Fit For The Saddle: NSN, part 3

Well, you made it! It’s the final week of NSN and I have one more exercise to share! This week, we’ll focus on riding with just one stirrup. This is a great way to ease back in to riding with both stirrups after a month (or most of a month) without them. The purpose of this exercise is to help you figure out which side you’re weakest on and to give you a better idea of what to work on. Whatever side you start with, make sure you aren’t just riding around the rail, but are adding circles or figure 8’s. You can also add in some shoulder-ins and leg yields. The idea here is to try various maneuvers on each side so that you can feel the difference between the two. Once you figure out the side that needs work, you can spend more time with that side stirrup-less and the other side in the stirrup. For me, it’s my left side. It’s horrible. I mean, really bad. My trainer has actually threatened to cut off my left leg because it has a mind of it’s own and is just awful! haha! (Don’t worry, she wasn’t serious. We share a dark, sarcastic sense of humor.) I have improved greatly because we realized it was a big issue and have focused on exercises to help. This is one of the many that I’ve found useful and I hope that you will too!

What has been the best exercise you’ve tried for NSN? Share it in the comments below!