RE: crooked tails

["Steph Teeter" <step@fsr.com>]

>> Every single horse has
carried his head and shoulders to the right and his near hind to the left.
I'm beginning to wonder ... is it just coincidence, or is there something
wrong with the way I ride?  I do know that I have one leg slightly longer
than the other ...

Barbara - here's a eye-opener for you:

Next time you ride, try taking just one foot out of the
stirrup and continue riding. Chances are it will be much
more difficult on one side of the other to keep from either
falling off, or maintaining decent posture. If you are
right handed, you probably use your left leg and stirrup
more than your right. And vice versa. The first time I tried
this I was amazed. I'm right handed and do ok if I take
the right foot out of the stirrup. But with the left foot
out it's a disaster and I have to work really really hard
to stay with the horse. So, the lesson here is that I depend
much more on my left leg/stirrup for balance. So no doubt
this throws everything off all the way up to the head
and neck. I've noticed for quite a while that my horses
eventually prefer the left diagonal to the right - not
in the beginning, but after a while it becomes more
noticable. Duh. I'm much more aware now of trying to keep
equal weight in both stirrups - and even exagerating
the right to try and build up strength there.

Steph



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=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.    
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/RideCamp   
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=