Tilted Pelvis - Horses "Falling In"

[Pasture_Ornament]

I recently found out that my pelvis is tilted to the right - I guess it runs in the family, as my Mom has the same things. It makes my right leg slightly longer. I am working w/ a chiropractor, which seems to help, and I feel much more balanced riding after I have visited him. But I have noticed an issue with my horses, which I feel that I am directly causing.

I didn’t put two and two together until I started seeing the same issue in my young mare that I had been having trouble with in my older gelding. My horses start “falling in” at the trot and the canter when we are travelling to the left. I feel like I can’t get anything resembling straightness from them, and I think I am definitely to blame!

The other day it felt so horrible in the saddle that I felt like I was slipping right off to the right. I believe this makes me compensate by shifting the saddle too far to the left. And this is what others seem to note when they look at me from behind, the saddle is tipping to the left, but I feel like I am falling off to the right.

I am off to the chiropractor tomorrow night, and so I am assuming he is going to tell me that my pelvis is quite out, but I will have to wait and see.

My mare is also going to the chiro tomorrow night, and so I am trying to piece together what is happening to her as a result of me being so out of whack.

You guys are always so wise… so I thought I would post this to get anyone’s thoughts on the matter. Thanks in advance! I am just plain frustrated, and want to get to the bottom of this, and prevent any future issues I might be causing in my mare with her muscling becoming uneven etc.

Also, I ride in a saddle pad that does have shims, so I am wondering if adjusting them in a certain way could potentially help? Just a thought.

[Alagirl]

Find a rider with a weak left to ride her…

All kidding aside, you might need to look into physical therapy t strengthen your right side, hopefully preventing your pelvis to go out more than you do…

In the mean time, maybe lean how to do in-hand work.

[buck22]

If you’ve been dealing with this for any length of time, do check that your saddle panels aren’t uneven (quite possible for them to be).

Take your saddle, flip it upside down, put the pommel on your foot and the cantle against your leg/thigh. Line your gaze up with the channel and then compare the panels to each other. See if they differ at all. If one panel is a different size/shape than the other, it could be exasperating this problem (if you’ve been riding a saddle with uneven panels for any length of time, it could theoretically be exasperating your pelvis issue too).

While you’re checking things, also not a bad idea to put the saddle on a saddle tree and check the tree for straightness (kneel down if needed to look at the saddle straight on from the front, see if you see any crookedness comparing the shape of the pommel to the shape of the cantle, and look down the twist to see if its arching one way or another).

Also check your stirrup bars for evenness. Place the saddle on a level rack, stand in front of it and put your index and middle fingers on the stirrup bar. You won’t be able to see your fingers under the leather jockey, but you can visualize where you fingers go (thats why you use two fingers, makes the visualization stronger). See if the stirrup bars are even to each other, that one isn’t higher or lower or more forward or backward than the other. It does help to remove your stirrup leathers for this exercise.

I have felt the sensation you describe before, feeling like I was sliding off to the outside when in reality I was slipping in. It was an uneven panel in the saddle to blame. And the unevenness wasn’t obvious at all until I finally actually “saw” it, despite having owned the saddle and cleaned it several times.

[Pasture_Ornament]

Good suggestions…

Re: The saddle… It is a brand new one this spring. I remember feeling this in my older saddle as well. And, it is a third saddle that I ride my gelding in… and I have felt it on him too.

I actually was able to get to the chiropractor this afternoon, and he said my pelvis was way out.

I will have to ask him what sort of exercises I can do to prevent my pelvis from going out, once it is adjusted. I always feel so nice and even on the first ride after I get adjusted, but it doesn’t seem to last.