Tuesdays Tip! Dealing with grippy knees. I regularly see riders with grippy knees, especially when cantering or sitting to the trot. What seems like a securing movement to hold you on your saddle and on your horse does in fact, create an effect of the opposite. When riders grip with their knees their thigh shifts upwards, and this shifting up causes your upper body to shift up as well. This is why people that grip with their knees bounce in the saddle. It also gives you a feeling of insecurity as whilst you are bouncing, you are also sliding up out of the saddle as your knees grip tighter to try and hold yourself on, you may also feel your stirrups moving about and may even lose them entirely. You horse will also probably start slowing and getting bouncier as the pressure in at the knee is an ask for speed reduction (I will cover this in another Tuesdays Tip!) and as you have probably discovered, a slower trot is often even bouncier! Gripping with your knees is often a subconscious decision and once you become aware of it you can stop it from happening. First off you need to relax your knee - pull your knee to your chest, turn it out sideways, straighten your leg out and then slowly bring your leg down to rest against the side of your horse - your leg will be in the right place - thigh in contact with the saddle and knee touching but with no pressure. Work without stirrups and focus on absorbing movement through your hips and keeping your knee soft and not gripping the saddle. Every time you feel yourself gripping with your knees, halt and relax them out. Keep weight in your feet and your thigh and seat as this will let you keep your stirrups as this is a stable safe position. Think tall and absorb the movement in your seat and hips, and be relaxed! A ridden lunge lesson can really help you improve this in a short space of time. This will be the first Tuesdays Tip! that will be going up on my FB page at the same time as on my new website! rmequinetraining.co.uk/dealing-with-grippy-knees/ My website has a section dedicated to all of the Tuesdays Tips! that have happened so far, and will be updated weekly along with the FB page. Feel free to have a look and a read and feel free to link them to your friends if you feel they may be of use! Feel free to like, share, and comment, so I know what little problems you all have so that I can feature them in a future Tuesdays Tip! :)
Posted on: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 08:26:17 +0000
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