Lol! Yes, sorry - altho that’s a funny image!
Two-ups, you post your trot and stay up for two beats instead of one. It sounds simple but trust me, if there’s something wrong with your position you won’t be able to stay up. I was in a clinic last week where the clinician had us start with two-ups in our warm up and I quickly discovered my knee was too closed against the saddle. And my legs were BURNING!
thanks I will definitely have to try that
and yeah, I lol’d when it came up with the motorcycle riders- I was like thatttt is probably not what it means haha
Eventer here. How do we condition for 2-point? Lots of 2-point. Lots and lots of 2-point. I generally need to get to 20 minutes of 2-point at the canter to be ready for the season.
It kills the back and abs the first few weeks. I work up from 5 minutes of gallop through a couple of months, allowing my horse to condition with me. In the end I can do a canter continuous for 20 minutes or 4 3/4 speed gallop intervals with a couple of minutes rest between.
I haven’t found any other way. And I move bags of feed 2 at a time.
two ups are the BEST omg I cannot like this suggestion enough.
Yes! The two-ups exercise is excellent! I’ll just chime in with the suggestion to mix it up when doing two-ups. You can do any combination of ups and downs (my favorite is 3-up, 2-down). I find the second “down” increases the level of difficulty for me. And no holding yourself up by pinching with your knee!!
For me at least, this exercise is less about strength (though it certainly helps) and more about telling me what my leg is doing. If your lower leg is too far forward, you’ll come back early. If it slips back, you’ll pitch forward. You sound very fit and have been riding a lot, so while it wouldn’t surprise me if you’re not strong enough to hold two-point for a long stretch, I would wager that the current issue is more about finding your new balance over shorter stirrups. I wonder if your lower leg is too far forward?
But…
If you find yourself slamming back into the saddle in the sit phase, just go back to two point at the trot. It’s not fair to the horse.
Two point at the trot is harder than at the canter, at least it was for me when I switched from dressage. So stick with that.
You’ll get your balance in no time. It’s very specific muscles you’re using, but your overall fitness is great. Welcome back to jumping!
You could also try barre - I think it’s definitely helped make me stronger in my two point.
Just chiming in to agree with everyone that there is no substitute for just doing two point. If you can borrow the lesson CC saddle, or get your hands on a cheap one that fits you and your horse(s) well enough to do no harm, do walk and trot sets in two point until you feel stronger and less achy. Then do canter work in two point. Then go find a good place to gallop, bridge your reins, and do that in two point. Think about a line flowing from the top of your head, through your body, down your legs, and into your heels, letting your hip open and close as needed with the movement of the horse, not pinching with your knees, etc. so you are sinking into your heels but using your core to keep that line taut.
You don’t need to shorten your stirrups to jockey length, but several holes up for jumping length is going to get you where you want to be. I do dressage and jumping in my CC and go up five-six holes when I jump from when I flat. I can trot all day in two point because I also ride an airbike 5-6 days a week, but holy hell it hurts the next day (and the next!) unless I do two point regularly!
Thank you everyone for all of the suggestions- I believe the Xmas bonus is going towards a new saddle lol
This sounds like a muscle memory thing more than a strength issue. I agree with others that I would just keep practicing two-point in a jumping saddle until it clicks.
A correct saddle for you & your critter can really help or hurt your position.
I went from my old PJ Pro which I felt like was pretty damn good except for being a tiny but short in the forwardness of the flap and maybe a little bit of issue with the blocks behind my leg being a little off for my leg …
to riding in my similar height, slightly taller trainer’s older CWD with much less knee roll and I feel shockingly more secure in the more ‘streamlined, flat’ saddle.
I really thought my current saddle was like 90%+ perfect - the extra 10% better my trainer has me in makes a massive difference. Merry Xmas to you in advance!
Today my riding teacher asked me for ideas to help one of her older riders become more stable in two-point.
I referred her to the rectur femoris muscle, the big muscle that goes down the front of the thigh. I showed her how my lower legs go everywhere when I do not use it as my body tips forward and back, in contrast when I use the rectus femoris muscle my lower leg stays in a strong position and it stays stable, plus my upper body stayed in one position without tipping forward or back.
Using this one muscle in the front of my thigh really strengthens my two-point position and gives me greater stability when my seat is out of the saddle.
Standing on a stair step on the balls of your feet will stretch your Achilles tendon, which is probably part of your problem. Add in the 2 point position when standing on the balls of your feet while simulating a posting motion. If this does not get your thigh and lower leg strong, you are not doing it right. Makes my legs hurt just typing this. 
For some cross training, if you are a decent enough ice skater, the crouch you use when playing hockey etc and trying to get doiwn the side fast, are extremely similar to what you need for 2 point. My family is a huge hockey family and we ice skate on the regular and I find I’m using the same muscles and stabilizers.
This one totally made me LOL Not because it’s a bad suggestion just that I may have ice skated like 3 times in my life? My skill level would be sometimes I can take my hand off the railing for a few seconds at a time hahaha
yeah I realize it’s not a skill everyone has or wants to have! WE just happened to live in a hockey crazy area of NY for a number of years.
I recently started pilates (reformer classes) and have been very impressed by the substantial core and back workout is provides. I have found it to be a very “spine friendly” form of exercise and it has an emphasis on quality of movements over tons of reps.
Likely your leg position is the culprit rather than strength.
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