This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Re: Wide backed horses. Maybe the problem with sore knees (besides old knee injuries) is that the rider is trying to grip with the knees rather than balance on the seat bones. If the pain goes away by lengthening the stirrups a bit, as another reader suggested, this might indicate that "gripping" is the problem.
A good exercise to learn how to use the legs properly and to balance better is to "two point" which is riding the horse with your seat off the saddle, bearing your weight on the balls of your feet with knees slightly bent. You can use your hands to steady your upper body, but you should not use your hands to hold yourself upright -- the balance on the feet should do that. It's -really- awkward at first, since most riders want to fall forward when they first learn this skill. Keep trying, but don't rush it -- practice two-pointing at a walk for only a few strides at a time, then longer as you learn to balance properly. If you keep at it, you will eventually be able to two-point without using your hands to steady yourself. It's the same position that "English" riders take when they post correctly to the trot -- the bounce "up" is a two-point position. Another exercise that I was taught is to rotate the thigh muscles inward with my hands when I first mount a horse -- if I'm not careful, I tend to sit in the saddle much like I would sit in a chair, with more of the bottom/backside of my thighs touching the saddle and the horse's sides. But it's the inner muscles (touch your knees and thighs together -- those are the muscles I mean) that must be used to ride well. So I get on the horse, stand in two-point position with the horse standing quietly, and grab my thighs and rotate them inward. That also rotates the hips, knees, and calves inward to a better position for riding. Sounds silly to do this, but it helps me to quickly regain the "feel" of what it's like to sit properly in the saddle, balancing on my seat bones and inner thighs. Re: Saddle fit. I have a true "Sports Saddle" (not an Orthoflex) that I like to use on our Fjords. It has a gel pad in the middle rather than a fully rigid tree, which allows the saddle to adapt to a wide-backed horse and is very comfortable for the rider. It's really odd to feel the gel-pad in the saddle bend as the horse bends! A saddle with full Quarter horse bars (not semi-Quarterhorse bars) may also fit a Fjord well. The old style of Quarter horse had a chunky physique, unlike the Quarter horses of today, many of which have a lot of Thoroughbred blood in them. I have an old saddle with probably full-Quarter horse bars from the 40s which seems to fit Sissel fairly well. She has a round barrel but well-defined withers. It doesn't do as well on Tuopen, however, who has a rounder torso yet with less definition to his withers. DeeAnna
