Riding Style And Reality: How To Properly Apply Your Leg When Executing Checks and Rollbacks From The Gallop

I recently asked regular contributor Christian Moon for some advice on how to properly grip a horse with your legs, particularly when checking or executing sharp turns or rollbacks. I want to reprint the original question, and Christian’s response, here in hopes that it may help other readers. Enjoy!

PoloGringo:

I’ve developed that habit of riding with my toes pointed slightly out, like a duck, in order to get more grip with my calves. I find that I really rely on this extra grip when checking or doing rollbacks. The problem with this is that if I were to grip like this with spurs, I’d be in for a whole lot of trouble as I’d be unintentionally spurring the horse while trying to slow down.

The most common advice I’ve heard is to just grip with my knees, toes pointed straight ahead — but there’s only so much you can do with your knees and thighs, especially when you don’t have a suede saddle. The other advice I’ve been given is to “stand up” more when checking.

What’s your take on this? It’s one of those things you don’t really notice in club chukkers, but becomes obvious at a game pace.

Christian Moon:

Riding with your toes sticking out is not a big deal. Some people are naturally inclined to be straighter then others. The real sin is gripping with the lower leg.

From player to player there are many different riding styles and each one must acomplish the same thing when it comes to proper execution of any move. You must have the out side leg behind the girth and the inside leg on the girth to have any effect on the bend of the horse for example.

In a roll back you should be going from a gallop to a stop, and a turn, to a canter.

At a gallop you should be relaxed and balanced with your back side out of the saddle. You should not be hanging on the mouth or gripping with the leg. You can get an excellent feel for this stride by lengthening the canter while standing in the stirrups, on a 20 meter,( aprox 60′.) circle in the arena. Make sure you have your horse bent around your inside leg and that the canter is comfy not frantic, that the horse is not throwing itself into the center of the circle at any point and you are ready to stop.

Having taught your horse from the beginning that it will be allowed at least three steps to initiate the stop, you break down the stop, and stop. As you stop your “outside” leg should prevent the horse from changing behind, and serve as the initiation for a new bend in your next turn, the “roll back”.

It won’t be possible once your horse has learned to really stop to keep your out side leg on. You will need it to balance yourself as you stop. There is no need in a well rehearsed stop to let your back side hit the saddle. If you are sitting in the saddle then too much weight is in your behind. Most of your weight should be through your legs. You may be very close to the seat but not sitting in it. You should not grip at all to stay on. Your weight comes down through your heals and keeps you on as you lean back a bit, or crouch like the reiners, but without sitting. No gripping with the lower leg to stay on.

You must come to a complete stop even for a nano second before you turn, or roll back. As you stop you can bring the outside leg on to the horse to warn that that is the way you wish to turn. When the horse has stopped and placed all it’s weight on the inside leg, (That’s the one you told him to put most of his weight on when you placed your out side leg on his flank during your stop.) twist your body in the direction you wish to go, and squeeze with your legs to push the horse out of the turn. In training it is important to turn more then 180 degrees since it makes the horse supple and willing to spring out of a turn when you want it to and not just when the opportunity presents itself.

At first just turn the horse in the same direction as the lead you selected before your roll back. As the horse progresses you may turn and start on a new lead, but remember the nano second stop? You must use that time to re set the bend in the horse before making the twist and turn. Your warning out side leg will initiate that bend but to begin with you may need to set the bend in the horse with a direct rein. Eventually your horse should do it with a leg aid alone.