Riding postion whilst out hacking

[chickflick1066]

Hello, it occured to me that when I ride, I am constantly in an 'armchair' position. I remembered the imaginary lines they teach you at riding school about a straight line from elbow, knee and ankle (correct if I am wrong please!) and I never seem to get it!

I have seen plenty of ridden pics of me and I can see it when on board that my legs are quite far forward and not very elongated!

Is there anything I can do to make my postion better or are my stirrups just too small?

Thanks - Araminta

[Showjumper]

If you're in a normal treed saddle, the stirrups are probably set too far forward to allow you to get a decent ear/shoulder/hip/heel line without fighting your stirrups.

You could try letting your stirrups down a bit and moving your thigh back on the saddle.

[Tangle]

It could be your saddle - both the shape of the seat and the position of the stirrup bars can affect your leg position. If you run the stirrups down and look at your saddle, where do the leathers hang? To help you to the classical alignment, you really want them near the centre of balance of the saddle (where a pencil will lie in the seat). If they're too far forward they'll be making it hard work. You could also try dropping your stirrups once mounted and seing where they hang relative to your legs - again, if they're further forward they won't be helping. If you're legs are just hanging too far forward, it could be the seat/knee/thigh blocks on the saddle (get someone with similar conformation to sit in it) or it could be you need to stretch your hips to allow your legs further back.

Lots and lots of no stirrup work is always a good one for helping with this. Also, just being very aware of your posture (everytime you go past a gate, or a tree, run a mental check - are you sitting up straight? are your legs back? is your head up?........), which will also help.

If you hack most of the time, I wouldn't necessarily be too worried, though - my OH learnt to ride in a hunting taught "preservation" seat (legs forward, feet jammed into stirups). It doens't look particularly elegant, but (as my instructor found out the hard way when she went hunting) it's much more secure when you don't know what's coming next ;)

[virtuallyhorses]

You may find it is partly your saddle but also that you have your stirrups quite short when hacking and as already said that you have learned to jam your feet into your stirrups. It is possible to retrain yourself - I found that thinking about my feet was the most important thing - don't think about 'heels down' that instruction tends to encourage us all to jam them down which is not what's required. Instead think only about keeping your stirrup treads horizontal - this will naturally mean that your feet have to come under you and you have to learn how to not jam your heels down (and thrust your feet forward) :)

[NoviceNic]

Very intersting thread this one. I have noticed this week that my position has too gone to pot. I thought it was because I have been reinforcing heels down. Thus it had moved my legs forward but then I remembered I too have been advised by my instructor to put my stirrups up a bit. Maybe I need to get some advise on my stirrup length and then I can go on from there. Thanks for this thread and help. ;)

[kyanya]

I've also noticed that, to look at, my position is pretty atrocious out hacking. It's resembling an armchair seat and not very pretty to look at.

However, I am finding it's more effective than ever before. I feel completely secure and balanced and I'm coping with spooks quite well right now (touch wood!). I used to feel a bit 'perched' when I was cantering out hacking, but now I feel secure and balanced.

Why would this be? Surely I should be insecure and unbalanced if I'm riding so badly (which I'm pretty sure that I am!)

[k8schmutz]

Why would this be? Surely I should be insecure and unbalanced if I'm riding so badly (which I'm pretty sure that I am!)

You're probably sitting deeper into the saddle rather than "perching" on top!