The Easy Way To Feel Your Horse’s Hind Legs On The Ground

Are you an adequate rider that you mostly know when your horse’s rear legs are grounded? This is a capability that you just cannot do without. It is essential that you give leg aids just when your horse’s rear leg is grounded? Really at the precise moment it is prepared to take off. This is the one precise moment when you can impact the hind leg.

I know where my horse’s rear legs are by sensing the position of his hips. When a given rear foot is aground, his hip goes higher. I get the sensation of my seatbone being pushed forward.

Below are some pointers to help establish when your horse’s rear leg is aground:

1. When waking, keep your eyes shut. Get your focus on the inside seatbone. I have known people describe this as a feeling that their seatbone is ‘higher’ others say it is like the seatbone being ‘pushed forward’. Try and fine tune your sense of timing by saying ‘now, now, now’ every time you sense your seatbone has been pushed forward. This way, you’ll be able to get yourself sensitized to the instant the hind leg is on ground.

2. Get a chum to keep a record of one hind foot and shout ‘now’ every time it is aground. Ensure you are aware of the feel underneath your seat every time. That way, you’ll soon become adept at it.

3. If you have got no one to help you watch the horse’s shadow, or make use of a mirror. Make sure you are getting it correct by calling off footfalls and checking now and then with the shadow or the mirror to confirm if you are doing fine.

4. Closely watch other riders and horses and with regard to one specific rear leg, keep watching the position of the hips of both the rider and the pony when that leg is grounded.

5. At the canter, learn how to sense when the inner hind leg is grounded by studying the horse’s mane. The mane flops up at the canter’s 2nd beat, when the inside hind leg is grounded. Repeat the word ‘now’ to yourself every time you see the mane flop up. This way, you are able to synchronize whatever you are observing with the word ‘now’ and whatever you’re feeling beneath the seat.

Horses are Heather Tomspassion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers read more