Tell me how to to stop bracing in the stirrups

[coffeehag]

Hello friends! I’m looking for kind advice (no, please, I’m going to include a photo and would appreciate a general lack of assholery) on how to get my leg back.

For background, I ride a lovely, large, and young OTTB with an insane amount of suspension. And as we’ve addressed our previous issue of scooting after jumps (see previous posts, a new bit and addressing contact made a world of difference), I need to address my own issue–my leg.

With the OTTB’s prior history of occasionally taking off (which again, he hasn’t done recently) and the suspension, I find myself bracing in the stirrups, and very much struggle with getting my lower leg behind the girth at the trot. I have moments of correct placement, but largely, my lower leg is imagining life as a chair, and I’d really prefer if it didn’t.

I know what I’m supposed to do, I know where my leg is supposed to be, and I know that I need to post through my knees, but I just can’t seem to be able to actually do it. I know that working in two-point can be helpful, and this is something that I do do, but would love any other tips on getting that lower leg back in the right position.

My saddle does have a block behind the calf which may be a contributing factor, and which I will be removing, but I can’t imagine it will be the magic fix for a forward leg.

I’ve included a photo for reference (please forgive the boots, my tall boots were trapped inside a friend’s locked tack box, and unfortunately, this is an issue regardless of footwear).

[Scribbler]

@coffeehag

Hello friends! I’m looking for kind advice (no, please, I’m going to include a photo and would appreciate a general lack of assholery) on how to get my leg back.

For background, I ride a lovely, large, and young OTTB with an insane amount of suspension. And as we’ve addressed our previous issue of scooting after jumps (see previous posts, a new bit and addressing contact made a world of difference), I need to address my own issue–my leg.

With the OTTB’s prior history of occasionally taking off (which again, he hasn’t done recently) and the suspension, I find myself bracing in the stirrups, and very much struggle with getting my lower leg behind the girth at the trot. I have moments of correct placement, but largely, my lower leg is imagining life as a chair, and I’d really prefer if it didn’t.

I know what I’m supposed to do, I know where my leg is supposed to be, and I know that I need to post through my knees, but I just can’t seem to be able to actually do it. I know that working in two-point can be helpful, and this is something that I do do, but would love any other tips on getting that lower leg back in the right position.

My saddle does have a block behind the calf which may be a contributing factor, and which I will be removing, but I can’t imagine it will be the magic fix for a forward leg.

I’ve included a photo for reference (please forgive the boots, my tall boots were trapped inside a friend’s locked tack box, and unfortunately, this is an issue regardless of footwear).

I find that when I think about riding through trouble and jam my heels down, my leg can shoot forward into chair seat like a bronc rider getting ready to explode. The solution for me was to learn to drop my thigh not my heel which gives me a deeper seat. That said, some horses and some saddles will accentuate chair seat. My big barreled mare makes my leg drift forward in multiple saddles but it’s not an issue on other horses.

That said, anxiety and riding through issues will absolutely mess with your form if your a developing rider in any sense. Good pros keep their equitation no matter what happens and it helps their balance and stick. The rest of us often develop position faults out of riding through issues.

[goodhors]

Can horse be trusted to go steadily if you tried riding without stirrups? Not throw in a buck to toss you? This is what we did to get “good legs” under us, not depend on stirrups to save us. Always that chance of stirrup slipping off! Even the best rider have lost one or both stirrups in critical situations, but stayed in place anyway because they had good legs under them.

Lunging him on a line to start. Not letting him show his best “hang time” until you are stronger, steadier without the stirrups. Build up length of time before legs go to spaghetti. You will gain confidence with practice, learn to sit all his gaits stirrup-less, but it will take lots of riding time. Think Spanish Riding School! They don’t get stirrups for a year or more! Then their good seat is always there for the horse!!

[GreyDes]

Definitely not an expert, but you look to me like you are fighting your saddle. I wonder if the stirrup bar placement is a bit forward for you and contributing to the chair seat.

Any chance you can borrow a saddle with the stirrup bar more under you to see if makes a difference?

You’ll likely still need to work on position but it’s worth exploring how much is tack related.

[Jackie_Cochran]

Have you tried to relax your Rectus femoris muscle, the big one on the front of your thigh?

I have to have some tension in this muscle otherwise my feet go way, way back. When I have tension in it my foot goes forward to its proper position. For many years my riding teacher complained about my feet being too far back before I figured out that this one muscle was very important for keeping my feet in the correct place when I ride a horse.

Maybe relaxing this muscle will make it easier for your feet to go back. My feet certainly had no problems going back when this muscle was relaxed.

[ZuzusPetals]

@Scribbler

The solution for me was to learn to drop my thigh not my heel which gives me a deeper seat.

Ooooooo, sister! Brilliant!

[CBoylen]

Scoot your butt forward and bend your elbows. You’re in the back of your tack and if everything else moves forward your leg will move back.
I have my people stand straight up in the stirrups without touching hands to find their balance point. You sound like you have a better understanding than most, but it really helps if anything feels out of whack.

[Night_Flight]

Putting a spacer (like a leather bit loop, etc.) on the stirrup bar can also help to move the stirrup leather far enough back to improve the balance, without needing to invest in a new saddle.

[skip99]

Ditto what @GreyDes said. It looks to me as though this saddle may be a bit small in the seat and/or pommel low as well. I find it helpful to, while stationary, drop the stirrups and find the seat bones, from there bring the leg to where it would be with stirrups. See if there are any issues with pretending to have stirrups… is your knee over the flap? Is where the stirrup leathers falls too far forward or too far back? Do you feel like you are fighting to stay upright and balanced?

