I also did the "hunter thing" with many lessons, probably more like 10 or 20 years.
As Karen says, at least in that discipline, and with the instructor I rode for, very little weight should be applied to the sturrups. Even now, if I feel that I am letting weight fall into my stirrups, I correct my balance. Hunter is an edgy, reactive little guy (I love him. I really do love this horse) and it took me a while to figure out that he was made anxious when my leg rested on his side. So now, not only do I not weight my stirrup, I have to let may leg fall in a really relaxed fashion so that I'm not using it to balance on his body.. The whole thing has really helped me to regain my balance in motion. I can't remember what I was doing, maybe just dropping my stirrups for a rest, and some "event" happened out on trail not long ago. He sort of surged forward and then took a few trot steps. I was still right in the middle when we finished. Still stirrup-less. Nancy IceHorses Community for Photos and Videos: http://kickapps.com/icehorses "The greatest enemy of the truth very often is not the lie- deliberate, contrived and dishonest -- but the myth -- persistent, persuasive and unrealistic." "All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." ~ Arthur Schopenhauer [] Lee Ziegler http://leeziegler.com [] Liz Graves http://lizgraves.com [] Lee's Book Easy Gaited Horses http://tinyurl.com/7vyjo [] IceHorses Map http://www.frappr.com/IceHorses Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IceHorses/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IceHorses/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
