[QUOTE=froglander;7449232]
I will try dropping them a hole when I go to ride tonight. They are actually down a hole from where they used to be…[/QUOTE]
Wow, no wonder you feel like you’re not really balanced! Indeed as they are they look too short, I can’t imagine them any shorter. :eek: Lengthen them and see how you feel. I think it will make you happy!
Lol, and here with them down a hole from where they used to be I thought it felt pretty good, will be interesting to see what another hole feels like.
I like to ride where my legs are totally draped and long, long, long as I can get those short fat things…that stirrup-tread should bump that hollow under my ankle bone, or right on my ankle bone.
I just don’t want them so long I can’t post though?
All you need in order to post is to rise off the saddle, now you have enough to put a loaf of bread between you and the saddle :lol:
Lol, good point!
Your seat might get along better, when you get your horse in front of your leg.
As per the clip you posted, you are squeezing his sides with your heels EVERY TIME you sit down in a post.
Buck defines that as ‘nagging’. Martin Black calls that, Boiling The Frog. In a nutshell, it does a very good job of making the horse dull.
You should be steady, unless you are asking your horse something in particular with your heel.
So, I know you didn’t ask me to critique your video.
If you want me to take this down, PM me and I will make it go away.
Nope, not a problem, thank you 
I had a lesson tonight and she was after me for the same thing, to get him in front of my leg.
Also, I did try the stirrups longer but that put them too long and I was reaching for them on my tip toes.
Did work on keeping my shoulders back/not tipping forward though which gives me something to really work on for the next couple weeks until my next lesson.
I have worked on keeping my lower leg more still in lessons, and I’d thought it was getting better, but maybe I’ve slid back into bad habits? I know sometimes I get a little naggy, but I try to catch myself and kind of tune him up to my leg again because it starts feeling like I have to ask for forward with each step and I know that’s not right 
When I’m posting, and not knowingly nagging him, it doesn’t feel like my feet are hitting his sides? Anyone have any tips to improve on that? Along with helping make me more aware of sitting up better (I felt like I was leaning back), she was also reminding me to kind of post from the knee up (not pinching with knee though) and let my lower leg be still, but I think my feet still get a little…bouncy
I did notice that if I could just sit a smidge forward in the saddle that it would be easier to post but my saddle doesn’t really let me sit there 
That saddle may be too small for you, then, if you can’t reach longer stirrups. You can’t reach them because you can’t set your skeleton where you need to put it. Your body is forced to sit where it can, not where it should. If that’s a 16 you would sit much better in an 18. Those stirrups are just that wrong I’m sorry
[QUOTE=katarine;7450459]
That saddle may be too small for you, then, if you can’t reach longer stirrups. You can’t reach them because you can’t set your skeleton where you need to put it. Your body is forced to sit where it can, not where it should. If that’s a 16 you would sit much better in an 18. Those stirrups are just that wrong I’m sorry :([/QUOTE]
I’m not sure if I follow that logic? Right now, I sit too far back in the saddle, it would be better if I could sit a little more forward, a large seat would just put me further from that, wouldn’t it?
I don’t feel cramped in my saddle at all. My dressage instructor agreed they were too long and had me put them back where they were. Although we did drop the right stirrup one hole to make them more even.
Riding tonight and being more aware of sitting up and almost back helped.
Girl, if you were any more forward you’d be on your belly button. You’re cramped in the saddle, the cantle is pushing you forward, your fluff is too much with the cantle, in my opinion. The saddle is too small.
I do not feel cramped in my saddle at all.
[I]"The problem with a flatter seat like that is that it feels really wide because there’s nothing between your thighs. It’s like sitting on a beach ball, and there’s nothing there to keep you from tipping forward. That would be the other problem - you would feel like you are always falling forward in the saddle.
There’s a reason why pretty much all saddles slope up from the center of the seat forward, whether it’s a traditional western saddle, a barrel racing saddle, a dressage saddle, etc - that upslope helps you stay in a comfortable spot in the saddle and makes the seat more comfortable."[/I]
I rode in a flat seat cutter, very similar to this one, for a long time and never felt tipped forward…the slope DOES help you settle, though. It gives you a pocket.
Frog, your horse’s saddle is a little wide in the front so it’s going to tip you forward. Slight shimming in the pockets behind his withers would resolve that and I don’t think it would make it unstable.
