Why your adductors stop you sitting the canter

Most riders know the adductors as the muscles that pull the thigh in towards the body. That is one job. It is not the only one, and when you ride it is not even the main one.

The group is made up of several muscles. Pectineus, adductor longus, adductor brevis, gracilis, and the big one, adductor magnus. Between them they do more than pull the leg in.

• The ones at the front also flex the hip.
• Adductor magnus, the largest, is actually more of a hip extensor than an adductor. Recent imaging work found over 80 percent of the muscle is built for extending the hip, not pulling it in.
• Gracilis runs all the way down past the knee, so it affects the lower leg too.

This is SO important for riding. When your leg is bearing weight around a horse, the adductors are not there to squeeze or grip. They are there to control the position of your thigh so your pelvis can move over your legs. They must be able to work at length - but not stuck there - as it is by lengthening and shortening under load that they dampen unecessary movement. If they are weak, they will shorten and tighten but with less force. You will still be thrown around. If they are strong - but short and tight, they will also grip, the horse will get blocked and tense and you will be immobile everywhere. You think you are creating an illusion of stillness but in reality it is STIFFNESS. So what then is the answer? It is simple, adductors need to be trained and used STRONG and LONG.

That is their real job when riding. Damping and controlling the movement of your pelvis, not clamping the saddle.

Every muscle has two ends. Your front adductors run from your pubic bone at one end to your thigh bone at the other. When they contract, they pull those two points closer together. Which end actually moves depends on which end is freer to move.

When you ride, your thigh is held in place. The saddle, the thigh blocks, the friction of your leg against the flap, and your own body weight all pin it there. If you can't control this, the thigh end cannot move. The only end left free is the pubic bone end.

In this case, your pubic bone gets pulled down and forward towards your thigh. That tips your pelvis forward. Your seat bones rotate back and up, away from the saddle and you stop sitting on the horse. You need to be able to control if the thigh takes a breath off the flap , comes back from the knee block, rotates from the hip, lengthens and shortens with the movement. When riding, stillness is the illusion created by movement from the seat in harmony with the horse.

There is a second thing happening at the same time. When your inner thighs clamp against the saddle, you start holding yourself on by friction. As the horse's back comes up underneath you, that friction drags your thighs up with it, and your seat lifts with them. The harder you grip, the more of your weight goes into your thighs and the less stays in your seat. You end up hanging off the saddle by your inner thighs instead of sitting in it. Try it now, just sitting. Squeeze your inner thighs together and notice your seat bones lift up. For riding we want our wieght not just to be on the seat but distributed around the barrel of the horse too. Feel what you need to keep the seat bones on the chair (saddle) but also have control over your thigh's

Lifting your seat off the saddle is the obvious cost. There are a few less obvious ones that all make sitting the canter harder.

The muscle on the side of your hip, glute med, is what keeps your pelvis steady from side to side. It works as a pair with your adductors. When your adductors grip and hold, your glute med gets turned down. That is just how the body shares work between a muscle and its opposite. So at the exact moment you need glute med to stop you wobbling from side to side in canter, it is doing less. Beginner riders have been measured moving their upper body far more from side to side in canter than experienced riders, and a glute med that has been turned down is part of why.

Your adductors are connected to your pelvic floor, through shared nerve signals and through the sheets of tissue that run between them. When the adductors hold tight, the pelvic floor gets pulled tight with them. The pelvic floor is part of how you breathe and manage pressure through your middle. Hold it tight and your breathing climbs up into your chest, your ribs stiffen, and your following arms and upper body stiffen with them.

A muscle absorbs shock by lengthening under load. A muscle that is already clamped short cannot lengthen, so it cannot absorb anything. The bounce of the canter has to go somewhere, and if your legs are not absorbing it, it travels up into your lower back. That is the ache after a schooling session.

You do not grip because you are doing it wrong. You grip because your body has run out of better options.

When your trunk and pelvis cannot steady themselves against the movement of the canter, your brain reaches for the nearest strong thing it can hold onto. That is your inner thighs, squeezing a solid horse. It is a sensible short-term fix. It just does not work for sitting the canter, because the squeeze lifts you out of the saddle.

So the answer is not to relax your inner thighs and hope. A relaxed adductor cannot hold you against the movement either. It collapses. You would just swap gripping for flopping.

What you actually want is adductors that are strong through their whole range. Strong when they are long, not just when they are short and squeezing. Strong enough to control and steady your pelvis while the horse moves underneath you, and then let go again. You do not want to switch them off. You want them doing their real job.