George Morris tells jumping riders:
“Dressage is seat riding, in jumping the stirrup is the basis of the building. Don’t ride with your seat, your calf should just cling and give straightness and impulsion, not a knee/upper leg grip.”
“Riders are forgetting what Caprilli taught us, and going back to the old English hunting seat with the stirrups long, and the rider’s body behind the vertical. We want short stirrups, drive the heel down, toes out and the ankle flexed.
Luckily the greats, like John Whitaker, feel what Caprilli felt, they understand forward riding. Look at Rodrigo Pessoa and Eric Lamaze, they have a very fast, racehorse-like, position.”
“Be careful, if your stirrups are too long, that can give you that roach back. Have your back hollowed out with a straight line, elbow, hand, horse’s mouth. Your upper body slightly forward, your centre of gravity slightly in front of the vertical. In the rising trot as you touch the saddle, keep your back hollow.” Read more:
