knee gripping when jumping?

siennamiller

siennamiller

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Had a clinic with Chris Watts the other day and had not realised how much I am gripping with my left knee until I saw a bruise the next day. I neber used to have a problem like this, does anyone have any exercises to help fix this?
Thanks
xx
 
I have the same problem and do lots of adductor (inner thigh muscle) stretches. Its harder for us blokes as we don't have CBH!
 
should I know what cbh means? Am I goning to look really stupid now
blush.gif

I am very unfit dtill from my year off-maybe thats it cos have always been pretty good at keeping my heels down
Thanks
xx
 
Child Bearing Hips! Women have naturally wider hips.

Effective lower leg comes from having the upper leg right. Once you can open your thighs around the horse, your lower leg will naturally fall in to the right position.

Trying to fix the lower leg in isolation makes you turn your toes out.
 
Oooh thank you Dr James. I've been concentrating on my lower leg & wondering why my toes turn out!! Will give your suggestion a go.
 
personally i wouldn't worry about it.. it seems to be the new fashion to ride with your knee off the saddle.. where as the old school was to ride gripping with your knee..
I doubt it'll be something you're doing all the time!! more likely at a stage over a fence?? are you jumping again after a break?? when i do more jumping that i've been used to, i sometimes go as far as having grazes on my knees...
 
[ QUOTE ]

Effective lower leg comes from having the upper leg right. Once you can open your thighs around the horse, your lower leg will naturally fall in to the right position.

Trying to fix the lower leg in isolation makes you turn your toes out.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sorry now i am going to be a bit thick. Are you saying it's bad to turn your feet out, what i mean is that are you are not using you leg correctly. Is it bad to grip with your knees and why?
 
i grip with my knees too ... but aside form that leg position not too bad - i was always taught knees should be against saddle (when i was little i was taught by ex army OAP, he used to put playing cards inbetween my knees for my lesson and if it dropped on the floor i had to get off and run round the school 5 times !!)
but i had a lesson with mark boxall last month and he said i must stop gripping and loosen up my knee. i did it just be relaxing the leg but is is definately a hard habit to break if you have been doing it a long time
 
The received wisdom has changed from grip to don't grip. The current view is to open the knee (I was taught that you should just be able to get your hand between the knee and and the saddle) as that makes your lower leg more stable as it is the pivot point, not the knee. If you grip with the knee (and I am guilty of this), your lower leg tends to go back as you fold.
 
i think one of the most important things that is overlooked is what you are doing with your hands. if you have got into the habit of putting the hands down onto the horse's withers or the lower part of the neck, then it is very easy to pivot around the knee, leaning on the hands, and have no/little weight in the lower leg and heel. (was guilty of this for years, never had an instructor tell me why it wasn't working!)
if you try touching halfway up the horse's neck in midair, it keeps the hands up and forward, the shoulders up, the head up, and stops this rotation around the knee.
I don't think toes turning out is a bad thing at all, especially xc, as it helps keep the leg on. if toes turn out a bit, knees come off the saddle and can't grip, and the weight can travel down the leg to the heel.
 
If you dont close your knees approaching a jump, and your horse stops, you will go straight out the front door....lets remember, jumping is about getting you and the horse over the fence safely, not necessarily with dressage style looks. Many techniques are unique to horse & rider.
Im not suggesting you continually grip, just make sure you close as you approach the fence, unless your lucky enought to have a horse that never stops no matter how wrong you get it.
 
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