With this article I have chosen to start with ankles as this is an area of theriders body that gets most neglected and is yet vitally important. Conversely it is an areathat once improved can rapidly lead to a better position, balance and security and of coursean independent seat.

If you have read my web site (see the independent seat page) you will know that I teachriders of all levels, and problem ankles is a common thread. Everyone from beginner toexperienced riders can have a problem with their ankles partly because it is an area oftenneglected in traditional teaching. However, if your ankles are not working properly it isdifficult to achieve an independent seat, you will tend to lose your stirrups (or they willslide around on your feet), you may experience ankle pain and you may find it difficult tohave equal weight on each side of the horse.

First of all you need to assess the ankles you have. Ankles tend to fall into one of threegroups but if you are unlucky your ankles may differ (and each ankle may fall into twoseparate groups) due to past injuries (usually) and therefore you need to treat themdifferently.

Stiff ankles: Some people are just naturally stiffer in their joints than others and somepeople have stiff ankles due to past injuries. People who have naturally stiff ankles willusually have stiffer joints, throughout the body, in general. Don’t worry, it is notnecessarily a bad thing, as you will see when you read about people who have naturallyfloppy ankles. Naturally stiff ankles need a careful stretching program and good stretch inparticular is to stand with the balls of your feet on the edge of a low step and gentlylower your heels. It is important to stop if you feel pain, and hold a prolonged stretchrather than bouncing up and down. This should be done each time before you mount your horseand then when you are mounted you can further warm up by standing in the stirrups andallowing your weight to pass down your legs and into your heels.

If you have not already done so work through the balancing exercises described on theindependent seat page of my web site. I have found people with stiff ankles initially maynot even feel the stretch down the back of the calf (because the ankle is so inflexible thatthe calf muscle and Achilles tendon does not get to stretch) but when they do their anklesare finally starting to behave as they should (like a shock absorber, more about thatlater).

If your ankle/s are stiff due to old injuries you should see a physiotherapist (or similar)about some specific exercises. It really is worth the effort and expense as your ankles arecrucial to your riding.

People with stiff ankles are usually better off wearing short boots and chaps rather thanlong boots, at least until they improve the flexibility of their ankles. This really doesmake a difference as long boots hold the ankle much stiller.

Floppy ankles: The opposite problem, floppy ankles usually belong to people who have veryflexible joints throughout the body. In these people the main problem is that the ankles canroll to the outside rather than just dip and spring as they should, in the downwards/upwardsplane when riding. People with floppy ankles have usually ‘gone over’ on their ankles onnumerous occasions as it is so easy for them to do (when walking on uneven ground forexample). The more this happens, the weaker the ankle/s become.

The problem becomes more apparent when the rider with floppy ankles tries to balancestanding in the stirrups. In this case a sharp pain may be felt in the outside of the anklejoint if the ankle is allowed to flex to the outside.

People with floppy ankles should wear long boots and may even need to strap their ankle/swhen riding until the joint has strengthened. In my experience it is easier to loosen astiff ankle (unless it has been badly injured) than firm up a floppy ankle (because onceligaments etc have stretched they tend to stay that way) so long boots may be a permanentfixture in this case. Great news if you are just looking for an excuse to have some longboots made to measure!

Take care when standing in the stirrups that you do not allow your heels to drop too far.Practice standing in the stirrups and keeping the foot almost level (the heel just slightlylower than the toe). Indeed you will find that it is harder to balance if you allow yourheel to go too low. Work through the balance exercises on the independent seat page of myweb site. Again consider seeing a specialist if your problem is due to injury.

Ideal ankles: As you may have guessed by now ideal ankles are not too stiff or too floppy.In fact that can be said about much of the rider’s body when riding, it is about have justthe right balance between being too stiff and too floppy and ankles are no exception.

Ideal ankles allow the rider to ride with the heel just below the toe and are able to lowerwhen weight travels down the leg (such as when the rider is rising to the trot). This meansthat the ankles can do what they are meant to do, act as shock absorbers. Riding with theheels permanently pushed down means that the shock absorbers are at full stretch and theycannot go any further.

If you liken your ankles to the suspension on your car you can understand how important yourankle are. Shockers that are too stiff (like stiff ankles) jolt the passengers upwards everytime the car travels over a bump, shockers that are worn out (floppy ankles) can only dipbut not spring. Again an uncomfortable ride for the passengers in the car as they are unableto dampen the jolts. Ideal ankles dip and spring, absorbing (and dampening) the movement ofthe horse.

Improving you ankles involves, firstly, identifying your particular problem. Then taking theappropriate steps such as wearing gear that allows the ankles to move more freely (in thecase of stiff ankles) or supporting floppy ankles with strapping and boots. Then workingthrough the balance exercises to get the ankles working properly in the downwards/upwardsplane.

Disclaimer: While the author and publisher have taken all appropriate care to ensurethe accuracy of this articles content, no liability is accepted for any loss or damage fromor incurred as a result of any reliance on the information provided in this article.

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