Finding Your Dressage Leg
New dressage riders who arbitrarily lengthen their leathers end up riding "heels up/toes down" or with their legs thrown forward, bracing against their stirrups. Those who have tried to stretch by riding without stirrups often pinch with their knees, making the lower leg unstable.
The basic tenet that these riders overlook is the intrinsic harmony of the dressage seat. Like any physical effort requiring balance-riding a bike, ice skating, walking-the effective dressage position comes from the sum of the parts. If you are not quite in alignment from ears to ankles, your position is not secure. Your leg naturally shortens to maintain your stability. And, under this condition, it will remain short no matter how long the stirrups get.
- copyright Editors of Dressage Today/Equisearch-
Find out more about dressage lessons at Windsong Dressage and Equestrian Center. If you have questions you can email Ulla Hudson, our German Certified Instructor.
Windsong Dressage and Equestrian Center
#733, Route 344, Cedar Grove, Edgewood, NM, 87015, USA
505-615-5050
New dressage riders who arbitrarily lengthen their leathers end up riding "heels up/toes down" or with their legs thrown forward, bracing against their stirrups. Those who have tried to stretch by riding without stirrups often pinch with their knees, making the lower leg unstable.
The basic tenet that these riders overlook is the intrinsic harmony of the dressage seat. Like any physical effort requiring balance-riding a bike, ice skating, walking-the effective dressage position comes from the sum of the parts. If you are not quite in alignment from ears to ankles, your position is not secure. Your leg naturally shortens to maintain your stability. And, under this condition, it will remain short no matter how long the stirrups get.
Find out more about dressage lessons at Windsong Dressage and Equestrian Center. If you have questions you can email Ulla Hudson, our German Certified Instructor.
#733, Route 344, Cedar Grove, Edgewood, NM, 87015, USA
505-615-5050
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