Wonky rider & horse!

[Welshie95]

Brought horse home from uni in June and when we started riding in the school on the right rein he began to become heavy in the outside rein and generally not wanting to come into a proper contact. At first I thought the 7 hour trailer journey probably tensed him up, so he had physio and back to gentle work. Went lame and had 3 months off, he's now 3 weeks back in work (walk and small trot only) and the heaviness is worse, he is travelling quarters in slightly with his head in the air not even offering to take the contact from me.
Since beginning to ride again I have noticed my left stirrup feels a lot shorter even though they are the same length, almost pushing me and the saddle to the right. My whole leg also feels much tighter, almost "stuck" in the heels down position with no flexibility in the ankle like in my right leg. Which could be contributing to his wonky-ness, my thinking is because my leg is tight he thinks that I'm pushing his quarters in?
Have had physio who noticed my right leg, when bent at the knee doesn't stretch outwards as much as the left, and stretched out the upper muscles to help relax and lengthen everything, however I now cannot even pull my legs back to do my girth or stirrup for pain in my bum!
Next step is saddle fitter and physio for him, but was wondering if anyone else had similar experiences or suggestions, maybe I'm missing something blindingly obvious!

 

[splashgirl45]

if you are wonky you will be affecting your horses way of going. i had hip problems and thought i was not sitting straight so went for a lesson on a mechanical horse so instructor could assess me and correct if necessary. i was , she did, and all ended up ok but i have to really concentrate to make sure i dont fall into the habit again...horse also improved once i did...

 

[Welshie95]

if you are wonky you will be affecting your horses way of going. i had hip problems and thought i was not sitting straight so went for a lesson on a mechanical horse so instructor could assess me and correct if necessary. i was , she did, and all ended up ok but i have to really concentrate to make sure i dont fall into the habit again...horse also improved once i did...

I don't think we have a mechanical horse in the area to try this I am looking for a biomechanics orientated instructor though!

 

[Mike007]

The awful thing is that as we progress as a rider the more we realise how crooked we ride . Knowing this is half of the battle. Its not easy to get them straight. I spent a year at walk with Bob the nota cob working on this .For us ,leg yield was a major tool. Being responsive to lateral work allows the rider to straighten the horse(but hell what do I know)

 

[SEL]

Get your saddle checked. I thought I was wonky but it turned out the tree in my saddle was twisted.

It took a very good saddle fitter who has also done bodywork with horses in the past to spot that there was a problem with the saddle. She couldn't understand why my saddle was twisting to the left when my horse's shoulder muscles were wasted on the right. Dismantling the saddle showed that the tree was twisted - probably had been since manufacture. (its only 12 months old and had been re-fitted once already by the original saddler).

My horse is now so stiff on the right that she goes lame on the right rein. We've got a lot of rehab to do.

I'm taking myself off to the physio as well this week because when she popped me up on board I was slightly slouching to one side. Possibly unintended consequence of subconsciously adjusting to twisted saddle but I've had a fair amount of bumps and bruises over 4 decades of horses and I'm not that flexible these days. {plus I seem to have 1 leg slightly shorter than the other according to the lady who adjusted my new trousers the other day!!}