Horseriding stance

[shogeri]

I use to be able to. An hour was my max.

Now I am just old.

[White Warlock]

Holding a stance for an extended period of time could injure your knees. I regularly perform walks, similar to duck walks, in which my knees are significantly bent and i travel about the mat... or around a park (when nobody is around, mind you). It's not the most attractive scene, but it really helps develop the stances, the transitioning aspects, centering, and leg stamina.

[elbows_and_knees]

yeah, that's a good point. some styles perform the horse stance with the toes straight ahead. Some perform it with the toes slightly outward. Having the toes straight ahead places extra stress on the knees and is not good to do for extended periods of time.

[shogeri]

I just want to clarify that I am speaking of shikodachi which is the outer circular stance, in which the feet are pointed out at a 45 degree angle.

Due to many injuries, we did not use the kibadachi, which is the traditional horse stance where both feet are pointed forward. Plus one would have to rotate the foot anyway to go from point a to point b, or to prepare for a block or attack, so it is easier to use the shikodachi version of the "horse" stance.

Just needed to add that tidbit.

[giang_hu]

Having the toes point forward makes the stance stronger. It should NOT cause injury. The way I do the low horse is with the thighs parallel to the ground, knees over the feet, back straight, and toes pointed forward. This structure ensures that the knee can support a lot of weight. In fact, someone should be able to stand on it without hurting you. This happens because of body structure, not strength.

[stonecrusher69]

giang_hu you use a low horse in your WC?

[shogeri]

All stances can be used wrong, of course. Which could cause injury. The primary concern with these two stances is indeed based upon knee strain.

This could be especially true with children, of whom, their growth plates haven't fully developed.

With kibadachi (wide or deep), I believe it takes more concentration and effort in which to do it correctly.

I can see shortening kibadachi to where it is slightly wider than Heikodachi,

which is a similar parallel stance of shoulder to shoulder length.

Most people modify the stance width and height in order to get to comfortable position. This is natural, and acceptable.

With children though, special care needs to be taken since they have a different skeletal makeup through adolescense, which is based upon their bodies constantly changing internally, and growing in size.

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Just some more brief thoughts...

[elbows_and_knees]

Having the toes point forward makes the stance stronger. It should NOT cause injury. The way I do the low horse is with the thighs parallel to the ground, knees over the feet, back straight, and toes pointed forward. This structure ensures that the knee can support a lot of weight. In fact, someone should be able to stand on it without hurting you. This happens because of body structure, not strength.

I have had people stand on my legs during horse with the toes pointed outward. Perhaps is should NOT cause injury, but it can due to the extra stress on the knee from pointing the toes straight ahead from the low stance.

[giang_hu]

giang_hu you use a low horse in your WC?

I don't train the low horse to use in Wing Chun, but I train the low horse because I want to.

It's good to have the toes pointed forward. You should train the toes to be pointed forward little by little if you can't do it right away. Look at all the old sifu. They always have their toes pointed forward.

[SatyagrahaKF]

A lot of good info, and opinions here...