100% dressage whip at home and a longer spur. I ride in very long spurs. I have long legs. But I have to move my leg too much (sometimes turning my heel too much up–I know, that’s not your problem) to use a shorter spur. If you have enough leg control for a short spur, you do for a long spur. I call them my pony spurs because they are left over from pony days, but the main reason I use them is because I will get into the habit of nagging, and the big spur encourages me to use it more purposefully and then take it away.
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I’d like to see your stirrups a bit longer (your leg looks a bit cramped to me in the current pic), and your horse a bit slimmer (less mass to get your leg around). I’m also short, but find that on horses with a bigger and wider barrel, I lengthen my stirrups a hole or two over where I ride horses with less barrel.
Remember that a horse can feel a fly on his skin, very sensitive. Even if you are not tall with long legs to wrap around the barrel, a cue is a cue. Watch the French guy (Lorenzo???) who controls 8 or 10 horses at a time while standing on the backs of two of them at the gallop out on a sand bar and over jumps with no reins attached… “cues and responses from skilled training”.
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For the SI at the rising trot, try changing your posting diagonal. (I haven’t had enough coffee to remember the reason why this works, but it goes hand-in-hand with why SI is often done at the sitting rather than rising trot.)
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Will try this ! Thank you.
Awwww he’s not fat he’s just fluffy. Just kidding. lol. Those pics are the setting I use over fences. I think it’s the 3rd hole on my children’s leathers. If I’m flatting only, I drop them down to the first hole. I just worry at that setting I won’t have enough room to get off his back over fences. But I can certainly try! While I do agree horses can feel a fly I do think that under saddle some horses really need a lot of leg. I wish I had the long slim equitation leg. And the requisite longer arm but alas I am a gnome. Thank you and everyone for your thoughts and input. I really appreciate it.
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HAHA… are you me? I ride a giant pony that’s 16.2 (actively approaching 16.3) warmblood baby and built like an elephant. I’m 5’2 and about 125. Thankfully, he’s proven to be very amateur friendly for the most part, but I often wonder if he has any idea that I’m even up there. He’s 6 and doesn’t turn 7 til April, so I’m still not sure he’s done growing. Big spurs, dressage whip, and voice commands are my go-to aids. He’s more whoa than go, so it’s a lot of work to keep him truckin’ along. I also suffer from the shortest arms… so people always think I’m pulling or that I have no contact… reality is that if I bend my elbow, it looks like I’m pulling… if I straighten my arms, they’re barely over the withers. So it is what it is…
The longer stirrups doesn’t work for me, since I need to get out of the tack to ride him in a half seat and with longer stirrups, I find it’s harder and I end up driving with my seat. The biggest challenge with the big horse in my world is just staying with so much power over the jumps. I’m used to more ponies and TBs, and he’s got quite the caboose, so stepping into my heels is something that I totally need to remind myself to every jump in order to stay with him. Doesn’t hurt that he also love to snap his knees up over even a crossrail. LOL. I’ve ridden some bigger horses in my day that were jumpers and eq horses, but some jumped flat and some went more to the base, so it’s a different feel with the hunter gap. For now, it’s just deep heels and lots of grabbing mane and praying for a growth spurt… in my 40s. LOL
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I’d actually take your spur off for your flatwork rides and carry a dressage whip.
I’m working on getting my giant 4 year old more sensitive to the leg right now and have taken my spurs off. If he doesn’t go from a light squeeze from the leg, he gets a tap with the whip. We start at the walk on a long rein and each time I change something (shorten the reins or change gaits), I check that he’ll still go forward from a light leg aid. Often he will not and we need a reminder from the whip.
He’s much better to the leg once his brain is turned on, so now I’m trying to focus on refining the response to the whip - getting him quicker to respond to a light tap versus going to a whack right away.
The second most important aspect of getting him quicker off a light leg aid is to take my legs off. I have to consciously think about taking my lower legs away from his barrel and count on him to keep going at the same speed. If he doesn’t, add a light leg aid and escalate from there. He needs to maintain speed with contact in the bridle without me having to add leg every stride.
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