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Re: [RC] Stirrup Length - Laney Humphrey

Very interesting explanation, Diane. I have short legs so maybe that's why I hate horses that have big, scopy trots. I've also found I dislike horses whose movement pushes me up more than forward - they have straighter hind legs with more open joints and, according to Deb Bennett, are built for racing (galloping, not troting).
Laney


Diane Trefethen wrote:
I have to weigh in and support Angie on the shorter stirrup issue. Mind you, we are not talking jockey length here, just short enough to be able to rise and fall with the motion of your horse. If you have shortish legs, when riding a horse with a big, scopy trot, it is impossible to avoid getting your pelvis whacked on every stride if you have stirrups that are "as long as possible" while "still being able to keep heels down". Why? Because the horse's motion is so high and long that you cannot get out of his way. As he rises, you are not pushed up out of the saddle - you are carried in the saddle. Then as his back starts to fall, the momentum from being pushed upward drives you higher. You peak and start down and smack into the now rising on the next stride saddle, once again to be carried upwards. With shorter stirrups, some of that upthrust can be absorbed by the uncoiling of the knees so that at the peak of the stride, all the kinetic energy has been dissipated, your upward momentum relative to the saddle is zero, and you can descend as the saddle falls.

If you have longer legs, the only way you could possibly begin to appreciate the problem would be to imagine that you are on a 25 hand tall horse whose trot was commensurate with it's height. In that situation, you too would not be able to stop rising after the horse's stride peaked... unless you shortened your stirrups.


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Replies
RE: [RC] posting?? manes??, rides2far@xxxxxxxx
Re: [RC] posting?? manes??//Angie/Stirrup Length, Beverley H. Kane, MD
[RC] Stirrup Length, Diane Trefethen