No stirrups

[Cem]

Ok so about 3 and a half years ago I was riding a horse I'd never ridden before and when we were riding without our stirrups he took off in canter instead of trot and I couldn't pull him up and I ended up coming off and crashing in to the fence. I hurt my back in the accident and had to go to hospital and couldn't ride for several weeks.

Even now I still have a tendancey to panic when I'm riding without stirrups (particulary if the horse does something unexpected), which makes me tense, which makes me less secure in the saddle. Anybody got any tips?

[bapuppydog]

Ouch that sounds painful! And I thought riding without stirrups for an hour on friday was bad...
okay so what it sounds like is that you are very tense when in the saddle without stirrups. one of the two girls that i teach gets very tense as well when she has no stirrups or loses them while riding. Since this is unsafe and losing stirrups can happen to anyone, it is often key to know how to react calmy. First, I put her on the lunge line and allowed her to give up control of the horse so she could really feel how he moves. Then i put him through his paces, while allowing her to have her stirrups. I told her that when she felt comfortable, she could drop her stirrups and reins, which she did eventually (actually a lot quicker than i thought she would). She soon began to trust her horse, which helped her relax and helped him relax. She found it easy to find his beat once both were relaxed and she soon learned that she could control him through her post without stirrups nor reins, but instead through her rhythm and weight shifting. The next lesson I started her off on the lunge, at which point she immediatly fell back into the beat of the horse. I asked her to pick up her reins and not change any thing that she was doing, but to simply hold them instead of doing arm exercises, as she had been doing prior. The I unclipped her from the lead line, suprised to find that she kept on the circle with the same rhythm. By the end, she was cantering small crossrails without stirrups completely relaxed and balenced. She had discovered that she could give up stirrups, without giving up control, which made her more confident and in control of her self and the horse. If you dont feel like this helped, I have several other exercises if you'd be interested. I can post them up here so that everyone can read them, but most of the time going on the lunge is the best way. And remember, breathe!

[Cem]

Thanks! hearing that is a big encouragement!! I'll talk to my instructor about lunge lessons next time I'm there. If your happy to share the other exercises then please do!

[bapuppydog]

Another exercise to learn how to control your horse without stirrups is to learn how to control him with them. (im sure you can control a horse, i just didnt know how to phrase this) When I first started riding Lexi, she was a butthead about listening to me. She had two speeds, fast and faster. Well this was fabulous for eventing and speed, but sometimes I just wanted a hunter pony! My mom said that all she needed was a job, something to occupy her mind and let her know that it was okay to go slow and take her time over the jumps; all we needed to do was to get her to think becasue at that point she wasnt thinking, she was flying. Soo mom had a gymnastic set up for us which really helped Lexi think about what she was doing, we also did some gridwork. As soon as Lexi knew who was in control, she relaxed and began to trust me so that we could work as one. Here is what you can do:

Set up three to five low jumps (or poles) along the long side of an enclosed area (such as an arena) placed one to two strides apart. Ask the horse to walk over the jumps at first. Then trot the course. Each time after the jumps, choose a goal. For example, with Lexi, it was getting her to listen to WOAH so after each jump, we would walk, eventually leading to a square halt, of course only when i asked her to so she couldnt wiggle out of the situation. Soon the horse will shift off of thier forehand (which leads to speed) and they will put their weight into your hands, seat, and heels. Once you have done this once with a horse, it is usually easy to get this feeling of control back. The trick is to do it when needed, despite if the horse is freaking out over something. For example, if you can teach yourself and your horse to rock back and put all trust into you, the first sense of security he will look for is an aid from you. I was riding Lexi out in the back paddocks and she freaked and took off. I was bareback (terrifying, for the record) and i simply sat back and asked her to rock into me. It didnt work, but she slowed enough that my fall wasnt hard. This is really helpful for eventing becasue it gives you a solid feel of control in between and before the jumps, no matter how fast you are going. If this is confusing, just ask and I can explain. This isnt as much as for no stirrups, but just a general saftey and control tip.