Plenty of position issues can be corrected with self awareness and hard work… but I do firmly believe that having a saddle that fits provides the best opportunity to either reduce these or make it possible to fix them. IME bracing against the stirrups occurs frequently when someone feels unbalanced. Since you are tipping forward quite a bit, the leg acts as a brace so you can feel secure while doing so. This could be related to the saddle fit, but core work is helpful with this as well as a strong stable core will help your upper body stay more balanced (no stirrup work pretty quickly identifies if this is an issue).

Says the person who is also not riding in the most perfect saddle for themselves… but the horse likes it

[MadTrotter]

Good advice so far, especially to drop your thigh and drape your weight through your whole leg.

One thing stood out to me, as I’ve worked with this kind of horse before…”scooting after jumps” and “occasionally taking off”. I’m wondering if your horse is comfortable with a stable amount of pressure on him or if you are still trying to keep pressure off of him, which can cause you to push your leg forward. I totally used to do this with the most sensitive horse I’ve ever had.
And even if he’s comfortable, I wonder if you’re still compensating because you subconsciously brace for liftoff! Lol

So I think a lot of work without stirrups, and pushing through some gymnastics with rails to keep him straight, will help you get your leg around him, and him confidence about having passive leg pressure on him.

[coffeehag]

@MadTrotter

One thing stood out to me, as I’ve worked with this kind of horse before…”scooting after jumps” and “occasionally taking off”. I’m wondering if your horse is comfortable with a stable amount of pressure on him or if you are still trying to keep pressure off of him, which can cause you to push your leg forward. I totally used to do this with the most sensitive horse I’ve ever had.

This is a great question. He is comfortable with stable weight, but is caught by surprise if, say, a certain idiot has trouble keeping her leg back and on and then suddenly applies leg. I’m certain, to your point, I am probably compensating.

[coffeehag]

Part of the balance issues you may be seeing as well is this OTTB is still learning to be, well, balanced, so there’s a lot of raising his head then dropping his head as he learns to balance and I’m often adjusting to compensate.

I do think I’m fighting my saddle, I definitely will experiment with leather length, removing the block (tomorrow!), and looking at the stirrup bar. The saddle doesn’t feel small, and the horse loves the saddle, so would love something fixable lol

[Bristol_Bay]

To my eye, your stirrups are too long.

I have a draggy right leg, and shortening my stirrups made it so much easier to keep it behind the girth.

[McGurk]

This is a Centered Riding thing, but I find it very effective. In the ring, concentrate on following the horse’s motion, not only in your seat, but in your hip, knee, lower leg and ankle.

At good forward walk, not only should you feel a little step/release in your ankle as each hind pushes off, you’ll feel a little side to side motion in the horse’s barrel that your lower leg should follow.

In sitting trot and trotting in two point, you should feel a bigger step/release each time a hind pushes off, so much so that trotting in two point, you should feel like you’re trotting in your stirrups.

You can drop your stirrups for sitting trot and really get the feeling of your ankle, knee and hip opening and closing to follow the horses back. The second you grip with your knee and thigh, you squeeze yourself out of the tack and lose the rhythm.

Try to recreate the same feeling with stirrups - the key is to release some of the weight in your heels and allow your ankle to open and close.

ETA: The moment you can no longer feel these things means you’re bracing.

BTW, I agree with some of the other posters that saddle fit may be part of the issue. However, once you get that corrected and are not fighting the saddle, pay attention to the above to tell when you’re bracing and when you’re not.

[Janet]

I agree with C Boylen that it look as if the main problem is that your hips are too far back, and you are leaning forward. The “feet forward” is just a consequence. I do not see a problem with the stirrup length.

Scoot your hips forward, and sit up straight (with a distinct bend in your elbow).

Also practice riding without stirrups.

[danhelm441]

@coffeehag

I do think I’m fighting my saddle, I definitely will experiment with leather length, removing the block (tomorrow!), and looking at the stirrup bar. The saddle doesn’t feel small, and the horse loves the saddle, so would love something fixable lol

You could also try a rear riser or even just a folded hand towel under the cantle. When my old saddle was sitting cantle-low, I felt like I had to compensate by folding at the hips and keeping my shoulders and leg really far forward, like my butt was always falling back and I was fighting to climb out of a hole. It was especially obvious in posting trot.

[hoopoe]

I too think this saddle looks too small. Not much space to get forward to allow the stirrup bars to be in the proper place under your hips. Do you have access to other type saddles to try. It is not enough to fit the horse, must fit rider too and your kneecaps are about to run out of room

[kaya842]

I think a large part may be your saddle. I, myself, struggle with the forward leg thing (combined with the forward body tilt to catch up to said forward leg) and thought it was a bad habit that crept in but after sitting in different saddles, it really is a saddle fit (for me and horse) issue first and foremost. I guarantee it is also a strength/ flexibility issue (for me) as I am very much so out of riding shape and sit at a desk for 10+ hours a day. But a change in saddle made the world of difference as shown below. The top two and bottom left stills are from November, the bottom right from two weeks ago. The top two were in a CWD SE03, bottom left was CWD Mademoiselle, and bottom right was Voltaire Calgary. I can count on one hand the number of times I rode between November and the ride from two weeks ago, and I haven’t been hitting the gym more than usual either. The difference is 100% the saddle.

[Bluey]

Adding to other good advice, perhaps try some short longe lessons, at times without stirrups, to help determine what would be best position for you?

[Einhorn]

I agree with others that it looks like the stirrup bar on the saddle is too far forward for the length of your foot.

Why it looks like that, if it’s the saddle design or something else, i don’t have enough info.