Riding: Are long legs always good?

Well, I guess the short answer to this question is yes. But it hardly tells the whole story, as riders like Debbie McDonald and Isabel Werth can attest. There are more of them than there are Ankys and Guenters.

Years ago I was reading one of the George Morris clinics in Practical Horseman. He admired one young rider's perfect riding conformation, especially her long legs -- but he specifically said "long from knee to ankle, short from knee to hip." I wondered which I was. Standing in front of a mirror, it was pretty clear -- I'm all femur (knee to hip), as are most tall women.

Then recently, I saw this article...

Leg length: how it influences your position by Jochem Schleese of Schleese Saddlery. He talks about leg proportions in relation to saddle fit, but not necessarily riding ability. The long-thighed woman used as an example in the above article was 5'9" with measurements of 55 cm fro pelvis to knee, and 51 cm from knee to floor. The saddler recommended stirrup bars set further back than normal.

I'm 5'10" tall. My knee to pelvis measurement is about 56cm, and my knee to floor measurement 50cm. This confirms the article's assertion that the taller the woman the longer the upper leg.

Why does upper/lower leg proportion matter?
Disclaimer: This is my own perspective/understanding of others' theories. I'm not trying to present it as fact and I'd be interested in others' opinions/corrections.

I think that a short thigh assists with balance and maintenance of position. Consider the example of the posting trot. While ideally you don't grip with your knee, your knee is a relaxed pivot point when you post. Your pelvis creates an arc as you rise up and down/move forward and backward. The knee is a relatively stationary point around which your pelvis arcs.

If your thigh is short, this arc requires less effort, and moves a shorter distance, than if your thigh is long. A short-thighed person will be closer to the center of the saddle when seated, and the thigh/knee will have a greater tendency to point downward in alignment with hip and heel. The weight of the body will tend to fall in the straight line more easily. Take a look at the photo below to see these points illustrated. The rider's thigh is short relative to her lower leg. See how her downward-pointing thigh helps her body align correctly.

This rider below, shown (I think) in rising trot, shows how a short thigh facilitates an easy arc and maintenance of balance. The arc is shallow and the pelvis does not have to travel far. Neither of these riders is especially long-legged but both show a super position.


What if your thigh is long? First let's look at an accomplished professional rider with a long thigh. Now granted, his stirrups are short, but imagine how long the stirrups would have to be to open the knee angle. Imagine the arc his rising trot would create. In my mind, the arc would be bigger and the upward thrust would be steeper, requiring more effort.


Now look at this rider with longish thigh and more dressage-y stirrups. This is an upper level professional rider, with a beautiful upper body position. She has a longish thigh -- her hip angle is open but she does have more knee angle than the short-thighed riders above. Her style is different, perhaps influenced by her conformation?

Finally, if you can stand it, take a look at these pix of yours truly. In the first photo I'm in the seated phase of rising trot. For the record, I know I'm being filmed and I'm trying very hard to be correct in my position. Not every moment looks this bad, I picked the moments that illustrate the issue at hand.

See how my butt is in the back of the saddle? I feel a longish thigh creates this chair-seat tendency and encourages more closed knee and hip angles. I have to work hard to open the hip angle when I arc upward into my post, and it creates a lot of unecessary motion and strain -- doesn't look effortless. My leg position here is not great, heels and knees lifted, which puts me even further in the back of the saddle. If my heels were down and my weight was dropping through the lower leg, I would be sitting more in the center of the saddle, and more weight would be dropping into my heels. I don't know how much the longish thigh contributes to this chair tendency, but if I could lower my heel and knee in the sitting phase these position problems would be mitigated. It ain't for lack of trying!

Now I'm in the up phase of the trot. My knee is driven down as the weight of my body sinks into my heels, and my knee and thigh angles open. Look how far out of the saddle I am even with a fairly long stirrup. It took a lot of effort to get up that high, and it'll be harder to control the descent back into the saddle. My weight will tend to fall back to the cantle rather than dropping straight into the heel.



I guess the solution for the long-thighed rider is to work on lowering the knee and dropping weight into the heel. With the thigh pointed downward, the position is more balanced and easier to maintain.

Conclusion
So, I'm now trying to stretch my hamstrings, hip flexors, and lower leg tendons to stabilize my lower leg in the classic position. This should mitigate the longish thigh and make it easier for me to balance without a lot of moving and shaking.
It's easy to feel defeated by one's conformation, and it's also easy to overstate the influence of body build in riding. I suspect athleticism, fitness, and balance are really what makes a gifted rider -- not conformation.