Feeling uneven in the saddle

ktj1891

ktj1891

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Whenever I ride if I'm not in the school or in my dressage length stirrups I feel completely uneven in the saddle.

If I hack or ride shorter my left leg feels like my stirrup is shorter and my right stirrup longer. I always rise when my horses left leg goes forward if I rise on the other it feels even worse.

I have checked my stirrups and they are even and I also feel the same on my pony. I have always felt slightly uneven but it feels even worse at the moment.

Does anyone know why this is or what I can do to resolve it?
 
It is possible that your legs are different lengths...my left leg is 1cm shorter than my right, which creates uneveness in my pelvis and I have to be very concious of sitting evenly, regardless of what my legs feel like! I have found regular chiropractor treatments and pilates are very helpful. Tx
 
It's very likely your legs are just slightly different lengths - most people's are but the difference is usually too small to really feel. You didn't mention, however, if this is on one specific horse or all of them. If it's a specific horse, it's very possible your horse is also not quite straight and/or more muscular on one side than the other and this is altering the saddle fit and therefore the stirrup length. This is totally normal and very common - you can work on making them more straight through training but also try getting a good saddle fitter to look at your saddle. I'd also make an effort to lead from both sides, mount from both sides and not use a hay net (use something on the ground so the horse stretches straight down rather than tilting its neck to the side), if that's an option. Horses will naturally have a laterality preference just like we do and will build muscle unequally when they are going about their lives even without our influence so mitigating this at every opportunity is the first step.
 
You're probably wonky! Try a chiropractor, I prefer mctimmony chiropractors. It makes the world of difference but do follow their instructions and exercises afterwards otherwise they will correct you and you will gradually revert back to wonky. You'll have to help retrain your muscles to keep to straight.

I had to go regularly for 6 months as I was really really wonky. After that once a year for a quick check and reminder!
 
This is interesting. So should I make my stirrups a different length to accommodate different length legs. Is their an accurate way I can measure my legs to see if different lengths?
 
Barnacle said:
It's very likely your legs are just slightly different lengths - most people's are but the difference is usually too small to really feel. You didn't mention, however, if this is on one specific horse or all of them. If it's a specific horse, it's very possible your horse is also not quite straight and/or more muscular on one side than the other and this is altering the saddle fit and therefore the stirrup length. This is totally normal and very common - you can work on making them more straight through training but also try getting a good saddle fitter to look at your saddle. I'd also make an effort to lead from both sides, mount from both sides and not use a hay net (use something on the ground so the horse stretches straight down rather than tilting its neck to the side), if that's an option. Horses will naturally have a laterality preference just like we do and will build muscle unequally when they are going about their lives even without our influence so mitigating this at every opportunity is the first step.
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I feel like it on my pony too haven't ridden many others lately but I have always felt slightly wonky. Don't think my guy has any noticable unevenness. He has had saddler and regular chiro- I definitely think it's me! I will do that though get on and off different sides. He gets fed from ground anyways. I need to try and rise on other diagonal when hacking as I feel so wonky and he feels lame when I rise on other leg.
 
Ella19 said:
You're probably wonky! Try a chiropractor, I prefer mctimmony chiropractors. It makes the world of difference but do follow their instructions and exercises afterwards otherwise they will correct you and you will gradually revert back to wonky. You'll have to help retrain your muscles to keep to straight.

I had to go regularly for 6 months as I was really really wonky. After that once a year for a quick check and reminder!
Click to expand...

I am currently looking in to trying a chiro and see if it helps!
 
It could be that one of your hip joints is tighter than the other and therefore not letting you relax that leg down.
If you want to know if you have one leg markedly longer than the other - stand in front of a full length mirror and mark the top of your hip bone on the same place each side, then see if they look level.
 
tamsinkb said:
It is possible that your legs are different lengths...my left leg is 1cm shorter than my right, which creates uneveness in my pelvis and I have to be very concious of sitting evenly, regardless of what my legs feel like! I have found regular chiropractor treatments and pilates are very helpful. Tx
Click to expand...

This ^^^^

I have always had this problem, particularly noticeable during lessons when I'd always struggle to get a correct canter lead - and never knew why exactly. That was until I had a medical for something completely unrelated, and the doctor pointed out that I'd got one leg slightly shorter than the other! Which then made perfect sense.

This might well be your problem OP. You can't cure it, but you can manage it. Find a good chiropractor and ask for their advice - and while you're at it, get your horse some physio as well because it is essential to treat the two of you as your horse probably has unevenness issues as well. I'm lucky in that the same person does us both!!!

Also - mention to your saddle fitter the next time you have a saddle check as all of this will have an impact.
 
People should be a lot more careful of using chiropractors than they are. In the scientific community they are widely considered a sham (not all of them - but unless you are a biologist or doctor, it may be difficult to judge which claims make sense and which are totally out there)... Personally, if I hear a chiropractor is treating both humans and horses, the alarm bells go off. In any case, some of them may well help you out psychologically but they definitely cannot change the length of your legs!

Anyway, the tight hip alternative is also plausible. Also if one of your legs is very slightly dominant, it may be more muscled and be stiffer (I have had this problem with my right leg). Try doing something like power yoga that will help you stretch out more and gain some flexibility - and won't cost you. There are plenty of youtube videos you can use to guide you through the basic movements. Plus if you do power yoga rather than the 'soft' yoga people usually do in classes, you will actually be doing a proper workout. If you enjoy it, try setting aside 20 minutes or so for it every evening before dinner. It will also improve your balance. It's one of the few kinds of exercise that I've found holds my interest. I did gymnastics as a child and power yoga is kind of like gymnastics without equipment.

Even if it is the case that your legs are uneven (which you can't do anything about, realistically), if you ride with the correct stirrup length for your shorter leg, you should find things easier. It's ok for them to be a little shorter than you might picture to be 'ideal'.
 
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