| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| delly-b |
Posted - 25 Apr 2012 : 10:04:20 AM
It's maybe me being too paranoid about my own position on the saddle, but I am getting more and more aware of how badly people ride.
There are loads of private yards around where I live and lots of riders come along my lane, that is now a bridle way. I'm not sure where these people have learned to ride, if they have at all, or if they have just jumped on and do their best, but most of them (with a few exceptions) ride with their stirrups far too short and thighs almost horizontal like they are sat in a chair.
When my son started riding lessons I used to watch getting more frustrated as the Instructer kept putting his stirrups up.... At one point, I asked them to lengthen them and she wouldn't saying he wouldn't be able to trot properly! ... Now I was taught never to use your stirrups to rise with and had many a lesson practising without...
A good line down from shoulder elbow hip knee and ankle is what Ive had drummed into me.... Is that no longer considered correct?
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| 15 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| ali bali |
Posted - 25 Apr 2012 : 10:59:57 PM
Just finished reading Sylvia Lochs book on the Classical Seat. Now I have something to aspire to!
There are many photos in it of different people but all with a great seat and they all look so in tune with their horses and perfectly balanced.  If only I could ride that well... |
| Vik1 |
Posted - 25 Apr 2012 : 8:39:44 PM
I didnt ride for a couple of years and when I started again I found I didnt have the same balance so I had to put my stirrups up a couple of holes until my core muscles developed. Then I gradually let them down again.
I see alot of girls at shows who have moved from ponies onto horses but still ride with their stirrups the same length. Theyve ridden their ponies in too short a stirrup cos they have outgrown them. Or they have had a lesson in aaaaggggeeeesss so no one has told them to get them down a few holes.
Or I see girls riding ponies too small (esp M&Ms) for them with their stirrups short in a bid to not look too big on them. Whoever owns the pony encourages it and doesnt consider that by doing so encourages the rider to sit too far back in the saddle and putting pressure on the wrong area. |
| dannityla |
Posted - 25 Apr 2012 : 8:24:06 PM
depends on what kind of riding you do aswell, ide dressage or jumping, i have my stirrups short and keep out of the saddle when jumping but when i do dressage or showing like them longer and sit.... i think if someone only does dressage or jumping or even western... when they see others ride witha different style it looks terrible....
But then again...
there should always be a line.... head, hips, heels straight line down... |
| Callisto |
Posted - 25 Apr 2012 : 7:19:38 PM
I'm pretty sure that the reason I ride long (but not overly so - my knees are not straight  ) is because of the famous Arab sudden sideways teleport, and because my childhood pony was a demon for bucking - too short and you didn't stand a chance 
I have also got the little leather straps on the stirrup bars on one of my saddles to adjust the leg position - works very well (but I have a 32" inside leg and long thighs, so I don't know if it is to do with being short, unless you are expected to be 6 foot tall or something). |
| TAE |
Posted - 25 Apr 2012 : 6:27:34 PM
When I got our pony I had his saddle fitted but it just didn't feel right, it was hard work keeping a proper position. When I got Li's saddle I mentioned this to the new saddler and he said the stirrup bar was too far forward for me as I'm rather short. He put a little loop of leather around the stirrup bar on both saddles to move the stirrup back by about 1cm. Wow what a difference this made, it imediately felt much better and my position was back to normal.
Could the fact that many modern saddles seem to be made with taller people in mind be contributing to a problem that many instructors with a love of short stirrups are compounding? |
| beau |
Posted - 25 Apr 2012 : 6:14:19 PM
I dont understand how people ride so short, I know someone who has stopped riding her mare as the mare is veeeerrry spooky, one minute shes going forward at a speedy pace the next she jumps off to the left/right and the woman falls off everytime, but i do believe its because she is sitting deep on the saddle as oppose to slightly longer stirrups where she is better balanced. I've always ridden slightly long, whenever i've been to cross country training days etc i'm always told to shorton my stirrups and i hate it cos i feel like i'm propped on the top of my horse. |
| Kes |
Posted - 25 Apr 2012 : 1:58:37 PM
What about the fad of dressage riders riding with looooong stirrups, anyone seen this newish fashion? I ride in a dressage saddle myself to yes I ride long but I can only ride so long before it affects my seat and/or balance. Some of the dressage riders have leathers so long there is barely a bend at the knee joint! |
| Callisto |
Posted - 25 Apr 2012 : 1:10:22 PM
The thing that really gets me is the ones riding in shortish stirrups with their toes down - I've seen a few doing endurance like this, most recently one chap who was having a hell of a ride because his horse was going much faster than he wanted to, so he was fighting it all the way hauling on the horse's mouth, but his position was urging the horse faster... |
| Arachnid |
Posted - 25 Apr 2012 : 12:30:38 PM
I blame showjumping. All the little girls at the livery yard ride with their knees under their chins. I suspect they are copying Ellen Whitaker |
| delly-b |
Posted - 25 Apr 2012 : 12:01:30 PM
Ha ha.... Just nearly spat my coffee down me then about boys being different ... Ha ha that's funny but true! :-)
I think it was more to do with lengthening the leg , pulling your weight down through the core and leg and stopping gripping with knees etc when we rode without... Obviously this was way down the line when riding was established. It was also so we wouldn't rise too high, from what I remember (many years ago now mind  ) |
| zelus |
Posted - 25 Apr 2012 : 11:39:14 AM
Its all about muscle memory and novice riders don't have have the muscle memory. Teaching rising trot is not easy and also boys are very different from girls ...!!! Long stirrups will knock the rider off balance and make them grab for the stirrups causing a unstable upper body and then as they wobble about it knocks the confidence of the rider. At the early stages just teaching the act of rising up and down is enough when this is established work on posture is then done. As for the rising trot without stirrups this is not a classical position and causes tension in the hips knees and thighs making the rider ride like a peg...!! very unstable position. You have to remember a novice rider will have trouble riding in some saddles as it will put the rider in a more advanced position than they are ready for.  |
| delly-b |
Posted - 25 Apr 2012 : 10:56:27 AM
I agree with that Glo... A bad saddle not only puts the rider in the wrong place, it causes lots of damage to your horses back too. My saddles have the stirrup bars slightly further back than most too to aid position. |
| delly-b |
Posted - 25 Apr 2012 : 10:52:09 AM
I can see your point, but doesn't shortening stirrups just put your weight in your body and into your bottom rather than through the leg too? To me, that causes a rounded back. Is that how instructers teach now? I just find it complete opposite to years ago when I was taught.
Ah great fact about the war horses though ... I didn't know that :-) |
| glo |
Posted - 25 Apr 2012 : 10:41:26 AM
I must admit that a lot of riders ride like they are in an armchair, and the best rider can look bad if the saddle is not right, if your saddle is fitting well, the worst riders can look good as a well fitting saddle will put you in the correct position.
I once rode my friends horse I could barley rise to the trot as the saddle put me into a banana shape. I told her her saddle did not fit and she got all huffy!! as the saddle had cost over £1000
When we got back from the ride I put my saddle on her horse and she could not believe the difference it made to the way of going to her horse. |
| zelus |
Posted - 25 Apr 2012 : 10:34:17 AM
Shortening a novice riders stirrups means that their centre of gravity is closer to the horse, the longer the stirrups the more core muscles you need and a lot of novice riders don't not have the strength. Doing rising trot without stirrups means you are using your knees to rise which in turn blocks the horses way of moving ( riding with the hand brake on) The stirrup was originally invented for war where the rider could stand up in their stirrups and use their sword more effectively  |
