Dissecting the Seat – Part 3: The Advanced Independent Seat

I found this article thanks to Austen from Guinness on Tap and absolutely had to share it.

It showed what I have been working on when riding Copper. I have been working on being mindful of my balance, engaging my core, lowering my center of gravity and rolling my shoulders back and down to correct my postural tilt.

These things I have been feeling but have been unable to express in a concrete, definite way about how this was affecting my seat and engagement with Copper. When I read this article, it was brilliant – clarifying and just like – oh! So that’s what I’ve been feeling!

It’s such a good article, I really feel it’s a must for any rider who is seeking to find that ultimate connection and engagement with their seat when they ride. It’s so good that I wanted to share all of the article because I hope it never disappears. This is one I’ll be coming back to and re-reading for sure. So here it is, and if you enjoy it as much as I did, please go check out Horse Collaborative for more excellent articles.

Sitting On A Horse In Balance

© www.happy-horse-training.com

The challenge of sitting on a horse in balance may appear no more complex than any other form of balancing – just a case of getting your bearings and learning to go with the horse. In fact, there is a lot more to it than that, because on a horse, our natural balancing reflexes do not lead us to sit in a way which will eventually allow a profound gymnastic connection with the horse – a way which is also comfortable for both horse and rider.

Why Do We Not Find Good Balance Naturally When Sitting On A Horse?

There are several reasons that our natural impulses lead us astray when sitting on a horse

The Urge to Hold On

The first, and most obvious, is our impulse to hold on with our hands when we feel unstable. Unfortunately this is very undesirable when riding a horse, because the hands are responsible for holding the reins, which connect to the horse’s sensitive mouth via the bit (or to the delicate nose bones if riding bitless).

Holding onto the horse’s mouth is not only uncomfortable for the horse, causing both mental and physical tension, but it also has the effect of blocking the horse’s energy right though his body, as the pressure in the reins creates a barrier to the forward movement.

It is also an ineffective way of finding true balance while sitting on a horse, because it takes the rider’s focus of balance away from the connection of their body with that of the horse, through the seat, and puts it into a part of the horse’s body which is highly flexible and not necessary stable.

The problem with leaning forwards when sitting on a horse, is … that it makes us lose our connection with the horse’s body.

The Error of Leaning Forwards

The reaction which takes us away from finding the correct position on a horse is our instinct to lean forwards when we feel the movement of the horse underneath us. This is probably because, when we feel the power of the horse coming through the horse’s back from the haunches, our impulse is to disconnect ourselves from the movement by taking the weight out of the back of the seat-bones, so that we no longer feel the power coming through into our own body.

It is also a natural human reflex to crouch into the fetal position in order to protect ourselves when we are under threat. When sitting on a horse, this defensive position equates to tipping the upper body forwards, so that the rider’s shoulder are in front of their pelvis.

The problem with leaning forwards when sitting on a horse, is again that it makes us lose our connection with the horse’s body, because we lift our weight out of the back of the seatbones – the place where we can best connect with the ‘engine’ of the horse’s movement: the haunches. It is only when we become one with the horse’s power that we can be in full security on a horse, and be in harmony with the movement.

Leaning forwards, even slightly in front of the vertical, tilts the rider’s pelvis onto the pubic bone, which is not the right orientation to be able to follow and engage with the movement. In this position, the seat-bones point backwards against the direction of the horse’s energy, and the rider’s lower back is hollow, exposing the vertebrae to compression, with the impact of the movement, and possible damage.

… re-balancing a horse with the seat comes from the leverage we create by raising the front of the pelvis into suspension off the saddle by way of engaged core muscles.

The other reason leaning forwards does not help the balance of horse and rider is that the horse already carries around two-thirds of his weight on the forehand (front legs), which is fine for his natural balance without a rider, but when the rider adds their weight, already sitting further towards the front-end than the haunches, the forehand becomes overloaded, and the horse, out of balance, ‘runs downhill’. Leaning forwards brings the rider’s center of gravity towards the horse’s forehand, aggravating the situation.

The Fork Seat

As already stated above, when the rider lets their pelvis drop onto the pubic bone, or ‘fork’(right) the seat is not only prevented from harmonizing with the horse’s movement, because it blocks against it, but it also has zero re-balancing power in this position.

This is because re-balancing a horse with the seat comes from the leverage we create by raising the front of the pelvis into suspension off the saddle by way of engaged core muscles. When the pelvis is passively dropped into the fork seat, it has no leverage with which to draw the horse’s hindlegs underneath its body, and instead it follows into the backwards thrust of the hindlegs, supporting the disengagement of the haunches, as opposed to their engagement.

