Help with waggly hands!

[tatty_v]

Can anyone help me with my waggly hands please?!

I know my hands move around too much in trot and canter. I went to try a potential horse today. He was only 6 and clearly too good for me (and very nicely schooled). He went really nicely for me and I was really enjoying the lightness in my hands and the steady head carriage (current pony has a tendency to swing head or lock jaw to avoid doing as asked!)

However, on looking back at the videos my flipping hands are still having a party of their own and I really didn’t think I was doing much with them (certainly less than I do normally!) My lower leg looks lovely and stable and I’m rising from the thigh, so is it a problem with my elbows and if so, how do I fix it?

 

[Tiddlypom]

Try relaxing your elbows .

 

[DabDab]

Yes usually elbows, the general advice is to make sure you keep them bent and by the side of your body, but some people's conformation makes that difficult/impossible, so they develop other coping mechanisms instead.

Are they rising up and down with your body? Having a loop at the front of your saddle that you hook a finger through can be quite useful to get the muscle memory in place to keep hands still while body moves.

 

[tatty_v]

Yes usually elbows, the general advice is to make sure you keep them bent and by the side of your body, but some people's conformation makes that difficult/impossible, so they develop other coping mechanisms instead.

Are they rising up and down with your body? Having a loop at the front of your saddle that you hook a finger through can be quite useful to get the muscle memory in place to keep hands still while body moves.

yes, sort of, although they don’t seem to bob up and down in time with each other but move independently! ? I usually have a neck strap on so I’ll see if tucking my fingers under that helps. I *think* on much video review (!) that my elbows aren’t opening and closing enough and that my elbows need to sink down more. I attribute some of that today to being nervous on an unknown youngster, but I should know better!

 

[soloequestrian]

Have a look at exactly how your hands are moving in the video and then work out what the opposite of that movement is e.g. if you are circling your hands forward and down, the opposite would be to circle them backwards and up. Then do the opposite movement when you are riding - that should give you the feel of the correct movement rather than just thinking 'I must keep still' which is almost impossible.