help with stopping lower leg creeping forward..

sophie33

sophie33

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Aug 8, 2004
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I am doing the PRT tests with a bunch of teenagers. I enjoy it - but am the dunce of the class! My RI is a dear and is desperate for me to take a qualitative step forward. The teenagers also kindly encourage me. But I am starting to feel like I will never get any better (I know that I am getting better - but not qualitatively - and it feels more like one step forward two steps back)!
Yesterday I was given a new horse in my lesson - more forward going than the mare I have been riding.
I was pleased as I have been getting into fights with the mare. Sometimes we have a good lesson, but if she is in a stubborn mood she refuses to go forward, then I get tense and she decides she definitely won't go forward. And then I spend the lesson getting more tense and more frustrated!
So - this speedier little coblet was much better - I really enjoyed riding him. Apparently he used to do a fair bit of dressage and he was pleasingly responsive. BUT - he is rather wide, and my lower leg was creeping forwarding badly, especially in trot. I know the fundamental reason is that my hips are too tight, but I really want to sort this out. In canter he was cutting in - and I felt my leg was doing nothing useful to encourage him out to the track.
I thought that my stirrups might be too long - as I felt I was reaching for them and in rising trot kept touching the pommel as I swung forward. Would it help to shorten them a bit?
Thanks to anyone who has read this rather whiny essay - and any tips would be greatly appreciated!
 
(((Hugs))), please don't think of yourself as the class dunce, we all have different strengths & weaknesses.

It does sound like your stirrups are too long on the new horse, what's right on one can be too long or short on another. I'd either try taking them up a hole or two & doing some work without stirrups to see if that helps.

Tight hips will make it harder to have a good position on a wider horse, thoughit will get better as you get used to him. Maybe do some stretches to loosen up before you get on? You might also want to check you're bringing your knee back so that your whole leg is under you more, again it's very easy to fall into a chair seat on a wider horse.

For the record I don't think your post sounds whiney, you just sound like you need to believe in yourself more!
 
Thanks Carthorse - for the hugs, the encouragement and the tips! they are all appreciated. I think I will shorten my stirrups next week and will certainly check that I have bought my knee back.
And we do normally do no stirrups work - but didn't in last night's lesson I think to be kind to me on a new horse - but I am sure I will get some, like it or not!, next week.
 
The thing that immediately comes to my mind is to ask whether or not your are able to open your hips wide enough because if not this would explain the leg creeping forward.
 
It does sound to me as if you'd be better off with your stirrups a hole shorter, and that might be enough to help you get your weight down into your stirrups and stop your legs swinging.

As for cutting corners, you need to make sure that you're balanced - if you let yourself slide to the outside, then you'll be pushing him towards the centre. Think of a bike - if you're turning to the right and you lean too far out to the left, the wheels will slide out to the inside of the turn.

As for the mare, if you get to ride her again, you might find that if you can manage to relax, then she'll go forward more freely.

I'm sure you're not the dunce of the class - you did say you're getting better, that's the main thing, and it's generally just after we feel we've hit a plateau that the next bit of improvement comes (you know, like when a horse suddenly decides to do whatever it is just after escalating his protest to the highest level!). What's PRT, by the way?
 
Thanks both. Joyscarer - I know that the problem is that I can't open my hips wide enough. I sometimes ride a skinny little horse and my leg position is much better then! However, he is a bit small and I don't want to squash him so will have to learn to ride the bigger ones! I am sitting on my exercise ball in the evening trying to stretch - so maybe that will help over time.
LindaAd - thanks for the suggestion about my weight pushing him in. It is probable that is true, although I think I lean in if anything, anyway I'll ask the RI. Although it may just be that he is inclined to go by the shortest route unless I tell him not to!
I am sure that if I relaxed the mare would go forward better, but I just seem to have hit a wall trying to achieve it. My idea is to take new coblet as a new beginning - relax, get the hang of him, and then go back to the mare later...
PRT are progressive riding tests. They are run by the BHS, a mixture of stable management and riding (I'm fine with the stable management bit!). There are six in total and, if you pass them all, it is equivalent to Grade 1. At the moment I've only done the first two, but am hoping to take the exam for 3+4 in the autumn...
 
Yeah we used to do the PRTs at the riding school I was at - kind of an alternative to the pony club exams.

I also struggle with hips stretching, the only way ive found to help is to do work without stirrups at the start to realx my hips out.
 