The further the rider’s centre of gravity is from the horse’s, the less secure the the rider is, and the more the horse will also feel tense and anxious.

Some riding instructors actively teach this kind of seat, sometimes referred to as the three-point seat, because it is a convenient and effort-free way of finding  a certain stability while sitting on a horse. The backward-pointing seatbones also block the horse’s movement to some extent, making it easier to handle. However, as a way of truly becoming part of the horse’s movement, and being able to improve its power and purity, it is certainly no solution.

Raising the Centre of Gravity

When sitting on a horse, it’s common for the rider’s center of gravity to rise towards the upper body, lifting the weight up out of seat, and away from the horse’s own center of gravity.

This is often the result of tension in the rider, as when we do not feel balanced and in control on top of the horse, there is an instinctive desire to lift up away from the movement. The shoulders become tense, and the seat is less connected to the movements of the horse’s back.

This is a viscous circle, of course, because the further the rider’s centre of gravity is from the horse’s, the less secure the the rider is, and the more the horse will also feel tense and anxious.

Common faults in the riding position. © www.happy-horse-training.com

All of these errors in the technique of sitting on a horse result in a lack of unity between horse and rider, and make the rider feel they need to hold onto the horse’s mouth in order to control the situation, and keep some of balance. This holding is counter-productive, however, because it blocks the energy of the horse’s movement and creates tension in the horse, both of which prevent a true gymnastic connection of the rider with the horse.

 

The Key Steps to Sitting on a Horse Well

The correct riding position. © www.happy-horse-training.com

1) Tucking the Pelvis

The number one most important thing you can do to start becoming part the horse’s movement is to get your pelvis in the right orientation in the saddle. This means rolling the seat under into a tucked position, so that your weight is on the back of your seat-bones, and the front of your pelvis is lifted well up off the saddle by your engaged abdominal muscles. Your lower back should be stretched and supple.

This position may feel unstable or unbalanced at first, because it takes strength in the core muscles to support it, which is something a rider needs to develop over time by consistently making the effort to sit in this way.

It is only in this position that the pelvis can follow the cycle of the horse’s stride without opposing it, and eventually create the leverage which brings about true collection and re-balancing of the horse.

Riding instructors often refer to the ‘upright seat’ as a kind of balance between the fork seat and the tucked seat (often mistakenly referred to as the chair seat). However this is simply a half-way house, which doesn’t go far enough towards resisting the disengagement of the horse’s haunches that happens naturally every stride. This upright seat, although less extreme, is therefore not much more effective than the fork seat.

2) Keeping the Upper Body Back

When you first start to ride with a tucked pelvis, because your core muscles will most likely not have the strength and coordination to support it, it is important to keep the upper body well back, in order to help keep the weight on the back of the seat-bones. This is especially important if you have a if you have a naturally hollow back.

In sitting trot, if you gradually lean back, you will feel at a certain point your seat adheres to movement right through the stride, and there is no bouncing on and off the saddle. This is the place where you need to stay in order to develop the correct seat.

As your core muscles get stronger, you will be able to come gradually more upright without losing the tuck of your pelvis.

3) Suppling the Hip Joints

The hips joints are probably the most crucial joints in the rider’s whole body, because they act like a hinge between the seat/upper body and the legs.

To create a balanced position on the horse – one that is independent of the reins – the rider must stretch this ‘hinge’ open to its fullest extent, so that the leg can remain anchored underneath the rider’s body, which equally stays back in position.

The problem, when it comes to sitting on a horse, is that our hips are very often not supple enough to allow this stretch to happen – our lifestyle is largely responsible for this, as we spend a lot of the time sitting with the hip joints in a closed position, as well as the immobility leading to stiffness.

Some of us have more stiffness in the hips joints than others, but all riders need to develop the stretch in this joint.

What happens when we ride without supple, stretched hips, is that when we try to bring our legs back into a balanced and effective position underneath the seat, the upper body is pulled forwards, leading to the problems of leaning forwards described above. In the same way, when a rider tries to bring the upper body back without being able stretch the hips, the leg is pulled forwards into the ‘chair seat’.

Tucking the pelvis, as described above, puts even more demand on the hip joint, and it therefore takes a long and determined effort for the rider to achieve both the correct seat and leg position. Although this is not commonly seen, it is not an impossibility, as is sometimes stated. Any rider can achieve supple hips if they know how to go about it, and put in the effort required.

Note: Yoga poses, suppling and stretching exercises help with this greatly. It’s not hard to find some videos on Youtube to get you started on loosening those hip flexors.  : )

4) Lowering the Center of Gravity

The rider must always be seeking to drop their centre of gravity towards that of the horse, so that a unification of the two body masses can be achieved. Only when the rider can become fully joined to the horse’s movement, can they start to transform it in a profound way in order to bring it into balance.

