Improving my lower leg position over a fence?

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spotty_pony

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Has anybody got any ideas of how I can improve my lower leg position over a fence? It tends to slip back. This wouldn't be too much of a problem but my young mare doesn't like it when she feels my leg slip back and it causes her to buck on landing. Any advice on any exercises I can do to make my lower leg more secure over a fence would be very much appreciated. :)
 
I need some help with this too, some things that people have suggested I do are doing squats (out of the saddle, when you are at home, obviously.. a bit embarassing for the yard!) trotting in jumping position making sure your leg stays exactly where it should (much harder than you think!) and keeping the weight in my heels and stretching my ankles by standing on a step with your heel sticking off the back, and go up as if you were standing on your tiptoes and then lower yourself slowly down so your heel goes down lower than the top of the step, if that makes any sense?
 
I find that thinking about folding at the hip helps. Instead of just leaning forward which will push your lower leg back, think about keeping your bum in pretty much the same position and just fold at the hip. Also keep your heels down. Hopefully I've explained it well enough.
 
How are your knees / thighs when you are riding? Quite often if your bury your knee into the knee roll you will pivot and then the lower leg will go back. If you try opening your knees so your thigh is relaxed and your calfs are wrapped around the horse its easier to keep your leg in the right position (which incidentally will give you much stronger/clearer leg aids in order to get a better canter) - also when actually taking off etc if you turn your toes out slightly (not much!!) that will have a similar effect as opening at the knee.

My lower leg used to swing back all the time and by working on this it has improved ten fold - although I still get the odd exception if we have a really awkward jump
 
My lower leg slips back over a jump sometimes, leaving me on landing leaning forward, and my horse likes to occasionally just drop his shoulder after a fence and roll me off onto the floor. I think it amuses him...
So on approach I push my heels down, thinking to myself to keep lower leg secure and look up - I push my chin up even if my eyes are trying to look down, because my instructor said looking down at a fence makes you top heavy and lets your lower leg tilt back. On landing I sit up straight away and ride on, and try not to collapse. I am lucky that my horse takes me into a fence, I think if you're are having to kick all the way that makes your legs tip back too.
 
Usually your leg slips back because you're drawing your heels up and gripping with the knee.

my instructor made me do lots of gridwork with and without stirrups and with my eyes shut! haha. this helped you feel the movement and not anticipate it and also if you bought your leg back you were more likely to fall off.
Another exercise was to crank my stirrups up two holes higher than my jumping length and then i had to keep my heels down.

also lots of no stirrup work on the flat.

it really helped me and now my lower leg position is so much more stable.
 
Make sure your stirrups are the right length for jumping firstly, often if they're too short they can push the weight out of your heel. Other than that, practicing jump position plenty, see how many laps of trot you can hold it for! Doing it over trot poles is also brilliant, then slowly build up the height from there - much easier to concentrate over a small and simple fence! Remember when you jump you're not pushing yourself up, out the saddle and onto the horse's neck, you should fold from the waist. Having a secure leg position on the flat is also a must, so no stirrup work and plenty of flatwork it helpful too! Also having someone to shout at you every time you do it is good - makes you correct it automatically so helps deter you from doing it regularly. Also make sure when jumping you're not too ahead of the horse if that makes sense? Maybe try some lessons to add some further detail, and also make sure you're not gripping with your knees - tricky but it seriously alters your leg position! xx
 
Try taking off your saddle? You will need a few flat work sessions until you and your horse feel confident without one so you and your horse can get to grips with it, and then start off with small jumps, but you should find it helps your horse become abit more used to the feel of you and you will get more used to the feel of your horse. You will be amazed at the diffrent way of going a horse can have after you get into it! But stick with it, it wont feel right the first few times until you get the feel of your horse and their strides! Jumping this way will give you alot better balance and you will find you figure out the best position after a few tries and it will show when you put a saddle back on! It should also almost desensitise your horse abit to the feel of you on him and he wont mind if your legs does slip :) this has worked on both of my horses :)
 
I have had 2 instructors give advice to my kids on this and their suggestions which seemed to work are

1. Slightly grip with your lower leg just before the jump, (1-2 strides away), not a death grip, but just feel the horse with your lower leg, and

2. Think about or imagine pushing your foot slightly forward just before the jump again(1-2 strides away) , you are not actually really pushing it forward, but if you imagine this it somehow stops your leg slipping back

Having a good lower leg position improved their whole jump as position heaps better over jump.
 
Thank you for all of your replies. :)

I do tend to ride quite short so I guess that might not be helping, also an Instructor once told me that I would be more secure if I gripped with my whole leg all the time? I'm guessing she was wrong!
 
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