RIDERCISE®
STABILISING THE LOWER LEG
Many riders struggle constantly to keep their lower leg still while in the saddle. Clare Gangadeen, the founder of RiderCise®, explains how to stabilise that intractable limb
PART FOUR
How to improve lower leg stability and function
AWANDERING LOWER leg is something that haunts many riders. No matter how hard numerous equestrians try, they can’t seem to keep it still and beneath them, and when they change gait or give a leg aid, that unstable lower leg either f lies forward or backwards, often a lot further than it should.
A wandering lower leg, in fact, isn’t so dissimilar to collapsing through transitions (Your Horse, April, Training / RiderCise®). A stable lower leg comes from the hip, not the lower leg itself, and like collapsing through transitions, instability is a ‘symptom’ of the inside thigh and knee gripping.
Applying the knee and gripping causes the lower leg to act like a pendulum and so many riders focus on trying to ‘still’ the lower leg by attempting to grip or wrap the lower leg around the horse’s body, but this causes even greater instability. It makes their body rigid and unable to move with the horse, often blocking their mount, and this can result in him becoming hollow, uneven and unable to transition smoothly through the gaits.
The key to improving lower leg stability and function is to improve the stability and control of the hip which comes from the function of the glutes and, of course, all the muscles that make up the core.
EXERCISE 1
To perform the squeeze test, sit on a chair with your feet slightly
