grr. lengthening your leg?

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d_s

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well i rode new pony and felt completely S h i t.

i have no confidence, i cant seem to relax. he works nicely, but leans sometimes.. which makes me feel all unbalanced. i dont feel in control :/

i have to ride in a dressage saddle aswell.

anyways, because of the dressage saddle, i have to try lengthen my leg; which i find impossible, especially my right side as my hip is tight, and i have a bad knee.

what can i do to lengthen my leg and get it to drop down and round his sides; it feels as though ive not got my leg round.
also struggle with tipping my pelvis forward and sitting on my bum; instead of hollowing my back.

what exercises are there that i can do to improve this... without doing no stirrup work???


thanks
 
No stirrup work is the best thing for it.

Other than this, make sure you stretch before getting on, and then once in the saddle you can do more stretches. You will have to take your foot out of the stirrup, but can do it in walk. Bring one leg as far back as you can without bending at the knee, hold for a couple of seconds and then release. Then bring it forward a bit for a couple of seconds and release. Do this a few times with each leg. Then you can bring your knee up to the pommel, hold for a couple of seconds and release. same with your other leg. Do this a few times each. I have also done it where you just bring your leg away from the saddle outwards one at a time, hold a couple of seconds each and release. Do this a few times.

Nothing really compares to good old no stirrup work though.
 
d_s - I know how you feel! Started lessons again after a year break a couple of weeks ago, and I've got the same problem. Instructor has said I need to do stretches to open my hips and relax me more so that I get a better position and contact. Everything somethingorother has suggested it what I've been doing, and it really does make a difference.

My interesting bit is bringing my legs back together afterwards haha! :D
 
I forgot some: after bringing each knee up to the pommel (can do it both at a time if secure) bring your lower leg back at the knee, hold your ankle with your hand on that side and hold for a couple of seconds. Repeat on other side.

Also you can rotate your ankles to get them loosened up, each way.

When you are thinking of lengthening, don't think about pushing down, this tenses up all your muscles. Think about relaxing each muscle on the way down in turn. Taking deep regular breaths will help. Can you tell i have had to do a lot of this? lol
 
I totally feel your pain with this one.

I too have a problem with my left hip which means it's much tighter than the other and makes me feel like one leg is longer than the other!

I too am afraid to say that no stirrups is the way to go, even if done in walk, it helps lengthen the leg. I normally do this whilst I am warming up and make a point of trying to stretch my legs down as long as I possible can then when I take up my stirrups again it really feels that they are too short.

Hope this helps. :)
 
thanks, the problem i have at the moment is that the horse is new to me; only ridden it 3 times and im unsure of how he will react to no stirrups... i struggle to sit to his trot with stirrups lol.

i will try the exercises in walk.
im finding that because he leans on you, then i tip forward... which sends my leg back and i feel unbalanced.

today he was leaning so i shortened my reins and then he leant even more on my draw reins.... and evaded the contact by jogging and putting his head on his chest.

he is very hard to ride as you cant put alot of pressure on him with your legs, nor can you pull with your hands as you are likely to go galloping off.
so i am concentrate on having really quiet hands, but at the same time he is pulling me off balance and then my legs feel like poo!

horses owner, my OH shouted at me to hold my outside rein, keep my inside leg on and squeeze my inside rein.

but he is going to help me on saturday hopefully as i just wanted to cry when i got off; i was appalled at my riding!!


i rode my pony later on, and felt so much comfier riding her... but she is completely different, instead of evading by pulling down... she pulls up and really fights with her head; he doesnt.
im going to have to learn a whole new way of riding him lol

thanks, ill try some stretches..
x
 
In my experience (which means virtually nothing :p ) i think shortening your reins doesn't help a leaner- particularly with draw reins as you're just pulling his head in to his chest, meaning he's more likely to shorten up and, as you say, jog. Even if he does gallop off if you put too much leg pressure on, i think you still need to keep your leg on as he needs to be pushed forward into your hand to stop leaning. His advice about squeezing inside rein etc sounds perfect.
When my old horse leant (leaned? leant? :p ) my RI always told me to imagine rolling my shoulders back, sit up and not to let him pull me forward.
Nothing helpful to say about lengthening legs except that maybe you should ask your OH to lunge you with no stirrups if you're not sure how horse would react- seems like no stirrups would be the best thing!
(PS bear in mind, all the above may be complete rubbish, feel free to ignore it all as i'm not exactly Mary King myself :D )
 
