Sticky out feet

[Kelly1982]

I have a terrible habit of gripping with my feet when i am going over a jump and as a result my toes stick out sidways and make me look like a penguin!!

I can feel myself doing it even though i am mentally telling myself not to but cant seem to stop!!

Has anyone got any advise or techniques i can try to stop this??

 

[bandit]

i do it aswell. ask your teacher on monday... and then tell me what i should do too..

 

[Kelly1982]

LOL cheater!!!

Yeah i will ask her but as i am concentrating on my flat work in lessons at the mo more than jumping i just thought i would ask for some advise on here in the meantime

 

[Rambo]

Hmmmm....I have this problem also....probably too old to change it now though lol!

 

[beh]

i do exactly the same, but when i had a lesson with david green (lucindas ex) he said it was good to stick your toes out as this helps you to grip.

 

[Kelly1982]

Thats interesting to know!!

I always thought it was a bad habit and i worry that i am going to dig my horse too much with my spurs.

Glad i'm not the only one though

 

[sally2008]

I used to have the same problem. I recommend taking your stirrups up another couple of holes to help you get your weight securely in your heels. This should help stop you from gripping up with the lower calf which causes penguin feet!

Plenty of canter work in a forward position so you can concentrate on getting the feeling of being balanced over the stirrups with nice soft ankle and knee joints to absorb the movement also really helped me.

 

[ljubb]

the only down side to sticking ur feet out is that ur knee comes away from the saddle knee roles were designed to be used - to combat this I spent may hours jumping without stirrups.

Enjoy!

 

[juliehannah58]

I used to do this all the time and like you say, it's hard to stop! But I found whacking my stirrups up a hole or two helped me get the weight down in my heel and stay there LOL! Definitely helped and it helps you recover quicker on landing too.

 

[dieseldog]

If your toes are sticking out it means you've got your leg on. Not a bad thing

 

[kick_On]

my trainer is on my case, she get's me to imagine what a penguin looks like!!!! now remove horse you'll look really silly, as she says you don't walk like a penguin, so why ride like it

.
My suggestion is lots of work without strirrups,
Put you hand under your top thingh(sp) muscle and roll out muscle outwards, this will pull your lower leg out and stop you gripping and then penguim feet will stop
also a grand help would be put up level of strirrups
ooooo and time

 

[Rambo]

Another more draconian measure is to use some spur straps and fix the stirrup irons to the girth.

I really wouldn't worry too much about it though..there's at least one very good ex-international sj'er who encourages you to ride slightly like that

 

[Santa_Claus]

Personally I would adivse to concentrate on your knee position. If your knee is in the correct place it is almost impossible for your feet to point out unless you have double jointed ankles!!!

Some people say if your feet are out your leg is on but although true in a sense it means the BACK of your leg is on the horse. You should be using the side of your leg not the back.

An exercise I do when teaching kids who like to use their heels and the back of their leg rather than the inside is to put a leaf inbetween the saddle and their knee. If they grip too hard they break the leaf, if they allow their leg to swing out the leaf drops and they 'lose'.

You can use symmetry straps but even with a good jumping position your leg needs to go back behind the girth on take off and infront on landing inorder for your leg to stay pointing 'straight down' and so they will jolt you when your leg can't move.

Jumping without stirrups is very useful, without saddle even more so if your balance is good enough as you learn to grip with the entire of your inside lower leg.

Hope that all makes sense

Katie

 

[Kelly1982]

[ QUOTE ]
If your toes are sticking out it means you've got your leg on. Not a bad thing

[/ QUOTE ]

I think thats half my problem in a way, i put my leg on to tell my horse to take off but i dont take it off again over the jump (if that makes sense).

There seems to be a lot of different views on it which is quite interesting. Some really good advise though which i am going to try, apart from the bareback thing as i will probably hit the deck on my youngster LOL

 

[Tia]

I do it too, LOL!! I have always been of the belief that it stems from jumping and riding bareback a lot......muscle-memory and all that!