Maresie is learning her flying changes. Overall doing well, but I have a hard time left to right. Going the other direction I can get my weight shifted, but I have a horrible time getting it shifted to the left for the change to the right lead.
I am weaker on the left (old back injury), & my spine curves sl to the right. Not so much that I can’t sit straight as long as I am aware, but I think those are my big problems.
Suggestions?
Physical therapy for hip mobility? There’s plenty of stuff you can learn off of YouTube, but with your old back injury, you might do better with someone who can see you in person.
Work on a big physio/exercise/yoga ball (sized according to your height) and work on balance
Hip mobility and stability exercises - just a general google search will being up tons
Asymmetrical strength training
What was the back injury, and how long ago? Do you have any restrictions from your Dr? I agree that working with someone is a good start, better yet if they also know riders but that’s not always possible.
Herniated disc, 25years ago. Sneezed while I was pregnant…
Oh my gosh, how infuriating!
Are you able to get them both directions when not sitting in the tack at all… think STRAIGHT UP, like not closing your hip angle at all, slight bend in knee, but with all the weight on the ball of your foot (parallel heel, not “down”)
Note this is for a lot of people very hard / not possible to do without a lot of conditioning – i had to relearn this in my 30s
that will determine if you have an imbalance even when not using your seat aid – based on your injury history you may never be able to fix the imbalance sitting, but you can fix with PT/conditioning the imbalance without your butt in the tack - where your spine curve and disc issues translate to your weight distribution
as long as you’re not a dressage rider (i am a former dressage queen), you don’t need to be sitting ass in tack for lead changes
Yeah. 8 months down, surgery just after giving birth, 5 years of daily pain, but all good now! Will occasionally twinge & some remnant deficits but overall I got lucky
Don’t think I have tried it that way. Working on the change over small fences/poles. Does it nicely the one direction, can just weight my rt stirrup over the pole. The other direction I feel like i am swinging my hip & twisting my right leg rather than just weighting the lt stirrup to get the weight over.
I realize my a$$ is considerably larger than when I was 20, but it’s not THAT huge!
to clarify – doing this exercise will let you know where the imbalance is - it obviously exists
does horse have changes on the flat (no pole no fence both directions with other riders like your trainer) if so - the problem is you
I had this issue and ive never been above a size US 28- so its not about the size of your ass
and ive had a hard time with the standing straight up exercise when I was an ultra marathoner 
So when you’re riding across the diagonal preparing to ask for the swap, you start in neutral- hips even, equal weight in your legs, legs at the girth.
When you prepare to ask for the swap, what are the aids you’re thinking about? The way I was taught to approach the swap starts with changing the horse’s balance to the new outside hind. So, in that stride, your right leg moves slightly back of the girth, your right seatbone has a little more weight than your left. Then, when the horse has changed her balance, you change the bend: pressure with the right leg, contact with the right hand, displace the left leg behind the girth and pressure with the left leg, your left seatbone might have a little more weight than your left as a function of the way your left leg moves. Is that similar to how you’re asking?
If so, the physical skills you need are for your hips to move up and down and rock back and forth while your femur is in external rotation. I started taking notes on which muscles were involved and it’s basically every hip flexor you own with a side of your QL and adductors.
So, if you were going to try some stuff on your own for awhile before going to PT, I’d be thinking about general hip mobility: hip hikes, 90/90s progressing to lifts and then rotations, CARs, lunges with pelvic tilt forward and back, banded monster walks and clamshells, lateral step-ups in front of a mirror so you can focus on not dropping your weighted hip, and whatever Yoga for the Hips videos you find on YouTube.
Standard disclaimers: my herniated discs are not your herniated discs, my scoliosis is not your scoliosis, my injuries are not your injuries and that’s good because there should only be one of us, and I’m not a physical therapist, just the retirement plan for physical therapists. Consult your medical team before taking random advice from the internet. etc.
put your shoulders over the left stirrup and forget about your hips. Also sit on a yoga ball…there is a thing called yoga for horseback riding. Extremely helpful
I am the opposite and tend to sit heavier on my left, but dropping my irons straightens me right out. Worth a shot?
Can you do a walk to canter transition to the right lead? If so, you can do the change.
Frnakly, if it’s your horse, train her to aids you can manage. This might involve being creative about how you ask, or the use of “artificial aids” (dressage whips reach farther back). It’s likely her harder side, too, sit you sit unevenly (no shade - I do, too).
Your horse works for maybe one hour a day, probably only 6 (or 5, or 4) days a week. It’s her job to be attentive to what you want. It’s your job to explain it to her in a way that she can understand. But as long as your aids are clear and consistent, they can be anything. Priase her when she gets it right, and try again when it doesn’t work.
I’m sure you’ve started with changes through the trot, and canter changes over poles on a big arc.
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