11/29/2024
Lovely clear description of the isometrics in the thighs!! If you've worked with me, this is one of the first things I help riders improve. It's so important for your base of support in the tack. Enjoy!
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Correct use of thighs continued...
โฆ Isometrics
One of the most misunderstood concepts of riding is around the correct muscle use required to have 'still' legs and particularly the muscle use of the thighs. Isometric muscle use means that the 'muscles are engaged without movement' and it's use creates stability.
Often the instruction to rotate the rider's thigh inward gets misconstrued as a pinching, or a holding the thighs on the saddle by squeezing inward. This action only serves to 'clothes pin' a rider, or make them pop up. The secret is to use isometric muscle contraction to become a framework around the horse, similar to an A-frame.
Using hands on resistances can help riders feel how they create the opposing forces within their leg muscles to develop this stability in isometric muscle use. When you fire your muscles isometrically, no length of muscle is lost so the added bonus is you get the โlookโ of that beautiful long, still leg.
Let's try this exercise. Sit to the edge of a chair in an 'on horse' position. Put the palms of your hands on the outside of each knee. Create a resistance with your hands by gently pushing your knees towards each other, but don't let your knees close, notice which muscles fire. Then put your palms on the inside of each knee and push them outward but resist and don't let your thighs widen. Notice which muscles fire with this resistance. Next, put your palms on the tops of your knees and gently push down while resisting upward with your thigh and notice which muscles fire. Lastly, put your hands under the back of your knee and pull up while resisting that force with your thigh. (The last two are tricky to get a good feelage from a chair but if you can get someone to safely do these resistances to you in the saddle it is very worthwhile).
Finally, see if you can apply all four of these resistances at once (add them one at a time till all 4 are applied), without using your hands to create the resistance, just imagine it was there and notice the extreme tone that is created in your thigh. So you push out against an imaginary resistance, then keeping that feel, pull in against an imaginary resistance. Keeping both of those imagine lifting up into an imaginary resistance, then pushing down/back into an imaginary resistance.
This will take practice but keep at it. The goal is to get a sense of how your thigh becomes like an iron bar so it frames your horse rather than squashing him. This is what riders we deem 'talented' are doing without any conscious thought.
At first this will feel stiff and artificial, but if you keep practicing it will fade into your unconscious competence and just be a part of your everyday riding. This piece is a prerequisite to being able to suction your horses back up - yup, its a thing!!๐
In the photos below, note the tone and texture of my leg and how it lays flat to the saddle. You can see how an observer may surmise that this leg is 'gripping', but it is just isometric muscle use and inner thigh rotation from the hip joint. Also notice how the knee points down in a nice kneeling position. Using the mantra โtoes up, heels out and thighs onโ will help keep this position. It takes practise, but before long you will have that nice steady leg we all envy!โค๏ธ
PS. For the reader who wanted me to address lower legs, I will cover that tomorrow, but know that the same principles of isometrics applies.๐
