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Permalink Reply by Barbara F. on March 21, 2009 at 4:38pm

Hmmm,
I have a few questions:
Do you do general English riding, or do you work in a specific discipline (dressage, hunter, saddle seat, etc)
What level of rider are you?
Are your stirrups particularly long?

I'll try to help you when I get those answers. :)

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Permalink Reply by Jen B on March 21, 2009 at 6:35pm

Hi Barbara, I have been riding for many years and, while I have done very little competing, I would be in the hunter/jumper category, although I am trying to develop my dressage skills. I am probabIy an advanced/intermediate rider. I haven't got any recent pictures around, I'll try to get some (although when I look at last year's pictures, I didn't seem to have the same problem...

I ride in a Crosby Sofride saddle (I think listed as all purpose) and I admit I have been putting my stirrups longer than usual because I am bringing my youngster back in to fitness (and me too) after several months off and I find I can plant myself better with longer stirrups. I wonder if it is my fitness level that is causing some of my difficulties, as I am 41 years old and haven't done much over the winter.

Hope some of this helps you get the picture ;)

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Permalink Reply by Barbara F. on March 21, 2009 at 4:40pm

Oh, I forgot the most important thing. IF you can post some photos from the front side and back, Heather Sansom who is doing the Ride Better 1-2-3 blog/clinic will give you exact exercises to help you!

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Permalink Reply by Catherine Chamberlain on March 21, 2009 at 9:07pm

I struggle with the same problem. With a new saddle and lots of hard work I think I have the problem under control! Some good excersices that worked for me were lots of riding without stirrups if possible, and also pick a spot along your arena and every time you go past think about your leg position. Are your legs to far forward? If so then fix your leg position before continuing. Keep repeating untill you have muscle memory of the correct position. One helpful hint someone gave me was that it is more important to ride correctly 30% of the time during your ride every day than 90% of the time for only three days. Hope this tips help and good luck!

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Permalink Reply by Heather Sansom at Equifitt.com on March 22, 2009 at 8:17am

Hi, I see this problem many times when I do a clinic. If you're interested, why don't you post a comment to the Ride Fit! blog with a photo? I can feature you on one of the next blog entries with some exercise suggestions.

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Permalink Reply by Heather Sansom at Equifitt.com on March 22, 2009 at 8:18am

Hi, I forgot to clarify: the blog is called Ride Fit! in the dropdown menu. The title is actually Ride Better 1-2-3

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Permalink Reply by Heather Sansom at Equifitt.com on March 22, 2009 at 8:19am

Sorry...forgot something else..if you don't have all those photos specifically front, side and back, just side, or side and a shot of you in motion would be just fine.

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Permalink Reply by Heather Sansom at Equifitt.com on March 22, 2009 at 8:21am

I'm sorry! I also need to know what style of riding you practice- ie: dressage or hunter/jumper. I'm assuming because you said English, that you are more hunter? Just put all that information and more of a description of your challenge and background as a rider in the Ride Better 1-2-3 blog post comments with your photo.

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Permalink Reply by Hank on March 22, 2009 at 4:17pm

I wonder if your saddle is the correct type/fit? In really forward cut saddles it can be hard to keep your legs back where they should be as they are often made for cross country to keep you in a more defensive position. If it is correct, then I wonder if your stirrups are too long? When hanging loose, the bottoms should hit right around your ankle (as a rule of thumb) but you can shorten them more and see if that helps. Other than that I would suggest that you get someone to lunge you on your horse, provided he's good at lunging. Use side reins to help him balance and work on exercises with and without stirrups and get your friend to help you feel where your leg should be. It sounds like you need to work on creating an independent seat, legs, hands etc. One example of a leg exercise is: at a walk hold your arms out from your sides in a cross. Keep looking forward as you take your inside arm to your outside and touch your outside toe and then do the same with your outside arm. While doing this you must concentrate on keeping your lower leg in the correct position on your horse's side. When you get good at doing this at a walk, you can try it at a trot. The Pony Club manual has a whole whack of lunging exercises you can try if you would like to find more. Hope this helps.

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Permalink Reply by Jen B on March 24, 2009 at 6:56pm

Thanks all for your tips! You have given me some good strategies. If I can find a ground person to lunge, I think I could safely do some no-stirrups work. I put a picture on the Ride Fit blog, and Heather has given some great observations (not of the picture itself, but she didn't seem to need it...) and ideas. The picture is old and with a different saddle (and longer stirrups), but I think it gives the basic idea (I haven't had anyone around to take a recent shot). Heather is right that I have a strong tendency to tip forward when I ride, which she points out is a related problem.
Thanks again for your thoughts!
Jen

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Permalink Reply by Lyn on April 10, 2009 at 8:09pm

Something I've always done that works really well is to just stand in your irons. Put your leg where you think it should be then stand up - if gravity puts your buns back in the saddle right away then your leg is too far forward.

Another thing that helps is to have a friend put a bright piece of paper under each calf once your leg is in the correct position and see how long you can hold it there. Practice a bunch, then make money by betting your friends - "put $$ under my leg and if it stays there for ____ minutes, laps, etc. I get to keep the money"

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Permalink Reply by Brenda Bowle-Evans on April 25, 2009 at 12:46pm

I have a few thoughts that might help. The 1st thing I would do is check to see if your saddle fits properly - if it is down in the back it will cause your leg to shoot forward and no amount of trying to get it back will help for more than a few minutes - that's just physics.
Now assuming that your saddle does fit properly the next thing I would check is your core position, if you are sitting on your bum and not your seatbones then you will have your legs out in front of you - to check this put your hands flat on your seatbones, seat up straight and rock slowly back and forth on your seatbones, you will be able to feel when you are absolutely on the center of them, not forward or back but dead center, now open your pelvis wide and you should find that your leg will now hang in it's proper position (try this without your stirrups). This exercise will also let you know if you are leaning to the inside or outside of your saddle. The 3rd thing is if you go into a jumping position (with shoulder/ heel aligned, heels well down, head up and bum out the back door) your leg will be in an excellent position - assuming you are easily balanced in this position. Now all you need to do is take your upper body back to vertical while keeping your leg in the exact same place - now your position should be good. This is a very easy way to self monitor your position. You may do well to read some of Mary Wanless's books. Hope this helps.
Brenda

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