There is a misconception, fairly common in dressage teaching, that the rider should try to remain light in the saddle in order to help the horse lift its back without overburdening it. This is a misunderstanding because the horse is far more comfortable with a rider who has become fully part of the movement, than carrying one who is attempting to hover above it.

There is no way the rider can physically become lighter when sitting on a horse, but by harmonizing with the movement and creating one unified mass, the negative effect of the rider’s weight is removed.

To do this, the rider must drop their weight completely down into the back of the seat by keeping their neck, shoulders and lower back relaxed to prevent the center of gravity rising.

The fact that the front of the pelvis is suspended by the engaged core muscles, combined with the stretch of the hips keeping the legs supporting underneath the seat, means that the weight dropped into the seat is not a ‘dead weight’, but instead a kind of adhesive glue that keeps the dynamic, interactive seat fully connected with the horse.

5) Remaining Central

Both horses and humans all have a natural unevenness, which means that when sitting on a horse we almost always get pushed slightly more to one side or the other. In fact, it is usually the saddle that gets pushed over in relation to the horse’s spine, and we may sit more over to the other side of the saddle in order to compensate.

There are several factors which contribute to how this lack of centrality will manifest:

• the crookedness of the horse: all horses have one side which is naturally convex, and the other which is concave (hollow). The rider tends to get pushed over to the concave side.
• the crookedness of the rider: we all have one side of our body which is stronger for stretching down, and this opposite weak side tends to get pushed over more easily on the horse’s back.
• the bend: when a horse turns, its ribcage tends to push the rider more to the outside.

Depending on how these different factors combine, the rider can end up  sitting on a horse markedly off-centre in relation to the horse’s spine, or less so because the various factors compensate for each other. Either way, it is essential that these unevenesses be addressed so that both horse and rider can become more straight, and gymnastic purity an be achieved.

The rider can become aware and monitor the centrality of their seat by frequently checking how well the pommel of the saddle lines up with the horse’s spine (withers) underneath it, and also by making sure they are sitting absolutely centrally in the saddle. This needs to be checked both from in front and behind, as there may be a twist in the seat, so you will need someone to tell you whether you are sitting straight on the saddle from the back.

Once the rider is familiar with the pattern of their own and the horse’s unevenness, postural strength must be used to diligently correct it as much as possible.

A final important point is that the rider must never add movement of their own to the horse’s movement when sitting on a horse, for example by pushing with the seat or moving from side to side. We can only connect to the horse’s movement when we have a ‘listening’ seat not a doing one. We can modify the movement we receive in the seat with postural resistance, because this does not add movement, it is instead a way of channeling and re-balancing the movement of the horse.

When a rider has mastered this way of sitting on a horse, they become fully independent of the reins for balance and security, and the control of the horse is almost fully achieved with the posture, seat, leg and weight aids – the hands taking on an almost fully receptive role.

Sitting on a horse in this way is also so much more comfortable and healthy for both horse and rider, because concussive forces are harmonized, channeled and transformed into straightness, power and suspension.

ABOUT

Happy Horse Training is founded by the sisters Camille and Gabrielle Dareau, who live in the beautiful Gascony region of the south of France. 

OUR PATH WITH HORSES

In our passion for the art of dressage as a pure gymnastic discipline, we have taken the perhaps unusual approach of studying riding purely for its own sake with no other agenda, whether competitive, commercial or even that of simple recognition.

This has allowed us to work with horses that in most other circumstances would be rejected, and in doing so we have discovered exactly how it is that the rider can transform themselves in order to transform the horse.

In the normal context of dressage based on the performance of certain movements, our results may be limited, but the quality of movement we achieve through progressively suppling problematic horses by means of engagement speaks for itself. Riders who apply the principles we teach, often very different from what they learned previously, are equally convinced by the results. When we come to difficulties with our horses in their training or management, we don’t think of ‘selling them on and getting another one’ as being a relevant option. To us that would only mean passing up an opportunity to learn something from the process of finding a real solution. thanks to this attitude we have seen many of our horses develop a radically different appearance and disposition, to the point of a real change in their conformation and basic temperament, characteristics usually seen as unalterable.

In the same way we have seen riders of many different types and abilities transform to become confident, effective and skillful at riding in engagement, which had often been a totally undiscovered dimension of riding to them.

Leave any comments you might have below, I’d love to hear what you think about this article.

