HaffiesRock
Well-Known Member
To most this will sound ridiculous, but to me it was great!
I ride short. Always have as I feel safer. I didn't school very often as I didn't have facilities, but I was always very conscious of how I rode when hacking.
My main problem was my lower leg shooting forward and my toes sticking out. This isn't helped by the fact my Haffy has an xxw saddle which doesn't put you in the best position.
So moved to a new yard with a school and started to lunge my pony a few weeks ago (been turned away over winter). Then started jumping on to cool him down and building up the ridden time. This weekend just warming him up on the lunge and then riding the work.
Anyway, pony hasn't been schooled in years and although amazing to hack, he is a knobber to school. Yesterday he was very strong, throwing his head around and took him ages to relax. Even then I didn't get any nice work out of him which I fully accept is my fault. I left a little deflated vowing to find a local instructor.
Today I thought, I'm going to put my stirrups down... So I put them down 2 holes which is a massive thing for me. Off I went into trot and the stirrups felt too long to rise and I felt very unstable, so I attempted sitting to the trot thinking i'll put them back up after this trot. And that's when it happened! My lower leg kind of stabilised, I felt balanced and pony instantly relaxed and dropped his head down, rounded his back and it felt AMAZING! Happily trotted around for the rest of our schooling session. My friend then arrived (one who constantly tells me to lengthen my stirrups) the first thing she said was how much better I looked on my pony and how nicely he was going. She took a lot of pictures and a video for me, and there isn't a single one where my lower leg is forward or my toes poking out! So I am very pleased today and my pony went so much better.
I will still be investing in some lessons, but for now I am going to carry on with the longer stirrups and see if I can be permanently converted. x
I ride short. Always have as I feel safer. I didn't school very often as I didn't have facilities, but I was always very conscious of how I rode when hacking.
My main problem was my lower leg shooting forward and my toes sticking out. This isn't helped by the fact my Haffy has an xxw saddle which doesn't put you in the best position.
So moved to a new yard with a school and started to lunge my pony a few weeks ago (been turned away over winter). Then started jumping on to cool him down and building up the ridden time. This weekend just warming him up on the lunge and then riding the work.
Anyway, pony hasn't been schooled in years and although amazing to hack, he is a knobber to school. Yesterday he was very strong, throwing his head around and took him ages to relax. Even then I didn't get any nice work out of him which I fully accept is my fault. I left a little deflated vowing to find a local instructor.
Today I thought, I'm going to put my stirrups down... So I put them down 2 holes which is a massive thing for me. Off I went into trot and the stirrups felt too long to rise and I felt very unstable, so I attempted sitting to the trot thinking i'll put them back up after this trot. And that's when it happened! My lower leg kind of stabilised, I felt balanced and pony instantly relaxed and dropped his head down, rounded his back and it felt AMAZING! Happily trotted around for the rest of our schooling session. My friend then arrived (one who constantly tells me to lengthen my stirrups) the first thing she said was how much better I looked on my pony and how nicely he was going. She took a lot of pictures and a video for me, and there isn't a single one where my lower leg is forward or my toes poking out! So I am very pleased today and my pony went so much better.
I will still be investing in some lessons, but for now I am going to carry on with the longer stirrups and see if I can be permanently converted. x
