Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

I still don't understand sitting in an easy chair at the canter over a long period of time.  It makes sense, perhaps, for a short period of time at a lope (I've got to be in 2-point at a true canter, otherwise I'd get bounced off) but it's better for the horses loins to be more forward and off it's back over the long haul.

 

I'm not dogmatic about being forward but what I do wince at is the straight leg and off balance noticed in some pictures both at the PC and the Ladies Challenge.  Perhaps some of the off-balanced photos were at that moment the horse shied a little but I did see this a lot. 

 

Riders of old would ride with straight legs underneath the rider and would ride with legs forward over jumps.  That has changed for the most part because of the security of having most of the weight in the ankle and a knee angle provide.

 

One thing I noticed was actual pulls instead of RO.  In the past, riders would quit and save the horse for another day.  Now, the majority actually got pulled.  I wonder how much the rider's position influenced this stat?  Probably, the fact that the horses stayed in a canter most of the time had more to do with the pull rate as anything?

Steph Teeter <stephteeter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> some of the top riders/trainers have learned how to ride properly, but many
> just learned as much asd the needed to know to stay on. Plus everything is
> at a canter, hardly any trotting, so the riding positions reflect that.

Semper Obliquo (Always aside),
Susan [Young], The Princess of Pink
Glenndale Grace Farm, Ft Gibson, Oklahoma U.S.A.
"Ride on! Rough-shod if need be, smooth-shod if that will do, but ride on! Ride on over all obstacles, and win the race!" - Charles Dickens (1812-1870)