Sit the Trot Better and Don’t Lose Your Stirrups

The Incredible Shrinking Leg (or How To Avoid Losing Your Stirrups!)

Ruth and I have been giving a bunch of seat and leg position riding lessons lately, and we’ve discovered some interesting things about the correlation of the pelvis, lower leg, andlosing your stirrups.

Does this ever happen to you?

Do you lose your stirrups in the sitting trot?

Does your horse slow down in the sitting trot or when you work without stirrups?

Does your knee come out over the front of the saddle when you’re in the sitting trot or canter?

Does it seem that the more you use your leg, the slower your horse goes?

Do you lean forward no matter how hard you try to bring your shoulders back?

Is your bum smacking the saddle in the canter rather than sliding along your tack?

Is it hard to get up into a standing or 2-point position and keep your balance?

Is it just impossible to keep your heels down below the stirrup bar?

All of these problems could be related to the following position issues.

1. Your pelvis is not in a neutral position.

2. You’re gripping or pinching with your knee.

Here’s how the cycle unfolds.

When your pelvis is NOT in NEUTRAL, it can’t work as a spring or joint to follow your horse’s movement. Most of the time with the problems described above, the pelvis is in a too closed or tight position. As a result, in order to keep your balance, you feel that you have to pinch with your knees to stay in the saddle.

This causes problems.

When you pinch with your knees, your whole leg actually draws upward away from gravity (the ground) and shortens your contact with the seat in the saddle. (When I say “seat”, I’m not only talking about where you sit, but also I’m including your upper thigh all the way down to the top of your boot.) The less length of leg you have around your horse, the less stable you are.

When you pinch with your knees (which also closes your thighs), you actually give an aid for your horse to slow down. Remember, your upper leg should close for downward transitions, and your lower leg should close for upward transitions. Your horse won’t know what to think when you close your ENTIRE leg! This is why when you grip harder in the sitting trot to try and stay balanced, your horse slows down.