Stopping lower leg from going back?

[Flying_Form]

I’ve developed a bit of a habit of moving my leg back when putting leg on rather than keeping it where it is and squeezing - resulting in an unstable/nagging lower leg that my quiet Irish draught doesn’t mind but my ex racer does any tips/exercises in keeping my leg still and stopping it from going back? Only happens with flatwork - jumping it’s fine!

 

[Sossigpoker]

Make sure your hip is relaxed and thigh is long. Then drop your weight into your heel. Should be easier to keep the leg in position then

 

[planete]

This happened to me after a long break from riding. I tied the stirrups to the girth loosely enough so that they would hang normally but would not allow me to wave my feet about. I only had to do it a couple of times to make me aware of when I was doing it to break the habit. And then work on position of course.

 

[DabDab]

Position as above, but also really focusing on what muscles you are using to give a leg aid - you should be using your inside leg muscles to draw your leg in towards the horses side rather than just your calf muscle to draw your heel back. The pressure should cone from your inside calf not your heel. Making sure your horse is really in front of the leg also makes it a lot easier

 

[sbloom]

We have huge expectations of what the human hips, knees and ankles can do to keep the leg inwardly rotated AND in contact all the way down, when our joints only move in certain ways and we have two straight legs trying to wrap around a round ribcage.

Do your legs sit in external rotation ie the saddle pushes your knees and/or toes out?
Do your knees go more forwards than you'd like, ie you sit in a chair seat most of the time, sometimes very short stirrups might help a little (which I think you're saying does help, with it being flatwork and not jumping)?
Does your horse have a round ribcage that drops away sharply under your leg?
When was your saddle last checked for balance and fit?

If we simply use muscle power to "fix" these issues then we may be able to keep our leg underneath us but at the cost of tension, the saddle plays a large part. We're understanding more and more about how saddles either help or hinder the rider, and about how to best help riders on wider ribcages, but it's an inexact science and very few trainers look into it and not even many saddle fitters.

We need to work out why, and your answers to those questions will help a bit.

 

[catembi]

Is your saddle set up good so not tipping you forward or back and stirrup bars in the right place? I was once having all sorts of problems, especially jumping, but got a new saddle and the various problems were initially solved