Quick Tip Tuesday: Ixnay on 'Squeeze the Knees'

That thar's a Horse

So, squeeze your knees together real tight.

First off, is it comfortable?  Think you can keep this up for like an hour?  Also, can you put your hand between your knees?  (Still squeezing!)  Could you put a horse between your knees?

Squeezing like that is kind of like having legs similar to these clothespins:

You can pretty quick see it if you had legs like this, legs that squeezed in all the time and didn't move out at all, it would be hard to fit a horse between your knees.

These clothespins have a little more play and even have an area scooped out!  So a little better.  But they're also squeezing inward.

Allowing this guy is made of plastic and his joints don't work, he's got more of the right idea.  Legs have to go around a horse.  Like, a horse has to fit in between the knees!   So they've got to be open.  
(NOTE: This fellow's toes are pointed wrong, though!  the foot should be pointed in the same direction as the knee.)

If you do any martial arts, you're probably familiar with 'the Horse Stance.  It's pretty accurate, too.  Here's a fun little clip: Jackie Chan's Perfect Horse Stance- Ma Bu Guide!  But I'm going to give you something easier.  (Of note about the clip, the knees go forward and out.  This is true on the horse, too, and it's the quickest way to find your irons provided you haven't totally lost them!  There is, however, also a further refinement about the thigh which is different between the Horse Stance and actually riding a horse.)   (cliff hanger...)

See how this changes things: 

NOTE: You have to monitor your own comfort level!  Be safe with your body as you do this.  Do not introduce any pain into this.  If you feel pain, note it and stop doing whatever is causing it.  I've never had anyone in person have a problem, but it occurs to me one time I suggested something to someone online and I specifically told them not to do anything that hurt and they came back and said, 'that hurt.'  And I was like, 'Dude, I told you to stay comfortable and not do anything that hurts.'  So now I'm like, okay, apparently people can misconstrue things like STAY COMFORTABLE.  But now I've said it a bunch so I'll get off my rant. 

Staying relatively Comfortable ~

Establish your base line: walk in a striaght-ish line and notice:

• how close your knees come to each other - like, to they hit each other?
• how close your ankles come to each other
• any tension, tightness, or pain in your legs - hips, knees, ankles, feet.  note if it's inside or outside.  one pattern might be tight in the inner thigh and painful outside the knee.

Alternate between these two techniques:

technique 1: run your hands up and down the inside of your legs, from the top of your inseam down to your ankle and back up a few times then walk in a striaght-ish line and notice:

• how close your knees come to each other - like, to they hit each other?
• how close your ankles come to each other
• any tension, tightness, or pain in your legs.   

technique 2: run your hands up and down the outside of your legs, from the top of your leg to your ankle and back up a few times then walk in a striaght-ish line and notice:

• how close your knees come to each other - like, to they hit each other?
• how close your ankles come to each other
• any tension, tightness, or pain in your legs.   

Since this is a setup, I'm sure you already guessed one technique is the winner and the other technique is not.  If it's not clear, keep playing with this!

You can do this before you get on the horse or even, after you've gotten your body used to the cuing, you can actually do this astride.  (Again - I'm assuming you know if your horse will be okay with you leaning forward and you will opt for this accordingly!)

There's a lady in the neighborhood I used to ride with.  A group of us would get together and do a quadrille for fun.  (Okay, it was more like bumper horses, but it was fun!)  

One day she screams and throws her body forward onto the horse's neck and gives it a bear hug.  (Startled me!)  And her horse just trekked along.  Why?  She wanted to make sure her horse's, if they ever went to new riders, were okay with odd stuff new riders might do.  Smart!

But I know my first horse wouldn't have just trekked along.  Oh no.  We'd be sailing past the moon.  So if you do this on your horse, consider how it might go.

And have some fun!

Lynn

5/9/23