The Horse Forum banner
Status
Not open for further replies.

My Offical English Riding Critique Thread

11K views 94 replies 17 participants last post by  QHriderKE 
#1 ·
Instead of posting videos all in seperate threads, I decided to post them all in one thread for my online coaches! LOL...


Here are all of the videos from since I got my saddle, in chronological order (These videos have been in this section and critiqued, any further input would be nice though!)





 
#4 ·
Do you also ride western? That last video was a little hard to tell as you were silhouetted alot but your reins come up high like a western rider at the canter and sometimes the trot. MAybe it just looked that way since the video was hard to tell. But if not, you need to keep your hands lower, closer to the horse.
 
#5 ·
Also, Your posting looks....forced. Like you are raising out of the saddle to far. It doesn't look smooth and natural, not in sync with him. Don't worry so much about posting up/down as it is -feeling- him move and moving like he does.If you only have to raise yourself up out of the saddle an inch to match his rythm, then do it.

On a more positive note, you sit very straight and pretty. :)
 
#14 ·
One thing that I am wondering about all your videos (and you've taken a lot) is that when Squiggy wears her western saddle, she is a lot more forward in her trot. One reason the posting may look "forced" is that your mare isn't giving you much to post off of. When the horse gives you so little "push", you are almost better off just sitting. Or, as others said, post in a more pelvic thrust type of movment, rather than so much up and down.


For a self taught rider, you do exceptionally well. I know that you could ride me under the table, any day of the week, in a western saddle. I can offer small tips, but you really have pretty much what it takes.
 
#17 ·
I would have video from today, but i forgot to put the batteries back in my camera after recharging them. Anywho. Let my stirrups down a hole, trot was easier and softer, Squiggy is finally letting me post both diagonals (she was for some reason uncomfortable with one diagonal, that went away!!), so im just working on keeping my leg back all the time. My saddle sets me up forward, so I always find my shoulders ahead of that shoulder/hip/heel line. To my understanding, the saddle is built to do that to make a forward seat and 2 point easier.

With my stirrups one hole longer, my seat fell apart at the lope, so I brought them back up a hole and all was better, and I also posted better too.

Although, I have a few questions:
When im loping right circles, I always feel like im falling to the inside, over compensating to the outside andpushing my saddle all crooked to the left cause most of my weight is in the left stirrup. Is it something to do with my horse being crooked? Or am I the crooked one? We are both all good to the left. I wish I had a video. Aaaand this only happens English
 
#18 ·
Although, I have a few questions:
When im loping right circles, I always feel like im falling to the inside, over compensating to the outside andpushing my saddle all crooked to the left cause most of my weight is in the left stirrup. Is it something to do with my horse being crooked? Or am I the crooked one? We are both all good to the left. I wish I had a video. Aaaand this only happens English
It could be either you or your horse. If you have significantly more weight in your left stirrup than your right stirrup, you are unbalancing your horse which will make staying upright instead of leaning...much harder.

What you can do since you have lots of space is do a large figure eight and focus on trying to keep the weight even in both seatbones, and your hips over her hips, per say. Support with the outside rein and bend her around your inside leg with your outside leg slightly behind the girth. Make sure there isn't TOO much bend. If so, use your inside leg with outside rein to keep from creeping in.

Does that make sense?
 
#19 ·
Yes ma'am. It only happens at a lope. If I had a video, id bet she would be crossfiring on the right lead, she's been doing it lately, but now that her lope is rideable, I can actually work on it. I've been slowly working on some exercised to help her pick up the correct lead all around.

Also, when we got back to the yard, I found a big white hose left on the ground so trotted over it like poles , and around the corner at some bales, I found two posts so I just trotted her around and over them all. She apparently liked it lol. She put on a big happy trot, ears forward, happily chewing on her bit, and very light to my seat cues. I think my next ride will be fooling around on a course of poles and uneven poles and other things for her to pay attention to
 
#20 ·
Yeah it's probably a combination of her leaning and you being off-balance. At all gaits, really focus on where your weight in your seat is. Sometimes I like to press on either stirrup like a pedal if I find myself leaning. Just very gently to physically help my shift my weight since it requires a lot of ab strength.

You're both doing great though :) Enjoy playing with poles!
 
#21 ·
if you are being offset onto your outside leg on a circle, it's centrifugal force. I think it's really very common for riders to experience what you are explaining, and end up putting more weight into the outside stirrup.

one thing that can help is to think of your inside thigh as really running down the inside of her body, and imagine it kind of holding you there. and since you should advance your inside hip a very small amount, if you think of your energy going down this inside thigh, agains the barrel and right behind the horse's leading shoulder, this will help you stay kind of , how can I say, "forked" over the horse's back evenly?
more riding with the whole seat (seatbones and thighs), less riding from the stirrups.
 
#23 ·
It's weird that this has never happened riding Western though!
Tiny, what you are saying is to "curl" my inside leg around like they tell you to do in a 2-point, but not actually 2 point.
Do you think it would be easier to learn this in a half seat since that's where my saddle wants me to be?

Her lope has gotten so nice!

I know it's western, but humor me.

Riding yesterday, she was starting to stretch down in a lope, I thought she was pulling on the bit at first, but when I let rein out she stretched and kept contact. I was impressed.
 
#24 ·
I wonder if in the Western saddle your'e feeling more secure and relax more. In the English saddle, do you feel secure, and centered/balanced, or do you feel like you're using the stirrups to stay in the saddle?

You shouldn't really have more weight in one stirrup over the other. That means you're leaning. I was always taught to push down on the ball of my foot in the inside stirrup and look into the turn, both of which will shift your weigh on your seatbones enough for the horse to feel it and help him balancing the turn. But I was taught to still keep my weight distributed evenly between the stirrups.

Can you do some cantering without stirrups for a little while each session. That should center you very nicely over the horse's back.
 
#25 ·
"It's weird that this has never happened riding Western though!
Tiny, what you are saying is to "curl" my inside leg around like they tell you to do in a 2-point, but not actually 2 point.
Do you think it would be easier to learn this in a half seat since that's where my saddle wants me to be? "

No. I am not saying 'curl' your leg around the inside. almost the opposite. I am saying focus more on putting the inside of your thigh along the shoulder/barrel of the horse. with the inside of your knee flat against the saddle. This means a little bit LESS of the lower leg on. because you do not want to curl the lower leg against the barrel. you do not want the back of the calf more against the horse. I am not talking jumping here, just cantering seated, a circle.

when you are in your English saddle, and just for yucks and giggles, think of lengthening your inside leg just a bit more by imagining your are going to go down onto our knees. your knee will drop, and the line of contact all along the inside of your thigh will become more firm. That helps me to counteract centrifugal force.

This is what I have used, but I am the first to admit that I am not champ of a rider, so other riders may have better advice.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
Top