See ya,

bonita

Dissecting the Seat – Part 1: Pulling my seat apart

I will be starting a series on dissecting a rider’s seat as I am trying to reconstruct my own seat using the practice of classical dressage. This post is kind of the beginning of where I start with a muddle as I pull my riding apart! 

I have been busy trying out a few new things with Copper – I don’t really have anything solid yet, but I’ll report anyway.  (^ u ^)

I’ve really been concentrating on figuring out my seat and what affects it has on Copper’s way of moving.  Have you ever sat on an exercise ball and tried to feel what direction the points of your pelvic bones are pointing in?

- Left position: rider is hollowing back and disengaging the seat.  This will make her position precarious, and she will just bounce along on top of the horse’s back, rather than influencing it.  It also means she will fall off easier!  I know, because this used to be my seat…  : / 

Middle position: rider is in a good neutral position to have an independent seat, meaning that she can at will influence the horse’s back, hind end and thus, the gaits.  She can encourage a faster pace by swinging her hips more vigorously in time to the horse’s movement, or draw up and ‘brace’ her lower back – blocking the horse’s movement over his back and causing him to slow down.  If posting to the trot, the same effect can be achieved by posting slower than what the horse is trotting.

Right position: rider has tipped her pelvis forwards, and while you do not want to hold this position all the time – i.e. as your neutral, not asking for a forwards movement, position – this is a good example of a driving seat aid.  Once the desired forwards movement has been achieved, the seat should be allowed to swing back in the balanced, even position, or the rider will be sitting too far back to follow the horses movement and will be left behind, as well as put into a chair seat where the lower leg will come forwards off the girth and be rendered less effective. -

Sitting up straight and evenly, your pelvic bones should be horizontal to the ground,  with the points of your seat straight down, vertical to the ground. Tip them forwards, like you are pushing the exercise ball out from under you, and your core should curl forwards and engage, your lower back should round out slightly as your tail tucks under.

As far as I understand from all my reading(!) that’s the seat aid for engaging your horse’s motor – his hind end.  With this aid you ask for forwards; walk, trot, and when you use one side of your seat, or rather, lift one seat bone up and forwards, you can ask for canter with scarcely any effort at all.

Breath in and up; pull your spine up from the top of your head, drop your shoulders and “hold” your breath.  Drop your heels and your weight into the saddle and close your fingers on the reins. 

That’s the aid for halt; if you ‘block’ your horse’s movement with your seat only momentarily, that’s a half halt.

Basic stuff, yet as I am working on applying it to my riding, Copper is rounding up, lifting his back and coming through with uphill movement in a way I have never would expect a Standardbred to be able to manage!

It’s true what they say that correct dressage should improve a horse’s action and way of carrying himself under saddle. 

He’s far from perfect, he does not bend his hocks enough yet, so the suppleness of his hind end is somewhat marred by a lack of suspension.  He is being to understand lateral movements, but unfortunately, he is now a little confused about lateral work and how it relates to circling.  As far as I can tell (and I’m not quite sure, because I’m a little confused about what is happening underneath me!) he is moving away from my inside leg requesting bend and “slipping” out from underneath me sideways!  Now I tried catching him with the outside rein/outside leg, but that just made him go all wobbly and crooked. 

- I feel like this ^ is what our progress around the arena looks like! -

So I definitely have to work on that as he is going really well in straight lines but we seem to have lost all ability to do a 20m circle! He actually does a 15m circle quite nicely.  I wonder if I am applying too much inside leg?  With all the work I have been doing to use my seat aids only, I might be getting too strong when coming back to a movement that seems to require ‘more leg’ than tracking on the outside track.

- This would be an improvement on the current state of our circles… - 

I am feeling all discombobulated on his back – I can’t seem to post at the moment(!!), so I am mostly working in sitting trot to feel what he is doing.  His stride is so choppy compared to Joey’s *sniff* that it can be quite hard to do that without some serious breathing out to relax my pelvic floor.  Then he gets all bobbly and wobbly as I’m trying to work out what he is doing and how my seat relates, and just – ugh. 

On the upside, I do know I am on the right track, as one of the ladies down at my yards was commenting on how nicely he was rounding up for me.  Plus, Copper himself is confirming we are on the right track – I have never felt him so uphill in all my years of riding him, so we are getting somewhere.

Then I have been acutely conscious about how my saddle tips me backwards slightly – just enough that I have to struggle to get and keep my leg underneath me, and if I lose my balance, or forget to think about it I end up in a slight chair seat. 

I’ve checked the balance of the saddle on Copper – the gullet shape matched his withers and shoulder shape perfectly, and he always get an exact imprint of the saddle (for the sweat mark) when I take it off after a ride.  His back does not seem sore at all, so I’m a bit puzzled.  My conclusion is that the saddle fits him – it just doesn’t fit me! 

