Ideas on sorting out a horrible lower leg position

J

JessPickle

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Since I have had Pickle my lower leg really has got incredibly shoddy! he is hard work to get going, which has caused me to kick him, using my heels instead of my calfes to get him moving! As well as this my heels are always slightly up which drives me insane, as I have now continued to ride like this even on other horses!

I am trying to think of ways of solving this? Would more bareback riding help? I can ride him bareback pretty easily as always ride to the field this way! and can in the school.

My knees are slightly dodgy making standing up in stirrups for long periods painful! I did try and hack without my bum touching the saddle for a while to try and strengthen my lower leg! however lasted a couple of 1hr hacks then knees killed (disclaimer: know its not the most secure position to be in, however Pickle is incredibly safe and its all off road hacking)

So any ideas?

Few videos and photos of me and the shoddy lower leg

PickleSchooling-June7th15.jpg


Schooling-7thJune1.jpg


Me rising from my ankle completely incorrect!
DSCF0075.jpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDes0S3OkWg
 
im little miss heels DOWN normally and i could feel mine creeping up when I came to irritate/talk at you! There is so much of him that its quite hard to wrap your legs on and ride him off your leg. Sally T made me play games to get mine off the leg, literally gymkhana games! legs ON means GO, legs held means keep the rhythm.
 
You can get a strap that attaches to the stirrup irons and the girth. Is designed to keep your lower leg still, then you can work on keeping your heels down, if you move your leg to kick, your feet will come out of the stirrup.
 
I would change your footwear. A pair of traditional riding boots might help you to hold your feet more correctly.
However, if I were you I would forget about your feet and legs for a while, looking at your pics you seem to tip forwards, slightly and hold your arms rather straight. I think that maybe if you concentrate on correcting these faults, which probably are connected to your leg position, that your legs will naturally fall back into a more correct position.
 
I totally agree about the footwear.
In an ideal world I think you'd benefit from a saddle 1/2inch longer too.
Your position is not bad but to my eye you need to push out the hollow of your back, raise and bend the elbows softly to correct the upper body and this will enable you to use your seat more effectively. Your legs will almost certainly benefit from you riding with slightly longer stirrups which will allow you to draw your knee back more and then the lower leg can hang down more vertically from the knee- can you see that the angle of your thigh is quite acute.
Your heels wont go down consistantly by you thinking of pushing your heels down, this will tend to make you push your leg forward, instead you could think of lengthening the back of your calf muscle.
 
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