Squeezing Calves

[Mivs]

Good Morning Heather.

My query is about squeezing the calf muscles as an aid to clueing the horse to go up a gait. With the school horses that I ride, I rode them in such a way that now, if I squeeze my thighs, they halt. Now the problem I noticed yesterday is that when squeezing my calf muscles to tell the horse to go faster, my thighs squeeze together as well so the horse slows down and I really don't know what to do!!

At home, I tried squeezing a ball between the calf muscles but again, the thigh mucscles squeeze as well. I am unable to use just the calf muscles without using the thigh muscles. Do you know how
a: I can get to squeeze the calf muscles without involving the thigh muscles and
b: How do I build my calf muscles.

Any replies wil be truly appreciated.

Regards
Miriam
(P.S. took a tumble as well on Saturday luckily nothing too bad except a sort of twisted upper arm. I noticed that I actually fell off when the horse stopped after bolting which I guess means my knees didn't grip. Should they? )

[aniukas]

well, i'm not exactly Heather but i couldn't help it!:) i was always taught that sqeezing your thighs meant "halt" (and half-halt depending on the strength of the aid). now u really got me thinking! i'm lookin forward to other responses!

sorry to hear about your fall....hope everything's fine with your arm! by the way, did you fall over the horse's head (forward that is)? if so, i think this has something to do with your seat rather than grippy knees (as a matter of fact it might have happened BECAUSE you were gripping) :) gripping with your knees makes balance matters worse.

falling forward after the horse has stopped has to do with seatbones not pointing forward (i still can't get them correct either!), that's why when the horse suddenly stops or tosses the reins we respond by falling forward. i can't really explain how you get your seatbones pointing forward tho...u'll have to ask the pros here!:) or it might be that you leaned forward when the horse took off bolting and therefore became unbalanced?? just some thoughts...

have fun and stick to the saddle!

[Mivs]

Hi aniukas.

Thanks for the insoght. My arm seems ok today but I am avpoiding lifting anything too heavy with it so it recovers in time for my hack Saturday. With the fall, basically, horse trotted and I couldn't get it to stop. I remember that my left rein was rather loose. And while trying to make it less loose, my sweet lily, bolted, I was already unbalanced and could feel my body falling towards the left side. And silly me I didn't sit up straight so when the horse stopped, I just continued over the head and fell just infront of her. U R right in that I was unbalanced when the horse took off and I failed to correct my balance when the horse bolted. I know, I wasn't gripping with my knees. Actually I have a problem keeping my knees constantly in contact with the saddle. So there you have it.

Thanks for the sympathy

Miriam

[Heather]

Hi Mivs,

My horses are taught to respond to the seat muscles squeezing, rather than the thighs- with some less sensitive horses you do need to squeeze with the upper thigh too. However, you shouldn't have to squeeze so hard with the lower leg that it tightens up your thighs too! Also, if the saddle is pulling you out of balance, it is far more difficult to apply a correct aid with the lower leg in the right place.

We will soon sort you out when you come down, Mivs.I really need to see what you are doing.

Heather

[Mivs]

Thanks Heather. I'll be down soon.

Regards
Miriam