It’s an Wintec 2000 All-Purpose, with CAIR panels, and an interchangeable gullet system. I’m not sure if it actually doesn’t fit me, or it’s giving me the seat that an All-Purpose is supposed to, when I am looking for a dressage seat?

Anyone out there with saddle fitting experience and some advice?

I did lift it at the back a little the other day, and I like the results.  It helped me keep my leg underneath me easier and I didn’t feel like I was tipping backwards so much.  I’m thinking I would like to try a riser under the cantle – just a little one to help my balance a bit.  I just don’t know if that’s what is needed, or whether I’m trying to change the balance of a saddle that is designed to give you a bit of a jumping seat. 

Again – comments would be appreciated!  I’m thinking I might need a new-to-me second hand dressage saddle if the latter is the case.  I do want to jump, so I’d keep the All-Purpose, but a nice dressage saddle might really help me with the work I’m trying to do with my seat.

So that’s the run down on my rides and thoughts about riding for the last little while – I know it’s a bit of a dump, but I do like getting it out….

See ya,

bonita

What do child birth, horse riding, and achieving an independent seat have in common?

Believe it or not - your pelvic floor!

I discovered today that the key to "ultimate" relaxation for Joey to relax eeeeeevvvvvery muscle, and I mean EVERY muscle - including my, *ahem*, rear, inner thighs, pelvic floor - i.e., the muscle groups that make up a rider's seat.

The benefits of relaxing your seat muscles are numerous; the first one obviously is to achieve an independent seat.

Let's start by clarifying the definition of an independent seat:

"The phrase “independent seat” has historically meant a rider doesn’t need to hold on to stay on, and that the seat isolates the horse’s movement from the hands and legs." 

However, Mike Schaffer, writing about the dressage process breaks it down a little more -

"The words independent seat is easily misunderstood to mean the hands, seat, and legs should be independent from one another as well as the horse’s motion.  However, for any discussion of the aids in dressage, the truth is much more subtle than that.  Rather than being “independent” the rider should be using his hands, legs, and seat in a coordinated way – interdependently with each other and the horse’s movement.

A dressage seat has to be capable of moving with the horse neutrally, or, influencing the horse’s movement by either slight exaggeration or resistance.  So, whether following or influencing, the seat is always working in conjunction with the movement, never independent of it.  When riding on contact the action of the rein should work with or “go through” the seat.  Any action of the seat, regardless of how subtle, should have a proportional effect on the leg.  In this way we use our aids to mold the horse.  We provide him with an envelope of aids within which he is free to move loosely forward."

I really like this detailed and clear definition.  I feel like a lot of instructional books miss this important step in explaining exactly what it is you are looking for when trying to achieve a certain basic positional standard - whether you are interested in dressage or not.

So, we are looking at relaxing the seat - being able to independently control the muscles to either positively influence, and release the horse's energy, or influence through resistance to collect the horse's energy.

The second benefit in doing this was the affect it had on Joey.   I find it really interesting exactly how sensitive he is!   I have been working on relaxing my shoulders, core, and lower back - but today, as I said, I discovered that he requires every single muscle to be relaxed before he fully relaxes himself.

Also, in relaxing the inside of my seat - the pelvic floor and inner thigh - I was able to convince him that there really is no bat-from-hell-horse-devouring-soul-stealing-monsters hiding around the arena and we mooched on both reins around the outside track.  Yes, mooched!!  It was fabulous!

But now, of course, I have to work on sharpening up his upwards transitions - Joey is perfectly happy just to mooch for the rest of his life.  : P  Naturally.

So how did I manage to do this marvellous relaxing?  Well, here's where it gets interesting.  And silly! 
Believe it or not, one of the labour techniques I read about is what did it.   The theory goes that child birth is a lot smoother when you can relax into it, and let your pelvic floor go so that it can do what it's supposed to.   So to do that, you need to relax your face, mouth, and jaw, because those muscles actually mirror your pelvic floor.

So to relax in labour, you breath in and breathe out with 'horse lips' - you know, all loose and floppy?.....   > . >  ........ Yup, you look and sound as silly as you think you do, but it works.

I could just imagine myself warming up amongst the dressage queens and divas blowing horsey lips to relax!!  I was laughing at myself the entire way around the arena.  Which, incidentally is another great relaxing technique!

It was perfect, however, and I now know exactly what is required from me to be able to work out Joey's tension if he gets skittish.  Although, if you have an better, and less silly(!!) ways to relax your seat feel free to let me know.  ; )

See ya,

bonita