Leg issues!

[Juliaa_Faith]

I've been riding for a year and a few months, my rising trot is really good, have come really far with sitting trot and finally able to "feel" the movements of the trot with my seat.
But it's always the canter transition that I struggle with.

Summary of the issue: every time I ride a larger horse etc my cob mare that I have on loan, I will bring my legs up and turn the heel in to ask for canter... of course I start bouncing, lose my stirrups and balance as my legs have now tensed up. I keep asking with my heel so my heels will turn in to nudge the horse, for some reason that's become a habit (only when asking for canter). And the harder I try to kick on the more balance I lose, so that isn't working.

Take my stirrups away and I can go into canter just fine as I keep my leg long.

Im not rushing to start cantering as I'm the type of person to make sure the quality of the other gaits is my best before I canter, but it really brings my spirits down when everyone seems to find it easy apart from me

Any tips or advice form people that have had this issue or know what to do?

 

[Shay]

If you can make the canter transition without stirrups then have you tried lengthening your leathers to a similar extent? You say its become a habit - I suspect that is right. Perhaps lots of work without stirrups and on the lunge so you can focus on re-training your body?

But before you beat yourself up necessarily the type of saddle and position of the stirrup bars can make a surprising difference. It may be that the saddle you are using does not help. As this is a loan I presume you are not in a position to try a new saddle - and anyway try the other things first. But just keep in the back of your mind that tools can hinder as well as help.

 

[J_sarahd]

I agree with Shay - perhaps you do need to lengthen your stirrups. But also, if you know you're doing it, try and consciously stop yourself. This is perhaps easier to start off on the lunge so you're focusing more on your position than your horse's way of going. Just think about stretching your legs long and wrapping them around his body. I watched a great video from a dressage rider who said that she'd spend hours on her horse trying to touch her toes underneath the horse's belly. She said it hurt a lot, but it resulted in a fantastic leg position. Try that, maybe?

Don't beat yourself up, either. In the grand scheme of things, you've not been riding that long and we all have vices in our riding. For example, I used to lean forward a lot in the canter, so I had to consciously bring my shoulders back every single time I cantered and after a while, that became a habit instead of leaning forward. At the moment, my left hand tends to turn in, so I'm consciously telling myself to turn it back out. As long as you recognise there's a problem, you can train yourself to remind yourself to keep your legs long when going into canter.

 

[1life]

Some great advice, however I would not recommend lengthening your stirrup leathers as this will result in you 'fishing' for your stirrups.
Try to imagine your heel digging down into the ground; open and drop your leg feeling that you are doing so from from point of hip to knee then knee to heel (just thinking drop heel won't lengthen your whole leg around the horses barrel). Don't let your seat move back in the saddle as you do this or you will lose 'downward length', instead feel the seat is scooped under you. Then, make sure your trot is forward and off the leg enough (maybe try a couple of sharp, successive walk/trot, walk/trot transitions) and as you approach a corner think 'sit, sit, leg'. Think of the whole of the inside to back area of your heel giving a firm nudge (not just a squeeze) on the horses side with the seat scooped into the saddle, upper body thinking up (not tipped forward) and leg thinking down and around (as mentioned at the beginning). Your foot should stay in your stirrup as a result of your heel being pressed below your stirrup/toe level, not because you are thinking of pressing weight onto the stirrup. You will naturally be doing all this without stirrups, using your core and keeping balance; take your stirrups back and you are relying too much on them.
Good Luck