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Hi guys. I couldn't really find a suitable forum for this topic, so I'm posting it here :)I have some pretty big issues with my body and mobility in my back and (left) hip. This causes me to not be able to ride a left lead canter correctly. Because of this, my lovely mare has become really unbalanced, and her musculature is uneven. She is stiff on her right side and she finds it difficult to stretch to the left and to work low and round(which is the only form we are working in atm) on the left had. I currently ride her without a saddle, but with a Christ Iberica Plus bareback pad. The main problem isn't her training or what to work with, it's me. The reason she's uneven and stiff is because my legs are uneven. My right leg is about 3 cm/2 inches longer than my left one, which has caused me to sit "unbalanced"(my balance is great, and I have always positioned myself right above the horse, but I've been sitting "wrong"). The saddle has been pushed to the right side, which is why she is struggling with the musculature. I didn't realize this until this summer, and ever since I found out I have stopped riding in a saddle, both for her sake, my own, and to not ruin another saddle. Things are better after I found out and we've had some major breakthroughs, but I'm still not able to ride a left lead canter correctly. I've ridden other horses that are even and well trained, and they will often end up in a cross gallop or a right lead gallop, even on the left hand. I simply cannot ride correct, and it affects my riding and my horse big time. It has gotten better, but it is still "unnatural" to me, and I need to work really hard to sit "good enough" and not just flop around :PSo, after a lot of explaining and boring talk, I'm finally getting to my question. Does anyone have any tips and tricks that can help me with achieving a better posture in left lead canter, and to get my own musculature more even? I'm really stiff in my hip too. I try to do some yoga, but that's about it. All suggestions are appreciated :D Edited at December 10, 2017 05:46 PM by Cadence Farms |
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I'm sorry, I copied the text from another forum on another game, and all the HTML codes showed up.. I'll fix it and post the "clean"/normal version in the comments :) |
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Hi guys. I couldn't really find a suitable forum for this topic, so I'm posting it here :)
I have some pretty big issues with my body and mobility in my back and (left) hip. This causes me to not be able to ride a left lead canter correctly. Because of this, my lovely mare has become really unbalanced, and her musculature is uneven. She is stiff on her right side and she finds it difficult to stretch to the left and to work low and round(which is the only form we are working in atm) on the left had. I currently ride her without a saddle, but with a Christ Iberica Plus bareback pad.
The main problem isn't her training or what to work with, it's me. The reason she's uneven and stiff is because my legs are uneven. My right leg is about 3 cm/2 inches longer than my left one, which has caused me to sit "unbalanced"(my balance is great, and I have always positioned myself right above the horse, but I've been sitting "wrong"). The saddle has been pushed to the right side, which is why she is struggling with the musculature. I didn't realize this until this summer, and ever since I found out I have stopped riding in a saddle, both for her sake, my own, and to not ruin another saddle. Things are better after I found out and we've had some major breakthroughs, but I'm still not able to ride a left lead canter correctly. I've ridden other horses that are even and well trained, and they will often end up in a cross gallop or a right lead gallop, even on the left hand. I simply cannot ride correct, and it affects my riding and my horse big time. It has gotten better, but it is still "unnatural" to me, and I need to work really hard to sit "good enough" and not just flop around :P
So, after a lot of explaining and boring talk, I'm finally getting to my question. Does anyone have any tips and tricks that can help me with achieving a better posture in left lead canter, and to get my own musculature more even? I'm really stiff in my hip too. I try to do some yoga, but that's about it. All suggestions are appreciated :D |
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Id try to do more Bareback work and then slowly start with saddle work! Im not professional so i dont know much but id lean to the oppisite side so she can maintain balance between both legs! do you jump? if you dont it may help her and you get balanced between legs and things :) |
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I would see if there are any other riders able to school your lovely mare to even out her muscles and in a sense reteach her that lead, and do a lot of work on a lunge line to relearn how to sit the left lead canter. I really dont know so its just an idea |
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I'm not really looking for tips on how to train her or what to do, but I'm looking for exercises and tips and tricks that can help ME become better and more even :)
I sometimes school a girl myself riding my own horse, and my mare works great :)
She picks up the left lead on the lunge and in a round pen, just not that much under saddle. It has gotten better, and she's able to take a few strides in the correct lead on the left hand :)
This is what I have noticed that I do with my body when I ride: I turn my hips outwards and sit as I would do when asking for a right lead canter, but asking for a left lead with my legs. I'm simply just too stiff it seems, I notice my whole body just goes stiff. I have ridden a horse that is really strong in his left lead,and I will begin to ride him again, as he is not too much affected by my body and problem, and that way I have a theory that I will become more used to it and be able to follow the horse better and work with the horse :)
I have tried multiple things to help her, such as positioning her head outwards so that she would put her left hind underneath her(teachers orders), positioning her inwards(as you normally do when riding on a bent track), asking for a gallop from a travér in walk, using two canter poles(she would land in cross over the first and most of the time she would land in left lead over the second), jumping on a circle, jumping on a diagonal and jumping in figure eights. |
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As I said, I only ride in a bareback pad, so we can't really do any more bareback work :p And I'll just say it one more time, I'm not looking for ways to train my horse, but I'm looking for things that can help me with my own riding and exercises I can do without a horse :) |
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As you said you have one leg longer than the other if you make the stirrup longer on the side with the longer leg and the other stirrup the right length for your other leg you should be balanced. Hope this helps |
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I ride with one longer now(I didn't before I found out, i though the leathers were just uneven because of many years of stepping on the horse on one side. Stupid, naive me... I always stand on something to not put all my weight on one stirrup and one side now ;) ) :) But it still doesn't fix the fact that I'm stiff and can't sit correctly. :/ And that's what I'm trying to fix :) I most likely just need some exercises that can help :) I will be seeing doctors at an Orthopaedic "workshop"(that's what it's called in Norwegian), but that won't be for another 3-4 months :/ I've seen both a chiropractor and a physiotherapist, but they never found anything and therefore didn't help me with correcting my bode :/ |
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My suggestion is that you work on getting yourself into better shape. If it's the root cause of your problems.
Yoga definitely
Go to the gym and speak with an instructor and they can help you with exercises and programs that will help with your physical issues.
Then you can better work with your mare. |
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Warming, with Sleet and Heavy Icing
