretch and rotate my hips, but Iāve never made much progress. I have been taking notes reading some of these ideas!
Hijack question: are there any brands of stirrups that flex up and down on a lateral plane? (thatās probably a bad description). Or have an angled foot bed sloping down to the outside? Iām thinking an english equivalent of this, because the picture of the traditional stirrup is pretty my problem when I turn my toes forward. Do the offset irons work like this?
Because that is something I feel would help me keep my hip rotated and in the correct position. The pain of my feet being unlevel in the stirrups as they turn inward makes the entire process of unlocking my hips slower.
Awesome! Thank you!
I love sunsetās comment about kissy dogs when your on the mat, as I have a dog who likes to āhelpā me with my Salute to the Sun yoga routine every morning. I am training him to do ādownward dogā on command! We are all slightly misaligned physically in so many ways. I personally am going to try the āeyes closedā a bit to feel what my errant right leg is up to. Gently jiggling of the rider leg, (first done by my coach) and consciously relaxing all the way up, seems to do it. Inward hip rotation is always easier the day after yoga - so along with pilates, its a real go to.
Here is a list of hip stretches from Dressage Today:
http://dressageridertraining.com/blog/improve-hip-mobility-6-stretches/
I do stretches most nights before bedālying on the yoga mat and stretching makes me sleepy so I kill 2 birds with one stone!
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If you trust your horse, try dropping your stirrups and walking around the arena for 10 minutes or so at the beginning of your rider, stretching your thigh down and back (the pulling the thigh back thing can help). If itās hard to get both back, do one at a time to start. I find the walking motion of the horse to be very helpful for gently encouraging my hip flexors to loosen in a way I canāt achieve off the horse. Occasionally one will try to cramp, but just relax the stretch a little, but stick with it and keep the horse walking, and the spasm will dissipate. Once youāre able to go around with thighs on the saddle and vertical, you can even swing one foot back and hold it behind you for a bigger hip stretch (but be ready to release if you start getting a hamstring spasm).
Ido Portal on YouTube is huge on hip mobility, so you might try searching his vids.
