Lower leg- heels almost too far and down and leg swinging forwards

[PKrider]

Hi everyone,

some help would be appreciated, I have been watching videos of myself riding and cringing!! My heel in trot is so far pushed down that it almost makes my leg swing forward, my heel then comes up when I go to put leg on!

Advice on how to keep a stable lower leg and prevent the above from happening, I think my horse is quite behind the leg too so need to work on that- at the moment im nagging him nearly every time I rise in the trot, presumably if he were to be moving forwards my leg could stay more in one position?

im not sure if the fact that my lower leg is forwards is also a sign that my stirrups are too short...

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

Start with your saddle - are the stirrup bars in the right place to allow your stirrups to hang vertically?

If they are, check the length of your leathers, a good rule of thumb is to have your stirrups on a level with your ankle bone.

If you are still having problems, do lots of trotting without stirrups, sitting and rising trot.

 

[Lyle]

I find thinking about pushing my knee down helps to keep the lower lag back. Your toe should be in line with your knee. I also think about using my thighs to rise from, not pushing up from my stirrups. I really liked the book Ride With your Mind by Mary Wanless.

 

[sbloom]

Start with your saddle - are the stirrup bars in the right place to allow your stirrups to hang vertically?

If they are, check the length of your leathers, a good rule of thumb is to have your stirrups on a level with your ankle bone.

If you are still having problems, do lots of trotting without stirrups, sitting and rising trot.

There are so many factors and these are just some of them. Too wide a twist, too bulky a flap can also push the leg forwards, so the right saddle will help a lot. Correct alignment, for most riders, is to have the ankle bone in line with the hip bone which lines up with the shoulder, femur, lower leg and foot length means everyone's needs are different, but the toe won't always align with the knee. This applies to jump saddles too, though so many sit the rider well back from their ankle. For this reason stirrup length is the least likely cause.

Are you working with a good biomechanically-aware trainer? Have a good chat with them, and if they're not sure how to help reassure them that you'd like to get help from a biomechanics coach (such as Ride With Your Mind, Franklin method and Equipilates), and/or work on an off-horse programme such as Rider Reboot. Any or all could help significantly.

 

[PKrider]

thank you all!!!!

 

[PapaverFollis]

I find it helpful to think about dropping my weight into my little toes and bending my leg around the horse, rather than pushing my heels down.

 

[Cortez]

Without seeing you ride it's really impossible to offer any useful advice, but 2 things (in addition to the excellent words re saddles): 1st - lunge lessons with a competent instructor are really the best way to establish a balanced and functional seat. And 2nd - it sounds as if you are jamming your heels down which will take the weight out of your seat and make it difficult to actually use your legs properly. It's better to think of lifting your toes rather than "heels down".

 

[brighteyes]

Find a mechanical horse and get some training on that There are lots of really advanced ones about now

 

[Ample Prosecco]

It definitely helps to have the horse responsive to your aids so you don't have to nag. Even riders with very good alignment will lose position if they are doing all the work! Start with halt-walk transitions. Ask once nicely, then firmly, then insist - ie make it happen. This could be a firm kick or a firm tap with the whip. Then back to halt and start again with a polite, soft aid. You are wanting the horse to clearly understand that he can go off the light aid and avoid the escalation. If that is made crystal clear through consistency of the aids (light/firm/make it happen) almost all horses sharpen up very quickly. Once he is good in walk do exactly the same thing in walk-trot transitions. Ie ask one nicely, ask once firmly, insist. Repeat repeat until the horse is consistenly in front of the leg. If you nag a horse they eventually learn to tune you out. And it is very hard to ride well with a horse who you are constantly nagging.

 

[scats]

Difficult to offer suggestions without seeing you riding, but when you rise, try to think of the weight going down the front of your thigh and into your knees, rather than down the back of your leg and into your heels. So swing your pelvis forwards and back into the saddle, rather than up and down.

 

[PKrider]

Thank you all so much. I actually had a lesson to address this. My trainer he told me exactly as many of you have suggested re. rising from the hip and my horse was dead to the leg so im going to really work on sharpening her up.

Honestly embarrassing that ive gone this long riding incorrectly!!

 

[smolmaus]

Honestly embarrassing that ive gone this long riding incorrectly!!

I was having this same thought on Thursday after my instructor paused the entire group lesson to ask what the hell was happening with my leg. 25 years since I started riding and haven't ever been able to keep from gripping up with my knees (and losing my stirrups) when I also need to nag a horse to keep going. On a forward horse I manage fine or its just not as noticeable. I have the same issues with foot position when I'm lifting weights as well and my old pilates instructor was just as frustrated that I don't stand or walk "correctly" either! ? I'm trying very hard to focus on it being absolutely pointless to be embarrassed, and focus on just doing the work to fix it now instead!

 

[Cortez]

Honestly embarrassing that ive gone this long riding incorrectly!!

The teaching of riding in this part of the world is absolutely shocking, some/many/most people who have ridden for decades have absolutely no concept of the very basics.

 

[sbloom]

So many of you struggling....please consider having a really thorough assessment from someone like Rider Reboot, working with a ridden biomechanics coach, and possibly rethinking your saddle.

As an example, if the twist of your saddle is too narrow (the bit your pubic arch and upper inner thighs sit on) then you may tip forwards due to lack of support, you may grip with your knees as there is nothing supporting that inner thigh. You may lean backwards as I used to, to avoid the discomfort of the narrow twist. I was never really comfortable but did seem to be worse in high pommels so assumed that was the problem. It wasn't - I have a super wide pubic symphysis and need a wider twist than I imagined.

I fitted for a rider with mild cerebral palsy recently. She walked with her knees together, toes in, hips contracted, and on the saddle her legs wanted to pinch at the knee, to the extent that she pulled the front of the saddle down in rising trot, whereas the saddle sat perfectly level for the other rider. I padded the saddle as an experiment, to support her upper inner thigh better, and she reduced the pinching by maybe 50%, and the saddle stopped lifting at the back.

This is a whole new area, I can see why you're all beating yourselves up and we've all done it. In the old days everyone was put on the lunge for a year (yep, for true classical schools in Europe), people bled, developed callouses, and learned to control their "damned bodies". It was hard work.

It doesn't need to be any more, we can get more targeted help with our bodies and, where possible, we can get better saddles that truly suit us so we can concentrate our efforts on our horse, and not on maintaining balance and alignment.

 

[Cloball]

I have this issue too and I think it stems partly from the "heels down" narrative as a child and partly due to riding in a defensive brace position be it confidence or an spooky horse etc. It wasn't until I found an instructor who actually agreed to my lunge lesson idea and pointed all this out and helped me with it.

Unfortunately I've now moved away and lost said great instructor yet to find another without buying the horse first but that's another saga.

Anyhoo I found it helpful to first stick my hand under my thighs and sort of shift the muscle back as we are not all built with legs that naturally wrap. That helps me knees point forwards more. Then I try to think of peeling my knees and thighs back. You could try putting a rolled cloth or sponge just on the inside of you thigh and see if that makes a difference. Taking the stirrups away also really helped.