by Marcia King
“Keep your heels down. Turn your toes slightly to the outside. Place the inside of your calves against the horse’s sides, but don’t pinch!”
Those were the first instructions I received when I started hunter equitation lessons, and they are probably the first instructions that most beginning riders are given -– and for good reason: maintaining a correct leg position is the most fundamental of the fundamentals.
Whether you’re flying over the fences or working on the flat, the way you balance yourself and your horse begins with the way you position your leg.
Top Grand Prix jumper and hunter competitors, including Ray Texel, understand all about the importance of a good leg position. “The leg is the beginning of all the rest of the rider’s positions,” says Texel.
“If the leg position is not correct it will affect every other part of the rider’s position. Without that firm security or foundation to support the rider’s position, nothing else is going to function properly.
The Well-Placed Leg
Your leg position should be the same when riding hunters at any level and jumpers up to grand prix divisions, says Texel. Stirrup leathers should be perpendicular to the ground and adjusted so the bottom of your stirrup iron rests at or slightly below your ankle bone when you let your leg hang freely.
You should be sitting so your shoulder, hip, and heel form a straight, imaginary line from the shoulder all the way down to your heels. Keep your heels down and your toes turned slightly outwards, about 30 degrees.
Your thigh, knee, and calf should be in contact with the horse, but not too tight or too loose. “If the rider grips too strong with the knee, it will create less pressure in their lower heel and the lower leg will be a little loose,” warns Texel. “You’ll notice an excess motion in that lower quarter of the leg.”
Ideally, you should maintain this leg position on the flat and over the jumps.
Texel cautiously points out that riders jumping fences over 5 ft in height over very long courses will ride in slightly shorter stirrups with their legs and stirrups in a slightly more forward position. This is because there is a greater amount of force and momentum when clearing large fences and because the rider’s body needs to stay forward in the air to avoid getting left behind with the release.
“The higher fence creates a higher arc in the horse,” Texel explains, “which means, on the landing side, that your body is slightly ahead of your center of gravity. You need that base to land in with your heels.”
Texel emphasizes this position is not for every rider at every level: “The correct leg position at all levels of one’s riding, whether it’s hunter or jumpers to any level,” he states, “should be towards that ideal of the most centered balance, the best center of gravity for your shoulders, and especially your hips and your heels.
“The little bit of change in leg as the fence height becomes much greater is only an indication of the technical aspect that is being addressed.”
Good Leg, Good Ride
Maintaining a correct leg position means a better performance, for several reasons. Says Texel, “The more centered and in balance you are on your horse, the more opportunity you’re giving your horse to jump better.
“You’re able to give more direction to your horse while in the air over the jump and through the landing period of the jump; a lot of riders lose contact and connection during those few, first, very important strides away from the jump.”
Additionally, Texel says that a horse that doesn’t jump especially well, or who tends to fall in or get weak behind the rider’s leg, is aided by the rider with a strong (but not pinchy) well-positioned leg.
In contrast, a rider’s sloppy leg can result in a sloppy performance. For starts, an incorrect leg position can cause loss of body control and lead to dependency on your hands for balance, states Texel. That, in turn, will affect the horse’s mouth, eventually leading to a horse that becomes dull and immune to your hands.
And, because the leg starts the process for all transitions and movements, without a good leg position, your horse will lose sensitivity to those aids, as well.
Common Mistakes
There are four common reasons why a rider has poor leg position:
1 Weak legs. “A weak leg is the primary cause of poor leg positioning,” Texel states. A weak leg is also ineffective, as the horse may choose to ignore or fail to recognize a tentative leg cue.
2 Incorrect stirrup lengths. “When stirrups are too long, the rider’s heel can no longer maintain flexion,” says Texel.
“The toe is almost in a pointing position, reaching for the stirrup that is too long. When stirrups are too short, the angle in of the rider’s knee is much more closed, creating more grip through the knee, Short stirrups also raise the rider’s center of balance too high, creating an insecure body.”
3 Slipped legs. “This sometimes happens when the stirrups are too long and the rider has to reach for the stirrup,” Texels says. “From the knee down to the ankle, all that part of the leg is behind the stirrup leather, and most of the leather is in full view.”
