Help! It would appear I've forgotten how to ride!

[Ginn]

Or atleast my body has!!!

Have now hacked out my farriers horse twice over the last 2 days and although from the waist up everything seems ok (i.e. sitting on seat bones, relaxed hips, following horses movement with my pelvis, sitting relaxed, shoulders back and not tipping forwards etc) My legs just don't seem to know what to do!!

I seem to have gone back to the days when I had my exracer of "safety/hunting seat" with my leg rather too far forward and try as I might I can't get it to stay where its meant to be!

Whats more, with my stirrups any shorter than dressage length my knees kill me - I have never felt such pain when on a horse!! Have done all the checks with regards to "am I actually sitting on my seat bones? (yes!) Am I gripping with my knees? (nope!) Are my legs relaxed and weight appearing to drop through to my heels? (it would seem so!).

This horse is lovely, a real gent to hack and my god do I feel safe and confident on him - we literally bumble along in our own little world. He is a fair bit wider than Im used to and his saddle is quite old and doesn't automatically help your position but I doubt that has too much to do with it. Giving aids isn't too bad either in that you barely need to do anything other than touch him gently behind the girth and use your seat aids. SO whats going wrong and how do I put it right?! Will try and book some lessons for me with my instructor but at the moment poor wattie is no way near fit enough (he's only been ridden about half a dozen times since last oct!) so will have to fitten him up a wee bit first!

 

[Weezy]

Knees - you are bearing down too much on your stirrups I would guess - have a light foot and it will feel better

If you press down then your legs will come forward too!

 

[PapaFrita]

Do you think your saddle might be pitching you back and so legs forward? Also, quite alot of saddles seem to have the stirrup bars rather too far forward, making it harder to keep your leg in the correct position.
That said, my legs tend to drift forward to (I call it the 'waterski position'

) and I've seen lots of riders in the same predicament.

 

[Ginn]

Would taking my stirrups away all together help then?

 

[Ginn]

[ QUOTE ]
Do you think your saddle might be pitching you back and so legs forward? Also, quite alot of saddles seem to have the stirrup bars rather too far forward,

[/ QUOTE ]

Yep - I think that may also be *part* of the problem (as Ive not noticed my legs being so bad when riding mickey who has a much newer saddle). So how should I work around it? Would some sort of "riser" pad help align the saddle a little better?

 

[Weezy]

Possibly but you would have to be very careful that you are not turning your knees into the saddle and "Holding" You may think you are not gripping but you could well be by doing the pressing the knees in thing - if you ride without stirrups really try and keep your knees soft and away from the saddle (old school rule was you should be able to hold a ping pong ball without squishing it - mind my trainer tells me to use my knee more!)

 

[Ginn]

Ahh, see Im an expert at not gripping - When I first started riding I was made to carry a tray with glasses of water on it and hold a raw egg between my knees at the same time - I learnt very, very quickly not to grip and to keep my hands soft with tumbs on top!

Much prefer the ping pong ball idea though - far less messy!

 

[PapaFrita]

Well, you certainly can get back riser pads and they're very popular here (struggling to think of anyone apart from me who doesn't use one!) so it's worth a try. I used one on PF for a while before she filled out along her back and it certainly helped.
Some of them can be a bit bulky around the wither area, so if you do get one make sure it doesn't make the saddle too tight there.
Any chance of the owner buying a new saddle????

 

[Ginn]

Very much doubt owner would get a new saddle unless it didnt fit! (which it seems to really well!) Poor wats is now 25/26 so isn't goping to be doing much other than some quiet plodding so can't see a new saddle on the agenda.

 

[PapaFrita]

LOL *whispers* thought I'd better mention a new saddle before someone else came along and told us off for not suggesting that first!
Certainly worth trying a back riser pad then. You can get some gel ones, I believe from Prolite.

 

[Ginn]

Thats ok - I was thinking the same but as Ive only ridden him twice and farrier is being so generous I thought I'd be pushing my luck.....

I also think the fact he's so unfit so has little topline and a rather large wasitline doesn't help - hopefully once we are both fitter things will fall more naturally into place! Pleased I've started to find my weaknesses now so I can start to put them right then in a years time on a freshly broken baby!