From: Deb Bridgewater
I find that when I ride with stirrups, my outside leg seems to swing at the canter. If I drop my stirrups, it doesn't. What am I doing wrong??? Thanks for any advice you can offer!
Deb:)
From: Ellen R.
Dear Jessica, thanks so much for horse sense, I love it. My question is do you know any way to help me keep my leg still when I canter? I can manage to sit quietly whenever my instructor makes me drop both stirrups, but when I use my stirrups my outside leg moves constantly. She can't figure out why I do this and I don't know how to make it stop, I can't go to shows and drop my stirrups or can I?
thank you!!
Ellen
The fact that BOTH of you lose your "swinging" outside leg when you drop your stirrups tells me that when you canter WITH stirrups, you are almost certainly putting far too much weight in your inside stirrup and probably dropping your inside shoulder as well! When you work WITHOUT stirrups, your instinctive balance takes over at the canter and you sit up straight and stretch your legs down evenly in self-defense. ;-) But this also tells me that neither one of you has a real physical problem -- it's just a matter of habit, inattention, and balance.
My advice: first, check your tack to be quite certain that your stirrup leathers are the same length and that your saddle tree isn't twisted in any way. Occasionally someone will have this sort of a cantering problem in ONE direction only, generally because of uneven stirrup leathers (don't just count the holes, by the way, take them OFF and compare lengths!) or because a twisted saddle tree is causing them to ride with one leg ahead of the other. But, as I said, this is comparatively rare. Your equipment is probably fine -- but it doesn't hurt to have a look and be certain. ;-)
Next, check your stirrup leathers again, this time to be certain that they are adjusted to a suitable length. At rest, if you sit in the saddle and allow your legs to hang down naturally, OUT of the stirrups, the stirrup treads should hit you, as nearly as possible, on your anklebones. If you try to ride with too-long leathers, you will have a terrible time balancing at canter as this will tend to put your weight onto your crotch rather than your seatbones, and it will deprive you of the shock-absorbing effects that flexed ankles and knees provide. If you try to ride with too-short leathers, your body will keep wanting to straighten and you will pop up like a jack-in-the-box!
Finally, ask your instructor to put you on a longeline so that you have no concerns about directing or guiding the horse, and can put ALL of your focus and attention on your own position. Then (after a suitable warmup) begin canter work.
Practice sitting very tall and straight, with your legs underneath you and the stirrups resting under the balls of your feet. If you put too much pressure in the stirrups, you will tend to collapse over that inside hip.... just use the stirrups as convenience that allows you to keep your toes up while your weight flows down into your heels. Canter without stirrups and focus on what you are doing from the seatbones UP -- then pick up your stirrups and try to recapture the same sensations in your seat and upper body.
USE YOUR HEAD -- not just for thinking, but for balance. Be VERY aware of what you do with your head. It's one thing to look in the direction of movement, and that's a useful thing to do, but it's quite another thing to DROP one's head in the direction of movement! When you are cantering a circle on the left rein, look ahead, perhaps a quarter of the way around your circle, but look straight ahead, not DOWN and ahead. If your head tips to the inside, your spine won't be straight, and your upper body will tend to collapse over your inside hip, putting you into a position that will tend to create a loose, swinging outside leg.
If your horse is quiet and has a soft canter, so that you can do these exercises with your arms held out to the sides at shoulder height, so much the better. It's wonderful for keeping you balanced. If your horse isn't so reliable, or you can't arrange to be longed, you can still do this work on your own, although it may take a bit longer. Try to find someone to help you from the ground -- it doesn't have to be anyone especially horsey, just someone who can say "Right, your shoulders are even" or "Oh, no, they're not even any more!" or "Good, your head is straight -- no it isn't, you're leaning in!"
Off the horse, you can work on your posture and balance -- it will carry over to your riding. And you can help yourselves by doing some exercises to improve your hip flexibilty. Some riders, like some horses, are extremely one-sided, and have terrible difficulty doing things equally in both directions.
Be patient with yourselves -- you have to change a habit, and that takes time and effort, because the only way to do it is to build an entirely NEW habit! So practice perfectly, as often as possible, don't allow yourselves to be sloppy AT ALL when you canter, and it will come right.
Good luck!
Jessica
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