Re: A LEG OR TWO UP

[rides2far@juno.com (Angela C. McGhee)]

Hey Karen,
Evere seen Trilby Pederson?  She's got legs that look like a set of
parenthesis!

My husband is very bow-legged.  He can go a year without riding, then
ride 35 miles and not get sore.  I have short thick legs, and a torn
ligament in one from a fall.  Narrow horses are great, no problems.  Wide
horses will hurt my knees.

As  child I tried desperately to be bow-legged.  Wanted to look like a
cowboy.  Then, instead, I ended up pigeon toed, and walking on the sides
of my feet.  I didn't relate the two until I noticed the song that says,
"His toes was pointed inwards from a-hangin' on a horse".  You see, I
used to sit stradling chairs and point my toes forward and drop my heels
to stretch so I would ride correctly.  That's fine until you stand up.

Angie & Kaboot (not too wide, not too narrow!)


On Tue, 07 Jul 1998 11:20:13 EDT kjz2@juno.com (Karen J Zelinsky) writes:
>Hey ya'll!
>
>Enough of these petty discussions regarding horse nutrition, trailer 
>safety, electrolytes, rules and regs, selenium, emergencies, etc.  I 
>am introducing the REAL ISSUE . . .  riders'  legs!!  People count 
>too, right?  Why just the other day I finally got on my good 'ol gal 
>bareback and wow - after eons of not riding, these old legs got pretty 
>sore/tight quickly.  You know, the adductors and whatever muscles.  
>Well, for many years, in fact, eons back, I have had bow legs, i.e., 
>knees don't touch, until, one day I had neuromusclur work done on them 
>and voila - temporarily the bones moved into straighter alignment).  
>The woman who performed the muscle work said (maybe jokingly?) ... in 
>your last life you may have been a Mongul - or whichever bunch did the 
>wild horse-riding scene - Hun?).  Then, yesterday, noticed a friend 
>who had been riding all his life had the same leg conformation.  
>Hmmmm.  And me, being an equine masseuse doing lots of show horses  I 
>notice interesting leg shapes on riders - many with non-straight legs. 
> Does anyone have any info to contribute to my momentary obsession - 
>riders' legs?  How are YOUR legs affected by your horse addiction?  
>What are good stretching excercises?  How often do you have to ride to 
>keep them in non-stress mode?  I have heard from human masseuses that 
>riders are some of the worst in the back department, and also that 
>riding is so therapeutic for the back, depending on the horse and 
>riding technique used, but there's also legs involved in riding - and 
>other parts of our bodies, I am curious and want to know.  (Maybe Deb 
>Bennet can do charts on rider conformation and suitability to 
>different horse types!)   I have read postings regarding backs and 
>footsie problems so far - so, I might be opening another Pandora's 
>box, but I can't wait to hear from people about anatomy functional 
>preoblems, non-problems. Example - there must be different problems 
>for different riding styles, different horse builds, rider builds.  
>Rider anatomy.  Another piece of the puzzle.  Sorry, I did run on and 
>on and on.  Still with me?
>
>Okay, what do you think?  Thanks!
>Karen  
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