I've been having trouble keeping my leg elongated when cantering. My instructor forces me to make me stirrups longer than I like, and because of this I'm having trouble keeping my legs long enough when cantering to where I can keep the ball of my feet in the stirrups, heels down without my foot slipping too far back in the stirrups. Yesterday I was so exasperated with this that I asked my instructor if I really needed my stirrups this long, and she insisted that I must keep them as long as she made me have them and told me that I like them too short and that when I make them as short as I'd like I'm not using my legs properly since they're not long enough. But then I have trouble, like I said, keeping my feet in the proper position in the stirrups.
Do you guys have any tips to help me out here? And why is it so important anyways to keep my stirrups longer even if I don't like them that way? I get that having your legs scrunched up too much would cause your position to be incorrect, but if the length I like is short and I'm able to keep my feet in the proper position better that way, why can't I just do that?
Do you guys have any tips to help me out here? And why is it so important anyways to keep my stirrups longer even if I don't like them that way? I get that having your legs scrunched up too much would cause your position to be incorrect, but if the length I like is short and I'm able to keep my feet in the proper position better that way, why can't I just do that?