Photo Critique 2

Hades and Brooklyn are next up for a photo critique! Hades is jumping this square oxer really well, using his back for a nice round shape up over the fence. Brooklyn has a great eye and her back is totally flat, which will help her recover well on landing.

It looks like the stirrup has slipped back on her foot so it’s making it hard for her to keep her heels down. I think if she had a more stable foot in the stirrup and more weight through the front of her calf and down into her heel, she would be more stable. As it is she is compensating for her low leg slipping back by bringing her center of balance too far forward, in front of the pommel. If she could stabilize that low leg by keeping the stirrup on the ball of her foot with her heel down, it would allow her to bring her hips back closer to the back of the saddle so she’d be over the horse’s center of balance instead of “jumping ahead” as she’s doing here.

That said, I’m ALL about form over function. Over this small oxer she isn’t interfering with her horse or leaning on him. She is out of his way with her crest release so he has the freedom of his head and neck to jump well. If Brooklyn wants to jump bigger fences (which I happen to know she does!), she should practice keeping those hips back and heels down over the fence, as well as practicing the automatic release where the hand follows the horse’s mouth forward and below the crest.