Hands and elbows

[Illusions]

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/Illusions144/Lyzander/P50807552.jpg
Do you think that my elbows look too far forward here? I can't decide :rolleyes:
I THINK my hands are wrong, but I can't tell whether they're vertical or horizontal :rolleyes:

[Illusions]

tum te tum :D

[Bay Mare]

Yes :) You need think about letting your elbows 'hang' by your side (relaxed, don't clamp them down!). If you look at your arms they're almost straight and you're hunching your shoulders a bit though you do have a good elbow - mouth (horse's) line :)

You're also doing the 'pram pushing' position with your hands, they look horizontal to me I'm afraid :p

Oh, and as my old instructor would say "your horse isn't going to suddenly disappear from beneath you ... NOW STOP LOOKING DOWN!" :D Mind you, that wasn't strictly true ... one in particular did a good line in spin and run which sent me out of the side door on one occasion!

[clurly_wurly]

I echo Bay Mare. You have a good position but your shoulders just seem a little far forwards, maybe you could try and bring them back a bit by circling them a few times to loosen them up. Apart from that everything looks good to me :) Nice horse by the way!

[laura jeanne]

It looks like your hands are about over the withers which is where my instructor always made me keep mine. Your arms look in about the same position that mine do in pictures.

So if you have short arms????? You will never have it right??

[GarnetFox]

Good question Laura Jeanne. I have short arms to go with my short legs, so to have my elbows properly bent my hands go higher than advised. If I have my hands properly low, my elbows don't bend enough. Can we short armed riders ever win?! :D I have to admit my arms are a little less bad on ponies.

Lovely horse Illusion! Tell us more about him/her? :)

[laura jeanne]

I feel much more comfortable on the smaller Arabians that they have at the trail riding place instead of my over 16hh TB I had for my lessons. I don't think I was even paying attention to where my hands were on the trail ride tho. Having too much fun to bother with it!

[Illusions]

well I don't really know much about him!
He's just my favourite at Naburn, and his name's Lyzander (and he's gray, obviously!)
I really want to find out what breed his is though, (any guesses?!?! hehe)

[maren]

hi
echo what bay mare said:
-chin up
-eyes up
-thumbs up (not all the way up to vertical hands, but your hands are rotating in now)
bring your elbow back closer to your side, and shoulders back
cute horse!!

[andreaB]

your whole upper body looks a bit too forward, think shoulders back , head up looking where you are going & relax those arms , think holding a cup of tea in each hand that you don't want to spill!!

[eventerbabe]

my old instructor had a great cure for what you are doing with your hands/elbows. she tied a tie to one wrist, tie then went round the back of your neck and tied to other wrist (couldn't move hands forward or you pulled your whole upper body forward!!). Then you had to carry a plastic mug full of water in either hand, keeping thumbs on top of the mug handles. not sure how safe that is but certainly worked for us, was a great deterant and made us think about where we had our arms and hands. bear in mind this was about 16 years ago and health and safety didn't seem much of an issue then.

[SarahC]

Hi!
Lovely horse and your overall position looks good to me!

But on the question of elbows and hands, my instructor says that your arms should be more or less at right angles, imagine your elbows to be the heaviest point (this also helps to relieve any tension in your lower arms/wrists)..but as Bay Mare said, don't clamp them to your sides! So yes, I would say that your arms are too straight. Thumbs should be on top like you are carrying two mugs of tea. EB...can't imagine having to actually carry to cups of water!! Must have been a sure fire way to get it right!!

S

[Illusions]

okie dokie, thanks!

[ColouredChaos]

Breed Guess: ID x ??

[Illusions]

ID? what's that?

[drookitsheep]

my old instructor had a great cure for what you are doing with your hands/elbows. she tied a tie to one wrist, tie then went round the back of your neck and tied to other wrist (couldn't move hands forward or you pulled your whole upper body forward!!). Then you had to carry a plastic mug full of water in either hand, keeping thumbs on top of the mug handles. not sure how safe that is but certainly worked for us, was a great deterant and made us think about where we had our arms and hands. bear in mind this was about 16 years ago and health and safety didn't seem much of an issue then.

Ah the good old days! :D Sorry - I really don't mean that to be cheeky but your post made me chuckle. Those were the days when "round the world" was the highlight at the end of the lesson.

[Keket]

So if you have short arms????? You will never have it right??

So true! ;) My instructor's getting very picky now since I'm getting ready to go for my EC Level 1, and it's always, 'Hands down, hands forward, arms down, bend at the elbows!' My arms aren't long enough for all that! I have two choices: 1) Arms practically staight with my hands where they should be, or 2) arms bent with my hands up too high. Just can't win.

[laura jeanne]

Even if your hands are lower though, on a big horse, they won;t be over the withers- or is that not really necessary?

[Illusions]

And now I'm wondering should your thumb be resting on the rein, or not?

[virtuallyhorses]

Its a bit of a difficult angle to see this on, but I don't think that your hands\elbows are the initial problem. you seem to be bracing against your stirrups and leaning forward slightly - which I think is why your shoulders\elbows are then braced and the hands just flow on from there.

They aren't major faults - the leg position still looks good with the toe just behind the girth but I just get the impression of you using your stirrup to rise on and you ever so slightly using the reins to keep your position. The knee gives it away - it looks pointing forward, perhaps even slightly up, rather than down. Perhaps you are a bit tense about riding this horse because the overall impression (to me) is that you are sort of trying to slow down or brace against the horse - a subtle water skier effect :)

BTW of more interest - what's going on in the background? The other rider looks like she's got her knees up in the jockey position :)

[Tangle]

And now I'm wondering should your thumb be resting on the rein, or not?
The way I've been taught is that it's your thumb that should provide most of the grip, leaving your fingers free to "talk" to the horse :)

[Illusions]

lol, we pull up our own stirrups, so maybe she pulled them a little too far, lol

[Illusions]

Its a bit of a difficult angle to see this on, but I don't think that your hands\elbows are the initial problem. you seem to be bracing against your stirrups and leaning forward slightly - which I think is why your shoulders\elbows are then braced and the hands just flow on from there.

They aren't major faults - the leg position still looks good with the toe just behind the girth but I just get the impression of you using your stirrup to rise on and you ever so slightly using the reins to keep your position. The knee gives it away - it looks pointing forward, perhaps even slightly up, rather than down. Perhaps you are a bit tense about riding this horse because the overall impression (to me) is that you are sort of trying to slow down or brace against the horse - a subtle water skier effect :)


well we just come out of a jump, and he was going a bit fast, so I was trying to slow him down :D