gripping too tight

[Caroline Wilde]

please can someone help! I have been learning for a few months and love it but have a problem in rising trot which is that my teacher says I grip far too tight with my lower leg so the current horse I ride tends to go faster and faster, This makes me more tense so guess what, I grip more, any ideas very welcome.

[Mehitabel]

as you get more confident and balanced, you'll stop needing to grip. you should stay on the horse primarily by balance and moving your hips with the horse, not hanging on for grim death with your legs! some grip is needed, of course, but it shouldn't be what is keeping you on. this is a matter of practrice and confidence though, which will come with time.

how have you been taught to rise? incorrect technique is a common cause of gripping with the lower legs.

[Caroline Wilde]

my tracher says to rise up from the stirrups but some of the stuff I've read says to rise forward from the hips (if that makes sense). which might be better?

[Mehitabel]

hips, definitely, if you ride off your stirrups you tense your leg as you push up, which brings the heel up and tightens the calf - on a sensitive horse, that tense will send them on.
think of keeping your leg the same and doing a 'pelvic thrust' forward, bringing your hips up towards your hands. ideally, nothing should move below the knee or above the lower back - so ribcage should stay the same, and lower leg the same, just the lower back and pelvis move, which obviously moves your thigh.

[Caroline Wilde]

that's brilliant thanks, next question . So, when he's trotting too fast what's the best way to slow him?

[Mehitabel]

to slow your rising. horses like rhythm, and if you slow your rhythm down, he will want to come back to you. this takes a fair bit of control over your core muscles (stomach, back and thigh), so you might not be able to do it yet. it is hard to rise out of rhythm with the horse, you need ot go a fraction slower so that he comes back to you.

if you're still gripping though, you'll be giving him conflicting messages - and which he will listen to depends on the type of hores he is. some will listen to the slowdown message, and others prefer to listen to the go faster one.

really, it's for your instructor to teach you how to rise properly and not grip with your lower leg. if it were me i'd ask the instructor specifically for techniques to stop the gripping and rise properly, and at this stage in your riding career you need direct instructions - relax this muscle, use these muscles tp get your bum out of the saddle, do this, don;t do this - and if the instructor can't tell you what to do right and what not to do, i;d be looking for osmeone how can.

[kedwards]

I find it helpful to think of allowing the knee and heel to slide down a little as you rise to assist in absorbing the movement. If they are tense, this can't happen.

[Skib]

Mehitabel is right, as usual.
But although you have to think of swinging your hips forward when you rise in trot, one cant exactly rise from your hips when trotting. It is one of those times when riding school language seems to contradict what non-riders know. Your hips come up off the saddle and gravity means your weight has to go somewhere else. Shifting from the seat to your feet and / or the inside of your thighs. Everyone knows I have a brilliant instructor - so these are her words of wisdom, not my own.
As you rise, think of keeping your feet flat on the floor. If you rise from your toes your feet will swing back and you will grip. Spreading your toes helps avoid this too.
Mehitabel is right your lower leg should not move on the side of the horse, even though your ankles and knees should be supple (think of riding a bike?).

It is so difficult to keep ones legs still without also stiffening or gripping as you say but wearing long winter boots for the first time recently my legs were suddenly motionless. I think it was because the stiff new boots held my foot at right angles to my leg. As for your calves against the horse making the horse move on in trot. It may not be what you want at this moment, but dont see it entirely as negative. Later on that will be a tool in your repertoire - far better than kicking.

[horse trainer]

Dont grip relax:) :o :)

[Caroline Wilde]

thanks so much for all the help. have just got back from riding, and am sitting here still in my riding stuff, minus the hat! Started riding outside but so windy couldn't hear anything so had to come back inside. Didin't manage to succeed with the advice till nearly the end but tried to keep at it and managed to stay much more relaxed for the last couple of sessions of rising trot. It was all useful specially the bit about spreading your toes! the message board really reassures and encourages me when I most need it