>
> One of the comments that Donna Snyder-Smith has had about this is when
> you are slightly up and out of the saddle you have all of your weight
> in the stirrups. Therefore your weight is all on the stirrup bars,
> two small spots on the saddle.
>
I am probably showing my ignorance here in not knowing who Donna
Snyder-Smith is, but I can definitely say that whe I am slightly up out
of the saddle I most definitely do not have all of my weight in my
stirrups. Weight should be evenly distributed throughout the leg from
mid thigh to mid calf (everyplace it touches the horse). To learn not to
ride with all your weight in your stirrups try riding without them for a
while. This will enable you to distribut your weight no just across your
horse's back but along his entire torso (so to speak) it will also give
you contact with your leg and mcuh more control over directing how your
horse uses himself as he goes along the trail.
Especially handy is doing the "two-point" position without stirrups.
After you have learni\ed to distribute your weight along your entire leg,
then you can have the stirrups back and distribute the load even more by
putting some in your feet. The nice thing about this is that it will
also keep your feet from falling asleep (a complaint that I have heard
from many endurance riders when they ask me if I don't have a problem
with it since I ride in regular english fillis stirrups).
It will also make it so you don't lose your seat when you lose a stirrup.
kat