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 Veteran
Posts: 251
 
Location: Oregon | I know that most of my issues on the pattern are self induced. I'm really trying to work on me and give my horse a better chance. Thank goodness she is mostly patient and takes good care of me. But, I came from the hunter/ jumper 3 day eventing game and so when I get nervous I tend to get to far forward, like almost a two point but not standing in my stirrups. It's my comfort zone. This causes me to have even more issues like feeling way off balanced in my turn and it doesn't help that my mare is a hard turner that will drop out from under me. I'm really focusing on telling myself sit/ lean back (at least when I think I'm leaning back, I'm really just upright). Last night I had a much more balanced first and second barrel then I looked at the ground which looked deep got scared and went forward, causing third to be funky.
Does anyone have any suggestions to help me break this habit?
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 Expert
Posts: 1857
 
| Work on it and gain the muscle memory at slow speeds. over exaggerate it, even at a walk so that it becomes second nature to you when you start going faster. Everything we do at speed we need to do at a walk, trot, lope, etc. Make it a habit. You have the habit of leaning forward and its just going to take time for you to create a new habits and feel. |
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 Scorpions R Us
Posts: 9586
 
Location: So. Cali. | A loud friend
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Location: South Dakota | Three*C*Champs - 2014-04-17 10:28 AM A loud friend
 LOL.....True!! |
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 Expert
Posts: 1218
Location: South MS | I tell the kids to "squeeze your butt cheeks" - the kids think its funny but by squeezing you are rolling your hips back making yourself sit deep
work on that whenever you ride and eventually your muscle memory will do it for you! |
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Veteran
Posts: 251
Location: Oregon | Lmichaels - 2014-04-17 10:39 AM
I tell the kids to "squeeze your butt cheeks" - the kids think its funny but by squeezing you are rolling your hips back making yourself sit deep
work on that whenever you ride and eventually your muscle memory will do it for you!
Thank you,
lol I just tried this in my chair and it did make it hard to lean forward at the same time!
I will really try to doing this whenecer I ride! |
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Married to a Louie Lover
Posts: 3303
| What are you riding in?
I came From hunter/jumpers as well and want to naturally sit on my crotch instead of my pockets. Mom says she can pick me out of a practice pen no problem just based on my "style".
Finding a saddle that worked with me not against me was huge. I feel way off in a a saddle that wants me to sit on my pockets because it's just not what I do. A lot of people don't like the Crown C's because they feel thrown forward - I love mine because I feel normal and balanced!!! Consider trying a few different saddle styles to see if you can find one that works with your style a little better
The great thing about barrel racing is you can develop your own style and if it works, no one cares how it looks, or they shouldn't. Granted my horse would probably be difficult for someone else to ride because he's patterned based on my style. |
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Veteran
Posts: 251
Location: Oregon | OhMax - 2014-04-17 11:04 AM
What are you riding in?
I came From hunter/jumpers as well and want to naturally sit on my crotch instead of my pockets. Mom says she can pick me out of a practice pen no problem just based on my "style".
Finding a saddle that worked with me not against me was huge. I feel way off in a a saddle that wants me to sit on my pockets because it's just not what I do. A lot of people don't like the Crown C's because they feel thrown forward - I love mine because I feel normal and balanced!!! Consider trying a few different saddle styles to see if you can find one that works with your style a little better
The great thing about barrel racing is you can develop your own style and if it works, no one cares how it looks, or they shouldn't. Granted my horse would probably be difficult for someone else to ride because he's patterned based on my style.
That's exactly what everone says of me! I sit on my crotch instead of my pockets!
Added to my issues is that a few years back I custom ordered a Teskey's saddle which I like but I decided to go with an ostrich seat, and with how I ride I feel like I'm on a slip N slide.
My horse is super ratey so when I do sit up she collects herself all on her own, but she turns hard enough that if I'm to forward I will get dash boarded to the outside of our turn.
I was really thinking of trying a BM or a Tammy Fisher to see if that deep seat would help me stay more balanced in the turn. |
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Married to a Louie Lover
Posts: 3303
| I thought about that too but I felt like the deep seat compounded my problem. Plus I'm about 165lbs and I worried about weight distribution issues and soring my horses back as the saddle broke down. After working with some saddle fitters we decided that treeless was not the way to go. The plus side is he is working BEAUTIFULLY and building back muscle. So much that I've only had my 7" gullet a month and I'm already looking for a bigger one |
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 Reaching for the stars....
Posts: 12704
| I know EXACTLY what you're talking about!!! My trainer spend almost *2* years yelling (and he's LOUD and PENETRATING when he yells!) SIT DOWN!!!! at me when I ran. One day, with a big sigh, he turned to me and asked, "Can you sit down on your pocket??" I said, "well sure - why didn't you say it that way sooner??" From there it's gotten much better. Better enough that at the EW clinic I attended last year he had a field day with how I sat down at each barrel.
So, sit on your pocket. HJ/Dressage have you sit rocked forward, but the skill is there to tuck onto your pockets too. I work/ed on it at a walk and trot all the time. Eventually it became muscle memory. Timing of the 'sit' will come too. |
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Married to a Louie Lover
Posts: 3303
| Right, I'm not saying I don't sit - just that when I found a saddle that worked for me to sit in, everything got way easier. I need to get a copy of the video of my Sunday run at bonus race, it felt really nice and smooth and would be a good example of my style. |
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Veteran
Posts: 251
Location: Oregon | Ok so I understand that whole you have to sit thing and I feel like I sit “down” rather then “back”, but last night the friends that I was with said,
“You really sit on your crotch not your butt” I tried really hard in the warm up pen to really sit on my seat pockets.
And during my run I sat that way all the way to first and then to second. Which my mare seemed less chargey, probably because I wasn’t in the “up” position for run. Which was nice and I did seem more secure in my turn until the third where I reverted back to my habit.
But, when I was loping my circles for warm up and was sitting “back” on my pockets it makes me feel like my leg is not in an effective position to get bend and shoulder/ hip control or have enough leg to get my nice round collection. But I did notice my butt was “sitting” better.
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  Keeper of the King Snake
Posts: 7617
Location: Dubach, LA | Rocks in your back pockets. You know when you sit.
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 Regular
Posts: 98
Location: Soon where I want to be:) | Having the same problem coming from the english world. Taking me over a year to kind of sit back, now looking at my videos i sit to much between the barrels and need to lean forward a little again without raising my butt out of the saddle. I found with barrel saddles that they throw you forward and do not help my issue at all, it got better when I started riding in a cutting saddle( not for the races but otherwise) it does make it easier to sit and did give me the right feeling. |
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Tips on getting myself to remember to sit