REASONS FOR VARIOUS LENGTHS Instructor______

Club/Center______Region______Year______

Topic: changing stirrup length for Certification Level: D-3 different types of work

Class Size: 2-6 Time: 15 min Arena Size Needed: Arena at least 20-60 meters

Objective: D-3 On the Flat: Understand reasons for adjusting for different types of work.

Equipment Needed: References: USPC D Manual 2nd Edition, pp Arena. Students should be in a jumping or 96-99 all purpose saddle, not a saddle.

Safety Concerns: Safety Check: Calm experienced that is comfortable Medical armband or bracelet, helmet, in groups, confident student with no prior gloves, appropriate footwear, appropriate scary incident. and safe tack. Safety vest optional

Lesson Procedure

1. Introduction of Self/Students “Hello, my name is ______and I am ______member from ______Pony Club or Riding Center. Let’s go around the room and you can tell me you name, certification, and your horse’s name.”

2. Verbalize Objective of Lesson “Today we are going to learn why it is important to have different stirrup lengths for different types of work.”

3. Ask Prior Knowledge of Topic “How many of you adjust your stirrups when you go from flat to jumping or jumping to flat? (Allow them to respond. Listen for safety concerns)”

4. Demonstration/Discussion “First, we are going to discuss appropriate length of stirrups for both flat and jumping. Does anyone know which activity, jumping or flat, should have shorter stirrups? (Allow them to respond) Good! Shorter stirrups are required for jumping. We are going to discover why that is the case. To start with today, we are going to set our stirrups to a flat length. Let’s have stirrups just below the ankle bone, or if you know where you like them for the flat, put them there. If we were in a dressage saddle, we could go longer, but we won’t since most of you are in jumping saddles”

5. Application of the activity: “While you are ‘on the flat’ stirrup length, I would like you to trot a 20 meter circle going to the right, then go across the diagonal, and do the circle the other way. Watch out for each other and don’t forget to pass left shoulder to left shoulder. For the 2nd 20 meter circle, I would like you to do that circle in your jumping position. While you do these figures, I want you to think about how the stirrup length either helps you or makes it harder. Ok, begin!” (Allow everyone to complete. Remind them of directions if need be. If students are younger, you may need to do it in a follow the leader fashion) Ok, now, everyone walk and come in to the center, facing me. Let’s shorten your stirrups to jumping length. It should be at or just above your ankle bone. That is probably two holes shorter. Remember, when you shorten or lengthen stirrups, you need to keep your foot in the stirrup and your hand on the . Now, let’s go out and ride the same figures again at the trot, tracking to the right. I want you to think about if it feels different and again, if it is easier to do some things and harder to do others.(Allow to go and ride figures. Again remind them about safety and figures as need be). Ok, let’s all walk and come back to the center facing me and we will discuss what we noticed. What did you notice? (Allow them to respond. Each person should respond) Now, based on your thoughts, we know that doing things with longer stirrups make it easier to sit up tall and wrap our legs around the horse. This makes it easier to communicate with our horse while doing figures. We noticed that with shorter stirrups, it is easier to get into your jumping position and close your angles. If you are doing figures and other types of flat work, you are better able to stretch your legs down around the horse, sit up tall and communicate. With the longer stirrups, it is harder to find a balance in jumping position because your hip and knee angles don’t close enough, and you might not even be able to get into a proper jump positon. With shorter stirrups for jumping you are also able to stay in jumping position over the fence, not fall back and maintain your balance. It also allows you to stay off the back and over his center of gravity, so that it is easier for your horse to jump.”

6. Additional Ideas if time allows: You could add a small cross-rail to reinforce the idea.

7. Conclusion: “Well done! Were any of you surprised at how easy or hard this was? (Allow them to respond) Who can tell me why you put stirrups for jumping? Who can tell me why you want a longer stirrup for flat work? Great! Thanks for working so hard today!”

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