Thanks PFB - Think I'd be a bit old for the pony club exams!
Guess I could ask to do no stirrups stuff near the start of the lesson...
 
i would recommend no stirrups work too, this should really help. Im not sure on the whole shorter stirrups=more weight into stirrups, this in turn can make you use your stirrups to shove you up and legs to shoot forward. pratice rising from your pelvis, you should not be rising from your stirrups. I think this might help you, good luck, keep us updated and dont put yourself down :wink:
 
Thanks. Me_n_super_abby. My RI does try to encourage me to keep my stirrups as long as possible, but I think I will still shorten them a little next week to see if it helps me stabilise my lower leg and keep it back - but WITHOUT reverting to pushing off my stirrups when I rise to the trot - something I used to do really badly and am gradually improving. But I still do tense too much through my legs -I know this because I ride much better without stirrups!!
This learning to ride thing is endless isn't it? - You correct one thing only to find something new tht needs desperate improvement!
 
Mmm... well I don't know if last nights lesson was progress. On the plus side my stirrups were shorter and my lower leg was definitely more stable. :smile:
But he was in a whizzy mood. Going into canter when asked for trot and also not going forward when I used my legs but then as soon as i gently touched him with the whip legging it flat out to the back of the ride. Apparently he gets annoyed when people ask him to go forward whilst simultaneously pulling back on the reins. Understandable - and I was doing my best not to do that - but I was rather tense which I'm sure he could feel. On the plus side - I didn't feel I was going to come off and stuck at it for most of the lesson even though he was zooming off everytime I asked for canter. On the minus side I had no control in canter at all!
Wasn't the easiest circumstances - we didn't have our normal teacher, we were unusually in the outside school but still not exactly progress!
 
I may be totally wrong here as without seeing you it is almost impossible to judge but are you sure you are not tight in your knee.

All the problems you talk about from feeling better on narrower horse to not going forward off your leg and then rushing off stick and above all lower leg going forward in trot are all usually related to tense knees (and often thighs)
 
EML - you are a very clever woman. My RI is always telling me to relax my knees - so yes they are tense. I didn't realise it was causing everything else though - and I don't really understand how to relax my knees - do you have any tips?
 
Get your RI to let you practice rising trot with your knees way off the saddle (I usually joke about space for me to throw a tennis ball through!) Concentrate on thinking about your calves being velcroed to the horse, not tight glued just not able to move away.

You will find this improves your rising trot immensely and then you can try it with sitting and canter if necessary but most of my people find that once they stop the knee gripping in rising trot they can then soften it in other paces.
 
Progress of a sort. Thanks for all your advice. This week I started off on the wide coblet again. I was desperately trying to relax - but he was in a hyper mood - cantering off at speed when asked to trot and even bucking (I think - hard to tell when you are on top!). On the good side he did it to me twice and I didn't come off or even lose my balance. But I did then say he was too much for me. Swapped onto a speedy little (only 13.2) mare. And I really enjoyed her - she zoomed along but was very easy to steer - almost think and she went there! And I concentrated on relaxing my knee - hard to tell on a different horse but I think it really helped.
And to make me feel even better the girl who kindly swapped horses with me had all the same problems with he cob - unlike me she didn't chicken out but declared it was 'fun' but it at least showed I hadn't caused the problem!
A glass of wine to anyone who read all that!
 
Hi
When you ride if you want to keep the leg in plays, first seat on the seat bones with the knees down to the ground, not foreword, and don't push the heals down this will bring the legs forward, just let the leg fall down to the ground naturally, and keep the shoulders back, the most inportant think is to be relax, and breath normally.
Good luck.
www.faibishclassicaltrainer.com
 
Glad you have found all these peeps advice useful Helen, cos so have I. :biggrin: Had a really good lesson tonight - don't want to speak too soon but it felt like real progress. I had one private lesson on wide coblet and really concentrated on relaxing my knees. It went well - but he is very sleepy in private lessons anyway...
and tonight I was back with the group. He was very whizzy at first but I was determined not to panic and follow RI instructions: sit back, keep knees relaxed, slow rising and give short sharp pulls on outside rein when he goes to tank off and BREATH!. In trot it really worked - I even managed (after a while) to get him not to ride up the bum of the horse in front!! In canter he was fine on one rein, still tanked off on the other - but at least he was cantering because asked to and I didn't freak out!!
Bless her - RI had built whole lesson around helping me tonight - lots of circles and serpentines in trot to tire him out and keep him listening before attempting canter. So next week I have to try it again in a lesson that is not designed to solely to help the old lady - but I am feeling more confident and determined!
and when I checked afterwards my stirrups were at the same length as the first time I rode him - but I didn't feel leg was swinging. Hurrah!
 
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