My Posture

Well...I was looking at my photos the other day and would like a few opinions regaurding my posture. I feel like it looks at thought im sitting up so strait im actually arching my back....now I naturally have a sort of arch to my back...im going to post a pic of me standing on the ground that displays this as an example...but Im wondering if its something I need to try and correct or something I just shouldent worry about.

Its more noticable when I ride my arabian...im wonding if perhaps the saddle is causing it cause its a little smaller then the saddle I use on my gelding but I have always felt it fit me and is comfortable to ride in. It looks a bit small but is very comfy and fits her well too....so maybe im just going nutz or something but opinions would still be nice.

The white horse is the arabian and the black is my gelding. Also my legs look off in the pic on my arab cause I was nudging her along. She knew I was trying to pose and wanted to stop to help me but I wanted the pic with her walking for some reason. I also know I have a bad habbit of sticking my foot too far into the sturip...im working on that

I don't do any competetive riding at the moment...just pleasure trail riding...but competetive trail might be nice in the future so if this is a major issue of some sort I want to be correcting it. I don't come up sore or anything, it just looked odd to me in photos...

I actually like your posture on your gleding on the arab you do arch your back a little more then usual however that does seem to be caused by your saddle I would probably look into one that is about half a size bigger also your back may look worse because (as you said you were pushing her forward even though you shouldn't need your leg back that far) it causes you to be more forward and you might be over compensating trying to stay back and straight. Just my opinion my back also tends to have a slight curve when I real push to sit straight though.

Thank you...that actually makes good sense (the pushing forward while compensating to look strait for a photo thing) and ill start looking into possibly getting a new saddle...I would have to sell that one to get a new one...or trade it...might take a while, but I can live till then I guess...time to hit up the equipment classifieds.

I also forgot to mention that my leg was that far back mostly due to needing to lengthen my sturips...I had just purchased that saddle and was getting use to it. I got on it the other day and was like 'wtf my knees are in my chest?' lol Thanks for reminding me to include that bit of info. :)

Haha glad I could help :]. And ya your legs do look overly bent haha but then again a few girls and I used to ride with pretty short stirrups just cause our 'trainers' at the time never told us other wise thank god I rode bareback often or i'd have no good leg control hah starting to relengthen my stirrups now

I would agree with Barrel. You can try dropping your stirrups and see if that helps..just to see if you've still got the curve you see here. Some of us, though and I can speak for you, just have a more pronounced curve to their back than most. I do and as I get older, it's bothersome and causes pain. I forget what the medical term for it is but when I'd be taking a lesson I'd always hear "flatten your lower back, relax your lower back" and then after x-rays found out that's just how I'm built. L3 and L4 being fused from a birth defect didn't help matters either.

I think you and your horses look good and wouldn't really worry too much

The pic on your gelding, upper body looks great. I'd drop your stirrups a bit. That would allow you to get your leg back under you a bit more and allow you to push down your heels and have a good anchor. Imagine dropping a string with a weight from your shoulder, your shoulder, hip & heel should all be aligned.

The photo on your arab, I'd chock that one up to the saddle. You look much more comfortable in the first saddle on your gelding.