4 Not using your aids. Sometimes a rider starts out with a correct leg position, but loses that position when struggling to get a response from a reluctant horse. Explains Texel, “The rider might trot around the ring twice and have a perfect leg position, then they start to introduce transitions, and the horse may be sulky or weak to the rider’s leg. So the rider introduces more leg pressure, instead of their spur, and they still don’t get a reaction. Instead of going to the next level, which would be to use their crop or stick, the rider slides their leg back, thinking that will make the horse go forward. “
Correcting the Bad Leg
Obviously, correcting the stirrup length is pretty easy: Just readjust those buckles! If you’re unsure about where the right length should be for you, ask your trainer or a knowledgeable rider.
If you’ve been riding in an incorrect stirrup length for a while, or are coming to the hunter/jumper discipline from another discipline where the stirrups lengths are different, the correct length may feel a little funny at first, but don’t worry, you’ll get used to it pretty quickly.
If you have a correctly positioned leg but are guilty of sliding your leg back in an attempt to get more response, develop more awareness of your leg placement at all times, and use your aids. “That’s why those other aids exist,” Texel states. “To reinforce your commands when the prior aid didn’t work.”
Strengthening weak legs takes time and exercise. At home, work on exercises that build up hamstrings, quadricep muscles, and calf muscles. (Find suggestions in books and magazines available at your library.)
Texel recommends an old standby: “Stand on the stairs with the ball of your foot on the edge of the stair, holding onto the rail for balance, and then raise and lower yourself on the stairs. Allow your heels to go down, gently and slowly stretching those muscles.”
Activities like roller blading, bicycling, jogging, speed walking also increase leg strength, Texel says.
While at-home exercises are helpful, says Texel, the main emphasis should still be to strengthen your legs in the environment in which you’re going to be using those legs: in other words, on the horse. “A rider should ride every day, once a day for an hour,” he says.
Begin incorporating leg strengthening into riding sessions by riding each day without stirrups. (If your stirrups bang into your horse’s sides, just cross them over your saddle.)
Try to carry your leg in the same position as if you were using stirrups, although you may allow your legs to hang a little bit longer. “Do this for about 10 minutes at the beginning of your ride,” Texel says.
“As you increase strength in your legs, slowly increase that time to 15 or 20 minutes, perhaps every other day. Be careful not to pinch with your legs or force yourself out of the saddle in the posting trot by bringing your legs up high and then trying to press yourself out of the saddle.
“The natural bounce of the horse should help to elevate you out of the saddle.” If your horse is fresh or excitable, use your stirrups to work your horse until he’s calmed down.
While it’s good to practice riding without stirrups at the walk, trot, and canter, Texel says it’s particularly helpful to ride stirrupless in the posting and sitting trot.
“The trot can be the most challenging because the rhythm is a little more difficult to maintain and control and be the same at every stride. Work on maintaining a consistent pace or length of stride in the trot.”
Another exercise is to ride without stirrups or reins on the longe line. This will improve leg strength and balance without relying on your reins.
Texel considers this a very important exercise. “Working on the longe line this way gives you pure riding time without worrying about the horse running away or riding through the ring with other people,” he says. “You get quality time where you can concentrate just on finding your center of balance.”
Be sure your horse is quiet and comfortable with being worked on a longe line: Don’t do this on a horse that’s excitable or nervous while being longed, or else someone or something could get injured.
“Assuming the horse is a good work horse for the longe line,” Texel says, “begin working without stirrups but use the reins in the beginning to help slow the horse should he get a little quick from the initial bouncing, particularly if you haven’t learned to deepen into your seat and heel without the stirrup. Eventually work on not having the reins in your hands, to develop your center of balance.”
Another helpful exercise, Texel says is doing gymnastics over fences – trotting the fence, cantering a stride, cantering two strides, doing bounces.
“These exercises should be done at an appropriate height for the level of the rider, not the maximum height,” Texel emphasizes. “Riders should focus on maintaining their leg positions throughout the exercise.”
Don’t Rush
Building up leg strength and maintaining a correct leg position throughout your ride takes time, so don’t expect instantaneous results.
Says Texel, “Our country’s top riders went through plenty of hard work and discipline to get where they are.
“Remember that no one, no matter who they are, will succeed in any level of riding without employing similar discipline and work ethics.”
