Leaning slightly to one side when riding

shannonandtay

shannonandtay

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My daughters instructor has noticed that when she rides my daughter has a tendency to lean to the right side. Now it's been pointed out I notice it alot and try to get her to sit central but she still drifts back over to the right. Last lesson instructor noticed that the saddle is also now very slightly leaning to the right as well so I will need to get the saddle fitter out. Does anyone know any exercises etc that she can do to get her sitting more central.
 
It will be the unevenly muscled horse pushing her and the saddle over. Tell your saddler the problem and have the horse looked at. A good chiro will give you exercises for the horse to achieve equal muscle mass down his spine and over his shoulders.
 
Thank you that makes sense, I'm sure the last time the physio was out she said he was slightly weaker on the right side. We have a routine check booked in a couple of weeks so I will speak to her about it.
 
shannonandtay said:
Thank you that makes sense, I'm sure the last time the physio was out she said he was slightly weaker on the right side. We have a routine check booked in a couple of weeks so I will speak to her about it.
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I bought a horse that shoved the saddle way over to the right and my ample backside followed it. The horse was crooked and had never had the diagonal changed. Took a while but she straightened up with work.
 
shannonandtay said:
My daughters instructor has noticed that when she rides my daughter has a tendency to lean to the right side. Now it's been pointed out I notice it alot and try to get her to sit central but she still drifts back over to the right. Last lesson instructor noticed that the saddle is also now very slightly leaning to the right as well so I will need to get the saddle fitter out. Does anyone know any exercises etc that she can do to get her sitting more central.
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Hold the saddle upside down and look down from the cantle to the pommel - check that the panels are truly aligned correctly - you would be surprised the number of saddles that have the panels stitched in off centre - I've had a few including a very expensive brand.

Does your daughter mount from the ground? If so this may have compressed the right hand side of the saddle. Try to mount as often as possible so that the pull is minimalized.

Have your daughter checked over by a chiropractor - its amazing how many people are lopsided.
 
Thanks, I'm going to check the saddle today, I will have a good look at it, I will contact saddle fitter today for an appointment as well. Daughter always mounts from mounting block as I don't like her getting on from the ground.
 
My horse always shoves me over to the right. He finds it comfier.

I didnt realise and got so used to it...it only came to light when we had a dressage lesson.

Planning on a wee bit of horse physio and saddle adjustment to sort it out. Plus learning to ride better too obviously!!
 
I agree with everything said here, but I just wanted to add, if I've been sitting wrong for whatever reason (wonky saddles, wonky horses, mismatched stirrup leathers, trying to ride with an injured foot, me just being particularly useless...), even for a short while, then the right position starts to feel odd. I like to do work without stirrups to remind myself where the middle is. Muscle memory is a powerful thing!
 
yep physio and saddle adjustment needs to be done and have told daughter this morning that some riding without stirrups is needed as she has said when she corrects her position it doesn't feel right anymore.
 
I have a tendency for doing this too, I feel like I'm putting more weight on the left but actually overcompensating and putting all weight on the right. It happens on any horse I ride so for me its me rather than the horse :-( main things I've found that helps is going on the lunge with no stirrups and doing exercises such as touching toes in walk with opposite hand to foot (not sure that made sense sorry!), circling my arms in walk. Also my instructor makes me ride the first 10 minutes without stirrups to get my position right first, if he's feeling particularly mean lol he makes me do rising trot without stirrups and that always forces me to sit evenly so I dont slide off the saddle!
 
Wha Tnvas said - also use a ruler to measure how far back each stirrup bar is - these are often out too.

Whilst it may be the horse moving the rider, an uneven rider can cause one sided atrophy in the horse. Lessons without stirrups, stretching her right arm up to lengthen her side, if she's collapsing her rib cage, no tilting head. Another trick is to put one of those rigid back protectors on, but with it at the front as this prevents people collapsing, makes it very uncomfy!
 
Such an interesting thread. We were really lucky last week to have my horse physio (who is also a human physio) carry out an assessment of my daughter and me riding. She pointed out that we were both crooked (right side much more dominant than left side) and suggested some exercises to work on to correct it. We have both also had chiropractic before with similar comments. I really think it is worth seeing if you can get the crookedness looked into by a physio and / or chiro. And yes, correcting the crookedness feels really odd! OP it would be lovely for your daughter if she can get any crookedness dealt with now so it doesnt build up over the years.

And yes, the horse may well be contributing too! Best combo IME is horse and human being dealt with together.
 
I'm having trouble posting at the moment, but yes there's been some interesting replies and maybe more to this problem than originally thought. Physio is out in two weeks I haven't managed to get hold of the saddle fitter yet but that's nothing new lol, our physio also works on people so maybe I should have a word with her about daughter as well and maybe I can get them both checked out, thanks for all the ideas everyone :)
 
Have you thought about her having having a lesson on a mechanical horse, you can do this with your own saddle (after you've had it checked?) I found it really helpful as you can adjust your seat with the movement and without the horse. Plus you can adjust and see the result immediately.
I went to Becky at Ashen, but there are quite a few people who can do this?
 
iconique said:
Have you thought about her having having a lesson on a mechanical horse, you can do this with your own saddle (after you've had it checked?) I found it really helpful as you can adjust your seat with the movement and without the horse. Plus you can adjust and see the result immediately.
I went to Becky at Ashen, but there are quite a few people who can do this?
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Just got back from there this evening, I was quite aware that I was more right sided, going tonight helped me to alter, she was able to show me how my pelvis was tilted forward on the right side, she told me to imagine i was a horse being lunged and how, when a horse is one sided on the lunge we will sometimes out a lunge line round the back of the quarters to help bring there quarters round, I had to imagine the lunge line round my hips pulling my right side of my pelvis round to level me up. I was able to watch the chart on the screen and see for my self when I wasn't level.
 
I had that problem, in fact it was so bad I was pulling the entire saddle over, having to stop every 15 minutes to get help to pull it back over to the left. The problem was my left leg is longer than my right, so my body compensates that by putting more weight on the right side. I was already having physiotherapy to fix a muscle/bone problem in my hips so we got it checked out there.

To fix the problem, we simply made the right stirrup shorter, so that my body felt "even". Haven't had a problem with it since. But my instructor still says I'm the hardest to please with my stirrups, although it's not my own fault XD
 
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