pennandh
Well-Known Member
Currently just putting feelers out regarding a potential solution - I'm not entirely sure whether spurs are something I want to try, but they have been suggested so I'm doing some considering.
The situation, as it stands, is that even with the extra inch or two boost I get from my side-saddle, my leg tends to dangle rather below the point at which it's terribly easy to use it effectively: I'm 5'7", most of which comes from my leg, and my Mr H is a 13.1hh barrel-shaped Highland (in truth, my leg is also rather too long on the 14.2hh-ish Welsh D I sometimes have lessons on). When I'm astride, the legs are even more dangly - I look a bit less daft in short stirrups, but I can't ride like that for long because my wonky right knee packs up.
In an ideal world, I suppose I'd acquire a horse that took up a bit more leg, but I haven't the money or the time (nor will I in the foreseeable future); so I'm working with what I've got.
Anyhow, I've been told by one or two acquaintances that swan-neck spurs might be useful, but I'm a little in two minds about the idea because I've not actually ridden in spurs before. Well, a spur - I'm not attaching anything sticky-out to my right leg because the knee doesn't work properly and that would just be asking for trouble.
Obviously, I wouldn't try a spur of any kind without my instructor present, and my left leg is fairly independent (I've been riding on-and-off for eighteen years, and consistently for about thirteen - I used to take the winters off when I was small because I was not a naturally well-insulated child), but I was wondering if anyone had any advice or alternative solutions, I suppose. Just so I've got a firmer idea of what to chat to my instructor about when I get home from uni.
The situation, as it stands, is that even with the extra inch or two boost I get from my side-saddle, my leg tends to dangle rather below the point at which it's terribly easy to use it effectively: I'm 5'7", most of which comes from my leg, and my Mr H is a 13.1hh barrel-shaped Highland (in truth, my leg is also rather too long on the 14.2hh-ish Welsh D I sometimes have lessons on). When I'm astride, the legs are even more dangly - I look a bit less daft in short stirrups, but I can't ride like that for long because my wonky right knee packs up.
In an ideal world, I suppose I'd acquire a horse that took up a bit more leg, but I haven't the money or the time (nor will I in the foreseeable future); so I'm working with what I've got.
Anyhow, I've been told by one or two acquaintances that swan-neck spurs might be useful, but I'm a little in two minds about the idea because I've not actually ridden in spurs before. Well, a spur - I'm not attaching anything sticky-out to my right leg because the knee doesn't work properly and that would just be asking for trouble.
Obviously, I wouldn't try a spur of any kind without my instructor present, and my left leg is fairly independent (I've been riding on-and-off for eighteen years, and consistently for about thirteen - I used to take the winters off when I was small because I was not a naturally well-insulated child), but I was wondering if anyone had any advice or alternative solutions, I suppose. Just so I've got a firmer idea of what to chat to my instructor about when I get home from uni.
they're BD legal but not BRC legal