 |
Re: [RC] posting?? manes??//Angie/Stirrup Length - rides2far@xxxxxxxx.)Intuitively, and for my body, shortening the stirrups results in somedestabilization of the legs and body. The shorter the stirrups, the more bent the knees. The more bent the knees, the more I tend toward bum out, chest forward, I'd agree...at home. But in competition, I see so many people having to stand the trot, tiptoeing & leaning forward because they're using the same stirrup length as at home (before the horse becomes superhorse) and they think the really big trot can't be posted. But I *can* post it, comfortably, if I get my stirrups right. Don't get the "bum out" pose when I get them right, because the last faze of my "down" movement is to tip my pelvis forward and go down with him. "Bum out" is a much harder landing with no shock absorbing curving of the spine. This is how I do it on my little horses with the big trots. When I ride Aries, Jody's 15.1 mare, who is *smooth* I ride with a longer stirrup and sometimes hardly post at all, just take a little off the jarring motion in the ankles. (I suspect a lot of people w/ knee problems are riding w/ stirrups tooshort.) Since I've been starting a new horse and trying to go slow I've been keeping my stirrups longer. Riding with competition length (short) trotting stirrups would cramp my knees all to heck on a long walking ride. The downside of that is that when I have let him really reach out and trot I end up having to stand. I now have a pulled muscle in my right bun from standing and leaning forward...because I am *not* a person who 2 points much. This weekend it started hurting and enough was enough. I shortened my stirrups and let him trot. It was nice to see that I can post him. It was so much easier on me. What I've got to work out now is that this horse has a wonderful canter that I believe he's going to use a lot in competition. It's obviously just easy for him and really efficient. I like a longer stirrup to ride a canter for very long. >sigh< I want to invent a saddle with electric stirrups like electric windows on a car. I just want to push a button and readjust. Angie =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
|