The amazing stretching leg...

[virtuallyhorses]

Has anyone else noticed how there never seems to be an end to the amount of stretch you can get out of your legs and hips?

It makes me laugh every time I notice either that I have to let my stirrups out yet another hole, or that I'm feeling yet more stretch in my hips. I've been riding for 3 years now and I'm not talking about the initial stretch when you start riding, but I seem to be finding yet more and more stretch the more I work on my position and 'relaxation' of joints. Surely there must be a limit to this? or will I eventually split up the middle? :eek: :D

[Sefroniaau]

I am very sorry to informe you but this is a peoblem most riders get and yes you will eventually split up the middle!!!

;)

[kedwards]

I envy your problem, I wish I could find a little more stretch in me. My achilles tendon has stretched out nicely, but I still need these hips to loosen up a little. I'm fine in my close-contact with narrow twist, but I can really feel it in a Western or Dressage saddle.

[sarahh]

i'd love to be able to stretch out more! i live in hope that my short dumpy legs will miraculously lengthen in the saddle, but i guess all the stretching/lengthening will need a few more years. my instructor spies me trying to ride with too long stirrups and kindly points it out before i strain myself trying to reach the stirrups in rising trot! how many years did you ride before your legs lengthened in the saddle?

[virtuallyhorses]

hello fellow short legged one :) Well, I rode once-a-week lessons for the first couple of years and went through the same routine as you from the sounds of it, you get a bit of a stretch initially, then you try to lengthen your stirrups and end up all over the place for a while.

With lessons it was made worse by the fact that I seemed to spend the first 15 mins working out which hole I should be using, whether I'd managed to put them up unevenly (I was a devil for this and would frequently ride half a lesson before deciding I was a hole short on one side). I probably lengthened about 2 or 3 holes in the 2 years I took lessons.

I've done the same in the 6mths I've had my own horse - although I think I shortened a hole when I first got him because he had such a huge trot that I felt unstable. Not having to alter leathers every *@! time you ride is such a blessing ;) and having 'free time' to work on my technique has been the major factor (and just saddle time). The real change has been time spent working on my trot\position\balance recently - and although instructors didn't comment before, I feel like I've changed radically and I really do have weight in my stirrups now. That in turns gives me the confidence to open up my hips and really sit deep... so its a continuing process, I slip yet another hole when I feel my ankles start to hurt from the new angle they're at as we keep going down :)