When I ride?.....?

Question

When i ride (mostly for long periods on the trails) my right leg starts to ache. My left leg doesnt at all, but my right ankle and knee really start to get uncomfortable. I dont have a clue why. When i ride with a long stirrup, longer than it needs to be, it aches and i just shortened it (because i realized that it was too long: the saddle is used by another person) it was still achy. When i ride bareback only my knee aches. Does anyone have any idea why this is? My right arm and foot are a little bit longer than the other and it could be my leg too, but if it isnt what else could it be? Thank you! (and any suggestions of what i could do to help would be helpful too)

Answer 1

youre ankles are probably just weak... my ankles always ACHE after long rides in the correct position.. it will just take some time. Also, my knees are also bad, my right more than my left. I ended up having "athlete's knee" where my thigh muscles are strong enough to hold my knee caps in place.. it happened after an accident i had riding. You may want to have a doctor check them to make sure nothing is wrong.

Answer 2

you might have pulled or strained your muscels from riding so long...i would get it checked out by a doctor

Answer 3

It could be that you are leaning slightly to the right and therefore putting more pressure on the right leg, causing it to ache.

A cause for this might be that the stirrups are not even. make sure they are both exactly the same lengh.

Answer 4

Sometimes just keeping your leg in pretty much the same position can make it achy.  When you're walking on the trails, take your feet out of the stirrups and make circles with your feet, move your legs around a little, or even get off and walk beside your horse for a while.

Answer 5

Check your sturrip lengths, maybe one side is more off and you may need to adjust the length by what is most comfortable.

Answer 6

It has never happned to me but i would say you need to get it checked out by a doctor, you may have something wrong. If not then maybe you should adjust your stirrips maybe they are still not the correct length for you.

Answer 7

Are your stirrups adjusted correctly for each side?  Sounds like it only happens after a long ride.  Maybe it is because your leg becomes stiff for some reason.

Answer 8

dunno but that happens to me sometimes too...

Answer 9

If this only happens when you are out on the trail, my guess is that you are still trying to be perfect in your position, and keeping those feet and legs in the perfect positiong....well forget it...you are on the trail to enjoy yourself, not to impress a judge or coach.  Move around, change the angle of the knee and ankle give yourself a break.  Apparently you have a problem with the right side, we all have little problems that we have to adjust for.  take the feet out of the stirrups now and then find a position that is comfortable. It sounds like maybe a little arthritus in the early stages, but I am no expert.

Answer 10

trying putting your weight equally in the center of your horses back. also see a chiropractor, my chiropracters really help get rid of my aches from riding

Answer 11

You are putting more  weight in your right stirrup.  I did that also.  I had a lot more pressure in my left stirrup so I started practicing with our any stirrups until I had corrected my position

Answer 12

Sometimes pain is carried along a nerve and is felt in a location other than where it actually originates.  It is called referred pain.  It's possible that the pain actually originates in a nerve at the hip joint and is being felt in your knee and ankle.  You may ride positioned in such a way that the right side is affected, and not the left.  It may also originate in the knee and when you feel it in the ankle, it is just referred pain.

Experiment with changing the angle of your hip joint (straighter or more bent), or with the angle of your knee joint when you ride.  Since it also happens when you ride bareback, it doesn't seem to be related to your weight in the stirrups, so it is probably the degree of joint flexion or extention.  If the ache doesn't continue after the ride, it isn't likely to be muscle strain.