I think your thighs, not your butt, are what’s hindering your ability to sit more forward than you are currently sitting. That mass has to go somewhere and to my eye it’s ‘using’ up the available ‘channel’ where it ‘can’ go. Just as I would not be able to find my ‘spot’ in a 15", I’m fine in my two 16"s saddles, but I think at my current weight I’d feel ‘stuck in a spot’ in a more padded up seat on a 16" saddle…
I don’t feel ‘cramped’ in a 15, but I can’t put myself where I want be. I’m fighting my position because I’m too big for a 15. And for me it’s my thighs that are the issue- they are using up the entirety of the ‘channel’ that your thigh can drape in. I can’t rearrange that mass in any way that works because there’s too much for the space available. That’s not personal, that’s just physics.
Your stirrups are absolutely, unequivocally, too short. Full Stop.Something has to give in your position - sometimes even just better fitting jeans or riding pants can make a difference becuase they let you settle and sit more-BUT- something’s really amiss if you can’t reach those stirrups if you let them down. Something’s really, really off. And you’re there with the saddle, we’re not- you’ll find it hope, but trust me - your stirrup length is too short.
Opinions being like…noses?..how about an empirical approach?
Asks for:
Rule of Thumb for Starting Thigh Length
Take circumference of thigh
Divide by three
Add one inch
Should measure to the lower distance here:
http://www.rodnikkel.com/content/files/2912/9635/8154/Seat_14.jpg
I am curious to see how the thigh measurement length on my saddle comes out, wi measure tonight.
I know I am overweight, sadly in the females in my family it tends to settle on rear and thighs which doesn’t help.
I usually ride in breeches.
Look at the document that aktill posted a few posts back to an article about make vs female anatomy when it comes to riding. I don’t understand the point in forcing my leg longer?
My saddle probably isn’t the perfect shape for me and that is one reason I started this thread, to learn more about seat shape.
froglander, something in aktill’s link above that stood out to me was this comment by Mr. Nikkel: “Some riders like to ride with shorter stirrups, so their leg is angled more forward. They need more room in the saddle than if they rode with their leg straighter.” If you are comfortable with your stirrup length and that is your preferred length, then your thigh is taking up more diagonal room, if that makes sense . . . it is sort of crossing over that area between the fork and the cantle vs. hanging straight down.
And I wanted to also address a couple things that you said:
I’m not sure if I follow that logic? Right now, I sit too far back in the saddle, it would be better if I could sit a little more forward, a large seat would just put me further from that, wouldn’t it?
You sit farther back because of the length of your stirrups. It is just geometry. Look at dressage riders vs. jockeys, as examples. Dressage riders (mostly) ride with a long and straight leg. Their leg drapes down and their upper bodies are upright and it almost looks like if you took the horse away, they could still be balanced and standing on their feet. Now look at jockeys. Their stirrups are hiked way up so they can float above the horse’s back. Because the stirrups are so short, the rest of their body has to go somewhere and their bodies become very angular - torso out in front, rear end out behind, but they are still balanced over their center of gravity. This goes along with what I quoted above. Racing saddles are long and flat, yet jockeys are very small and lightweight. The length of the saddle isn’t about how big their bums are, it is about the geometry of balance.
I don’t feel cramped in my saddle at all. My dressage instructor agreed they were too long and had me put them back where they were. Although we did drop the right stirrup one hole to make them more even.
If you’re interested in riding with longer stirrups, it is something that you would work up to - maybe starting your ride in a walk warmup with long stirrups and cooling down with them that way as well, but doing other work in a shorter stirrup. Eventually, the short will feel too short and you’ll be able to lengthen your leg with ease. It is easier said than done to just switch and I find that if I’ve taken some time off, or haven’t been riding consistently, then I prefer mine shorter, too. It is a matter of training your body, stretching, strengthening different areas.
Riding tonight and being more aware of sitting up and almost back helped.
I find that helps me in my western saddle, too. If I think of sitting back and putting my feet more out in front of me, I think that actually puts me where I should be, because my natural tendency is to angle my body forward. So by thinking of over-exaggerating, I actually end up in the right spot.
Sigh. No one ever said it was easy! :no::lol:
Sorry they are blurry, they are screenshots from my phone from pausing the video clip.
The image from out trail riding I can’t remember if that was before or after I lengthened my stirrups.
These are from the left side because the right side stirrup /was/ too short.
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/iJvnCwlk9TB8Qnq1dCfQks9cUe82upJX30b5cdQDgHY?feat=directlink
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/aLiRZHMo5AJikxfFkLfu8s9cUe82upJX30b5cdQDgHY?feat=directlink
that looks better than you did at a halt, you may have rolled back and chilled 
Thank you
And I /did/ drop the right stirrup, I agree, in the video clip that one looks short and it was getting a cramped feeling when riding.
Were you more comfortable, froglander? You look like it!
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