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thanks; i spoke to a friend and she said lean your shoulders back, then shorten reins but lengthen your arm and push him up at the shoulder into the contact

ahh lunging is a no go!!!
horse can only be long lined...
i keep worrying too that hell rear, cos he has a nasty rear on him... which is why we have the draw reins i think... not really sure why i have to ride him in them but i do!

ill have to keep working on it. its going to be difficult as i now have two extremes... one that leans and overbends, and one that pulls and goes like a giraffe!
 
To be honest, I found that going to the chiropractor for a few sessions has made a massive difference to me, especially my tight left hip. Although exercises such as those above have helped the chiro has made a lasting difference.
 
Can you borrow someone elses horse to be lunged on? you immediately lengthen your leg if you do that! though on my old horse who had a very big medium trot, I did struggle with a lot of movement in the chest area. Was riding around with arms crossed but ended up having to hold chest ! great mirth from the rotten watchers around the arena and an end to the lesson as my instructor couldn't stop laughing.

made me lengthen my legs though..!
 
thanks, i would do it on my pony; but shes a bit tempermental... and i find it hard to ride to her medium, and shes a pony!!

i dont have a problem with dropping my leg on her though, as she doesnt pull me forwards out of my saddle

i may have to go to the physio anyway as my knee keeps popping out... and when i last went she had to realign my right hip (the side im struggling most with)

there arent many horses that you can ride on the lunge at the yard; and the ones you can havent got flashy enough paces to practise with...
 
Gleeful Imp said:
To be honest, I found that going to the chiropractor for a few sessions has made a massive difference to me, especially my tight left hip. Although exercises such as those above have helped the chiro has made a lasting difference.
Click to expand...

^^WSS^^
I would definitely get yourself to your physio and get you sorted first, before expecting your young horse to cope with your uneven-ness . You'll then find it much easier to ride him, ergo you'll be more confident and probably ride a lot better anyway, which in turn should make him lean less I'd expect.

Daughter has a problem with one leg slightly longer than other + growing too fast, has meant she is one sided with very tight thigh muscles, particularly on left leg which is causing pain where the tendon joins below the knee. Consequently her (young) pony has become a little one sided too, and begun to lean one way particularly in canter over the past 2-3 weeks.

She went to the osteopath yesterday, who worked the leg and gave her some exercises to do. She's cut out all exercise, running about etc other than riding (osteopath gave the choice - she took it from her, would never from mum!),, and has to repeat the exercises 5-6 times throughout the day. Today pony was much straighter and barely leaned at all. I don't think it's a coincidence. Anyway she was really pleased and said he was really nice to ride today, and his canter was a lot more comfortable (because he wasn't leaning)
 
well the new horse is 10... and my pony is 19!!!
but both very sensitive and dont want to ruin them lol

i spoke to dad and he said hell pay for me when we can get chance to go to the physio or something to make sure its not something physically wrong making me find it hard to lengthen my leg...

i havent even cantered him yet as i dont feel secure enough
im going to ride him tomorrow with his owner helping me... so hopefully i should feel better, rescue remedy at the ready and stretches before hand haha
xx
 
If he leans then take the draw reins off. Why do you have them on anyway? They often make horses tight through the back from being forced into a false outline. He will then be more likely to need physio too.
 
dont really know why i have to ride in draw reins... :/ i try not to use them, i think its because he rears... so with them he cant get his head up as high to rear properly... im not sure to be honest

definitly not a false outline though...
 
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