Standing on tippy toes in stirrup (right leg only) - how to sort this out?!

[Scarlett 001]

Ugh. I have strange tendons and things in my right ankle, and it has never been very flexible. Not sure if this is the root cause of my problem or not? :rolleyes:

But I more often than not have a tendency to stand tippy-toed on my right toes in the stirrup (toes pointing down and a bit tensed up!). My left leg is just fine. So what the heck is going on and how do I stop this? I think I did it so many years at riding schools, my leg/foot is now trained this way! Horrors! :eek: My current coach is trying to work me through this, and get me focussed on it. But even when I do things correctly (not tiptoed in stirrup), it feels even more awkward as the muscle memory is so strong and I want to go tippy-toed. :rolleyes: :p

What can I do to help stop this? I am after exercises outside of riding, tricks/tips to focus on when riding - I am after anything to help me sort this out. I try to focus on spreading the toes out in my boot and relaxing the ankle - it helps a bit I suppose.

I really have to sort this out to take my riding to the next level.

[Est]

I do exactly the same thing, also in my right leg. In my case it is a dodgy right hip - by tensing my leg and keeping my heel higher, it "protects" my hip joint. After years of doing this, my calf muscles in my right leg are also tighter than the calf muscles in the left leg.

A chiro has done some work on my hip and ankle, and I am already finding it easier to drop my weight through my heel. So you might find some kind of dismounted therapy such as chiro or Bowen could help with this, coupled with your focus on it while riding. After all, if the underlying problem is still there in your ankle, your leg will keep doing what it has always done as soon as you stop thinking about it. If you can get the ankle "fixed", then your muscle-memory training will work more successfully!

[Skib]

It may be that you can correct this.
But in my case the poor position of my left leg with the heel up rather than down is the result of deterioration in my lower spine.
Lunge lessons, spreading my toes, dropping the weight down my leg - all sorts of compensations are possible when riding - do something to improve matters.
But this "habit" of your may well have a physical cause. Like my RI suspected I sat more to the right to avoid pain? So though it is a habit one has to adapt and compromise and be easy on oneself?
To comfort you, though I am crooked most horses are well able to adjust to the peculiarities of a rider.

[Scarlett 001]

I do exactly the same thing, also in my right leg.!

Interesting, at least I am in the very best of company here!!!

Hmmm, indeed it might be interesting to have a specialist or chiro/bowen type person look at my ankle and assess. Think I might do this.

ETA: Skib, we cross-posted so just saw your message - I am now interested in seeing if there is an underlying physical cause or if it is a habit I picked up when I was a more tense rider in the past.

[Styric]

I vote for getting it looked at for physical causes.

For ages I was yelled at by my old instructor for never being able to hold the leg on in my right or keep my leg back behind the girth. She insisted it was because I was a crap rider.. and I ignored the fact my hip would lock up and go into agony often when I shifted it back.

Well I switched instructors and didn't tell her about the pain. Two lessons in she kinda scratched her head and asked what hand was dominant. I told her I'm ambidextrous but right hand dominant for most things. She then commented that my left leg is the stronger one and my right leg doesn't seem to be working correctly and asked if I had any old injuries. We've come to the conclusion it's a physical limitation due to severely torn ligaments in my ankle a few years ago and the fact I was born with my hip 90 degrees sideways. A few years of chiropractor work fixed the hip and I now walk straight, but I find rotating it and moving it backwards excrutiating.. my hip isn't rotating the 10 degrees it would be for most people, but it rotating 100 degrees. This tightened my hamstrings by alot.

So we've determined it was my body instinctively avoiding pain so we're slowly strengthening the leg up and it's starting to show progress :D

Moral of the story.. don't assume it's because you're a crap rider. Rule out the physical first as it's amazing what old injuries can do to you...

[Skib]

Styric - this is my story too.
Being bullied out of my mind by a teacher -
and then finding one who looked carfully at why I was riding the way I did, with more weight on my right hip - to minimise pain.

But the other pojnt too - as Styric says. Pain or lack of mobility in an ankle or knee may originate in the hip or spine?
And even doctors may not realise this. I had my knees X rayed (negative result) several years before anyone realised the problem lay in my spine.

[Cicada<3]

Stand on the edge of a stair and just let your ankle drop down.

[Dizzy]

Have you tried riding without stirrups?

Another thing to try is wiggling your toes now and then, to check your foot is relaxed. Or riding stood up in your stirrups, as to balance you'll have to relax your lower leg and ankle to absorb the stride/movement.

[Iron Maiden]

I do the same. Also right foot. There is a very logical explanation I believe, my right leg is shorter than my left (greenstick fractured my left & it grew longer as it healed). I have always tried to ride with my stirrups as even as poss & look where it's got me!

[nelle]

I brace my right foot against the stirrup, which makes my leg swing. My RI put her hand between my calf and Sonny's side this week and told me to squeeze, my left leg is so much stronger than my right (there is a theme here! ). I thought it may have something to do with me being left handed. Anyway she's told me to practice holding a sock against his side, I tried this week with her glove, not bad in walk and sitting trot, but in rising trot I couldn't hold it even for 1 stride.

She's suggested I sit facing the back of a dining room chair and wrap my legs around the front legs squeezing to improve muscle tone. Tried it last night, it is not very comfortable!!

[buttons]

I used to suffer from this in my left leg (trust me do be difficult!) and after ruling out other causes, my physio came the conclustion it was caused ny the muscles and tendons not stretching enough as when walking, jumping etc, i always favoured my right leg and it was better developed and thus suppler.

The exercise I was given was to stand on a step with tha ball of my foot, and gendly bob up and down - thus stretching the whole leg - gradually increasing the amount you sink by as you go along.
After a few weeks of this daily, my left leg caught up with my right and I could let the heel hang really well.

Hop this helps, but get yourself checked out first!