help with lower leg over fences

J

Jesstickle

Well-Known Member
Joined
11 December 2008
Messages
12,299
Visit site
So, I have this naughty lower leg that won't stay on the girth when I jump. It seems to swing backwards and I'm damned if I can do anything to stop it. And I'm not talking big jumps either. More like 2 foot. Although in fairness it doesn't get any worse the bigger I jump. I never jump much more than a metre but it stays pretty constant. Does anyone have any suggestions to help me keep it where it ought to be?
 
Difficult to say without seeing, but:
are your stirrups a good length?
are you pivoting on your knee? throwing your centre of gravity forwards?

Think heel down and foot forward as you take off, that helps, well, sometimes anyway :D
 
I don't know but I wanted to say I sympathise. My lower leg is awful, always has been ever since I started riding aged 7!
I know that I pivot on my knee.
It's really irritating, I practice riding in the point 2 position and cantering out of my stirrups ect. I can trot around untill the cows come home without stirrups but it doesn't make any difference once I take my pedals back.
I'd like to know too how to stop it :).
 
I couldn't get it either, until I realised I only loose it when my toes are turned out, so now I make sure my knee/thigh is rotated inwards and it is so much better.
Also doing this I have found that it is actually easier to canter in half seat than it is sitting and didn't need time to build calf muscles either as it all comes from the thigh:D
 
Will watch with interest as I too have this problem :D It's fine when I have my lessons - my instructor shouts when I do it! But when I'm schooling I can feel it creeping :p Am tempted to try shortening the stirrups more and seeing if that makes any difference.. xx
 
I'll probably get a slapped botty for this but this is what I do

On my old mare (particularly bad on her for some reason)

otty.jpg


and not so bad on BH

img702.jpg
 
If it helps, my dear, my position is much much worse - I'm not thread hijacking, just giving you some perspective and probably a bit of a laugh :rolleyes: :D

Fleap1.png
 
martlin said:
Not too bad at all, Jesstickle! What you do is turn your tootsies out, stop doing that and your leg will stay put :)
Click to expand...

I don't know how though. I is rubbish. And I have quite a nice lower leg on the flat too. You'd think it would translate wouldn't you? Apparently not. Stupid, uncooperative legs!
 
my friend had a similar problem and iv been giving her a few lessons to help. What iv found worked was the fact that we didnt actually work on her lower leg position, i gave her other things to think about changing instead which would compensate for and then automatically change her lower leg without her realising.
I mainly used doubles as she would therefore have to sit up quick inbetween and ride forward. We kept in mind the routine; sit up, legs on, check, hips forward. She had to do this all at the same time between the two fences and her lower leg quickly changed as she was improving her balance and jumping positon because she was sitting up.

as for if you are turning your toes out, i have problems woth this as i have problems with my knees and therefore my ankles are tight and i cant drop my toes effectively so that my toes dont stick out. it is something that i have learnt to adjust and although i dont always look great i am balanced over fences due to my lower leg position.

so get practising and good luck :)
 
I have had this problem too, coupled with tipping forward after the fence, then clever horse throws his head down and either bucks or drops a shoulder and rolls me off!!!! Swine!!!

Anyway what REALLY helped me has been cantering in the forward position up on the moors - horse has to tackle undulating terrain, jump ditches, scoot round bogs, spook violently at sheep, dodge tussocks etc. In order to stay on board and in balance my lower leg position has had to get a heck of a lot stronger and has become my anchor, right underneath me. This proved very helpful out hunting last spring when a great deal of bucking and rearing ensued and completely failed to unseat me.

I have found as a result my muscles are stronger, weight more into lower leg and I am able to push down into my stirrups when jumping, keeping a lighter seat, stabilising lower leg more... I think my lower leg position is ok now BUT I have no photographic evidence so I may be totally wrong!!! I certainly don't come tumbling off after every jump any more, so it must have worked.
 
jesstickle said:
I don't know how though. I is rubbish. And I have quite a nice lower leg on the flat too. You'd think it would translate wouldn't you? Apparently not. Stupid, uncooperative legs!
Click to expand...

Instead of concentrating on the foot/toes/lower leg, make an effort to turn your knee in, as in pointing into the saddle ;) Practice by approaching jumps (make them tiny if horse is iffy/needs riding into them) in a 2 point seat, turn your knees into the saddle and over the jump don't change your position, just give with your hand. At the same time think ''look up'' and pull your shoulder blades together. Bob's your uncle :D
OR, you can pay me a fortune and I will train you :D :D :D
 
SIGH !!!!!. I so often watch riders desperately trying to achieve a good position jumping or in dressage .They put so much effort in ,lots of lessons etc. BUT NOBODY EVER SEEMS TO EXPLAIN THE REAL PROBLEM.Your foot is free to move forward or back because the stirrup iron and leather form a pendulum with a pivot point at the stirrup bar.Your leg will always move till all the forces acting on that pendulum cancel each other out. The single most important factor in determining your leg position is the position of the stirrup bar,and what fits one rider may be totaly unsuitable for another. The size of your foot and the length of your leg hugely affect where that neutral point is going to be,as does your upper body weight.
I have a jumping saddle with wellep bars (adjustable stirrup bars) and it never ceases to amaze riders how much their position alters by adjusting the bar.
 
martlin said:
OR, you can pay me a fortune and I will train you :D :D :D
Click to expand...

