When I jump my horse my legs always go too far back, how can I fix this problem?

Question

I dont jump extremely high yet in the 2ft area and I only get to ride once a week.

Answer 1

It's hard to say without seeing you, but it sounds like your leg isn't strong enough.  Try doing some work without stirrups for starters.  You should be able to walk, trot (including posting), and canter without them.  Working in two point with stirrups will also help you to drop your weight into your heel, since if that comes up your leg will naturally fall back.  Jumping ahead can do the same thing.  There's also the chance you are pinching with your knee.  You want to make sure that the majority of your grip on the horse is coming from the inside of your calf, not your thigh or knee.

I highly suggest picking up Practical Horseman and reading George Morris' Jumping Clinic article that is in every month's issue.  You can learn a lot simply by reading what he has to say about other riders.

Answer 2

your legs are most likely going back because either you haven't learned how to use them to help you do things besides make your horse go or your shoulders go to far forward. To fix both of these you want to anchor your ankles where they are supposed to be (right behind the girth) and as you jump act like you are going to use your ankles, and lower leg to carry the horse over the fence. To fix the shoulder thing think of lifting your b***s up, theres no better way to put that.Also think of slighly arching your back. This will help with the legs and give you over all better equitation and be a more effective rider. I hope this helped.

Answer 3

I agree with both of the other answers...  work on your legs in general...  that will help you over jumps.

Also...  for the quicker fix to your problem... everytime you come to a jump, think about keeping your heels down.  you don't want to jam them down so much that there's no elasticity in your ankle, but if you concentrate on the heels down, it should push your leg more forward...  think about making the line down the back of your leg point down/forward...  don't let it go back/up.

and you might look silly, but if you have a staircase, it wouldn't hurt to do some exercises...  put your toes on one stair with your knees bent...  then stand up and forward and concentrate on your heels staying down.  since the stair is stationary, lower leg won't be able to move back

good luck!