I turn my ankle out while horseback riding and i am having trouble correcting the problem! any advice?

I just purchased a 11 yr old appendix gelding who i love very much. I rode when i was in high school for about two years and that was about 5 years ago. i took a lesson at a barn this summer and that is how i found my baby. i also found out that i developed a habit of turning my ankle out and apply pressure more to his rear end than to move his whole body. i dont know how to correct this and if there are any excersise that i can do to maybe help me ( and brady). If anyone has advice i would greatly appreciate it. thank youI turn my ankle out while horseback riding and i am having trouble correcting the problem! any advice?
This is a pretty common mistake that a lot of riders make and it's one that you will have to work at consciously to correct. Having your heel turned in towards the horse's belly means that your leg isn't positioned correctly and it affects your whole seat. Instead of gripping with your seat and thigh, you are using your lower leg much more. You also have the risk of kicking the horse without meaning to when adjusting your balance.





One good exercise to try is to ride with your feet out of the stirrups. For some reason, when you don't have the stirrup holding your food, the leg naturally falls into the right position for riding. It's a good exercise that aside from helping teach proper leg position, will help you work on your ballance. In my lessons, riding at a walk, trot and canter without stirrups were a huge help in securing my seat.





When you are riding in stirrups, there is just no substitute from constantly checking yourself. As my trainer always said, make sure your toes are pointed at the horse's nose. It's going to take time and a lot of work before you will do this naturally, but it's important to keep reminding yourself to turn your toe inwards. You'll find that it will change your whole seat.





Good luck!I turn my ankle out while horseback riding and i am having trouble correcting the problem! any advice?
Hey i used to do this.... my old coach said i have moon man feet... it was because i used to sit back and my legs where to forward... i think what your doing to.... i spent quite awhile just walking around practicing keeping my legs underneith me and my heels down and my toes in... then trotting around... then cantering around.. all they while my coach yelling moon man feet... it was funny to listen to but it really just came down to keep my legs back... and heels down and then my ankles and toes followed suit... i did have alot of sore thigh muscles after doing this... so maybe we did this to avoid using those muscles... not sure though... you could try lunges or other thight stretches... good luck :)
Have you tried wearing a knee and ankle brace when riding?


A knee and ankle brace force you to keep your knee and ankle in alignment when walking around, it should also stiffen your leg and make it harder to turn outward.


Second, lengthen your stirrups and work out in the ring standing up in your stirrups and leaning back a little to move your legs forward. Keep your head and neck straight and have someone else lunge the horse in the ring while you work out only your ankle. Slowly work to a sitting position. It might take a few weeks working out both but the braces on both the ankle and the knee and the work on your position should help.
You might think this is crazy but tie your stirrups to your girth so that you legs have to be more underneath you and your toes must point forward. Tie the stings tight with binder twine or some thing that can break-way. Be sure some one is there just in case but this REALLY helped me when I had the same problem.
Practice acquiring a balanced seat, which is a seat that requires the rider to put equal weight on both stirrups and to sit up straight so that your weight is also distributed equally between front and rear. Every once in a while, just stop and readjust your seat so that you are doing this. If you have your heels down with equal weight between your feet and your seat, that should make it easier for you to keep your toes forward. You might also need to readjust your stirrups' length, as they could be just a little too long and you are naturally cocking your ankle out to hold on to them.