You wouldn't want to. I'm one of those awful people who will do things well in lessons and then completely undo all the good work in the following week by riding like a numpty so you have to start from scratch again. I infuriate myself, I dread to think what I do to others.

My lower leg is alright most of the time. I have a very good line in brace positions! I used to ride race horses so can ride short and canter about until the cows come home (although it makes the muscles in my back scream these days as I'm not fit anymore) but I'm not very good at sitting up on landing and that is something else I should work on. It's a good job the horse is the point and shoot type or I'd be in a right muddle! Jumping is just not my forte in life sadly :(
 
try standing up in the saddle without gripping with knees and then sit down as you turn the corner to the fence - still dont grip with your knees. then as you take off for the fence stand up in your stirrups like you did in canter rather than folding over the fence. i hope this will help you but u must make sure u dont grip with your knees. i hav also used a product called sadlite you rub on ur saddle just behind your stirrup straps or on th inside of ur boots - really good product :):)
 
I have this problem too, but its improved a lot in the past year! I was told it's because I was gripping with my knees and that I needed to relax them. Easier said then done. But over time with constant work it finally kinda clicked! Shortening the stirrups help too as it helps the leg become more secure. I did a lot of work without stirrups and a lot of light seat work too. At the start of every lesson we did an exercise where we had to stand up in our stirrups, do light seat and jump position. Sounds easy but it gets tiring and that's when you start to notice how much you grip!

This is a shot from last year, incredibly bad leg!:
harryandme.jpg


This was about July time this year:
harrybetter.jpg

Not as bad, but not great.

About the same time again:
sitting.jpg

Would ahve been perfect if I wasn't sitting down!!

It's a hard thing to correct and it takes time (at least it has for me as its still not great as you can see) but you'll get there. My excuse is my left leg has issues and my right leg is bent when I walk anyway :P Sorry for the amount of pictures
 
EBS that is a huge improvement. I'm no expert (obviously being the OP and all :p ) but even I can see that!

I'm sure I am gripping with my knee in the second photo but the horse has only been out twice before so I wasn't sure what he was going to do and a bit of knee roll makes me feel safe. What he was going to do was nothing of course. It's BH. He doesn't really do naughty when he's being ridden. He's the perfect horse to try and undo the naughty habit on because he's so honest about his jumping. And considering he never really got taught how to do it he makes a good fist of just getting on and sorting himself out love him. Means I should have time to sort out my pigeon toes!!
 
Gosh I'm the worst offender!! I think my problems really my weak ankles, they go in my toes stick out, lower leg swing back, upper body flops forward and the poor bloody horse has to try and get over a jump wil me unbalencing him!

I keep telling myself I'm going to start doing five minutes with out stirrups and five minutes standing at the start of every schooling session to try and strengthen my leg muscles, although I'm told they are already grossely large ahahaha

Couldn't bring myself to show you the worst example XD

301193_10150278035816892_617361891_8221271_8345077_n1-1.jpg

beast.jpg

and once in a blue moon when it almost behaves!
 
I always think "stick lower leg forward" as I jump & then my leg actually seems to stay in the right position instead of flying backwards!

Otherwise lots of of cantering in forward seat & try to not grip with your knees.. lots & lots of practice :)
 
jesstickle said:
EBS that is a huge improvement. I'm no expert (obviously being the OP and all :p ) but even I can see that!

I'm sure I am gripping with my knee in the second photo but the horse has only been out twice before so I wasn't sure what he was going to do and a bit of knee roll makes me feel safe. What he was going to do was nothing of course. It's BH. He doesn't really do naughty when he's being ridden. He's the perfect horse to try and undo the naughty habit on because he's so honest about his jumping. And considering he never really got taught how to do it he makes a good fist of just getting on and sorting himself out love him. Means I should have time to sort out my pigeon toes!!
Click to expand...

Haha thanks! If you find that you tend to ride with long stirrups for jumping try shortening them as it really does help. As you can tell I used to ride in near dressage length! I didn't even realize how long they were until I got them up to where they were supposed to be! It was painful at first, riding in short stirrups as my ankles weren't used to it, but in time it felt a lot better, my leg was a lot more secure and I wasn't gripping with my knee half as much because I could actually use my calf!

Also I used to just throw my shoulders over the fence which did not help my leg one bit! I was taught to sit up, relax and not try too hard and it did the trick. Much better to fold from the hips than to fold from the shoulders, I soon worked that one out :rolleyes: As long as your in balance and you're not interfering with the horse (giving with the hands is the most important thing I find) I wouldn't worry too much about the leg. Have you seen some of those show jumpers?! Some of their heels could touch and they'd still somehow stay on! Its unfair! :mad:
 
Make sure you stirrups are the right length. My jumping length feels really short until I actually start jump and if they're not short enough I soon notice when I start jumping (hope that makes sense!)

Then just consentrate on pushing your weight into your heels.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top