Introduction
Lately I have been thinking a lot about the fact that traditional seat descriptions and discussions of the seat often seem to treat the seat as something static that doesn’t move. Sitting still, having a quiet seat is often considered to be the ideal. Traditional seat instruction is often rather static as well: always sit on the inside seat bone, always have the inside hip more forward and the outside hip more back….
Unfortunately, the emphasis on stillness and on always sitting exactly the same way - whether the horse needs it or not - can lead to stiffness in the rider’s seat, which will in turn create stiffness in the horse’s body and interfere with the horse’s freedom of movement.
The Problem With A Static Seat
When riders try to sit still, they often become static. They lock their hip, knee, and ankle joints, as well as their shoulders and elbows. That is a problem because every joint in the horse’s body has to be able to move freely with every stride, and his back and rib cage have to move as well. But if the rider’s joints don’t move, they don’t allow the horse’s joints to move, either. This suppresses the horse’s gaits, resulting in a loss of impulsion and elasticity, because the hind legs can’t engage or flex and the back becomes rigid.
But even if the rider’s seat is relaxed, but very passive, it will weigh the horse’s back down with its inertia, which prevents the hind legs from engaging, and the horse from moving through his back and on the bit.
You can see it in the horse’s musculature when a rider’s seat is rigid or passive in an unsupportive, burdensome kind of way: There may be dips in the horse’s back under the rider’s seat bones or the long back muscle is atrophied in general; the trapezius muscle will be atrophied, but the underneck muscle will be overdeveloped. The horse’s overall appearance is angular, and the gaits are flat and stiff and without expression.
A Dynamic, Breathing Seat
If our goal is for the horse to move healthfully and to feel comfortable under our weight, we need to sit in such a way that all muscles in the horse’s body can do the job they were designed for without bracing, and so that all the energy can travel freely through the horse’s body without being blocked anywhere by stiff muscles and restricted joints. This is reflected in the muscle development as well. The horse becomes round, the top line muscles fill out, there is no bulge in the underneck, and the gaits are elastic and smooth, like a cat’s.
To reach this goal we need a dynamic seat that shapes the flow of energy without suppressing it. In order for the seat to have the ability to be dynamic, it needs to be supple. To be supple, the seat has to be balanced and independent. To be balanced the seat has to be well supported. That means that the rider’s weight is spread out over a large area, and all leg joints are in a neutral position that allows them to flex and extend. The feet have to be under the center of gravity to give the rider independent control of her balance.
During every walk, trot, or canter stride, the rider’s leg joints have to open and close in sync with the movement of the horse’s back. During the upward swing of the horse’s back the rider’s leg joints have to open, so that the rider’s pelvis is able to accommodate this movement. During the downward swing, they close a little. The knees always remain in the same spot, i.e. they do not move up and down with the rider’s pelvis. If they did, the rider’s hip joints would be locked, and the seat would be hard and heavy.
If the stirrups are too long, the leg joints are too extended, which makes them stiff so that the seat is unable to accommodate the upswing of the horse’s back.
If the stirrups are too short, the leg joints are too flexed, which makes them feel cramped. This can lead to a chair seat with too much weight on the seat bones and in the stirrups. The chair seat suppresses the horse’s back because the rider’s entire weight is resting on the horse’s spine with no possibility for lightening.
Shaping the Stride
I used to ride with a static seat as well for many years because I had the same false assumptions about the seat, and I didn’t know my options. But over time, I discovered that I can either stay passive, or infuse some activity into my seat. I can move my joints in smaller or larger increments.
I can enhance the upswing of the horse’s back or the downswing. Enhancing the upswing helps the hind legs to engage more. Enhancing the downswing flexes the grounded hind leg. Combining both increases the bascule, the roundness of the horse’s spine.
I can enhance the swinging of the rib cage to the outside with my pelvis and inner thigh, which improves the bend and shifts the weight from the inside shoulder towards the outside pair of legs.
I can spread my weight out over a larger area, which makes it easier for the horse to carry me, or I can concentrate my weight in a smaller area, which allows me to press a hind leg into the ground for a brief moment.
I can shift my weight more to one side or the other to balance the horse laterally.
I can resist with my pelvis against being swept forward in the walk or canter to shorten the strides and to prevent the horse from pushing himself onto the forehand.
I can resist against the croup pushing me up and forward to prevent the horse from falling onto the forehand.
I can rotate my pelvis to the right or left to adjust the alignment of the horse’s hips and shoulders.
I can breathe with my legs by lifting them 1mm off the side of horse and then relax them again. This helps me to check on myself whether I have inadvertently started squeezing or gripping with my legs, and it allows the horse’s rib cage to expand, which makes it easier to breathe.
I can breathe with my seat by creating a little space under it for a stride or two that the horse can fill by lifting his back more. Sometimes I increase this breathing of the seat to a hint of rising trot for a couple of strides. Then I settle down again for a couple of strides. This creates vertical suppleness and mobility in the horse’s back and rib cage.
The key for this technique is to support myself with a very large surface area and to ride the movement of the horse’s back like a wave. I allow the wave to lift me up, and at the top of the curve, I use the momentum to travel a tiny bit farther up and forward, which creates a small space under my seat. If the horse is moving actively enough he will lift his back to stay in touch with me. If he doesn’t lift up, I drive a little with my inside leg or a touch of the whip. This creates a stronger engagement of the horse’s abdominal muscles and a higher lift of his back. At the same time I usually allow him to lower his neck a little if he chooses to. These seat movements are so small that they are probably invisible from the outside, but they are large enough for the horse to feel them. I do them without any real muscular effort, but rather by utilising the energy of the horse’s back movement.
Conclusion
The dynamic seat can resuscitate a dead back. It helps to turn a leg mover into a back mover. It prevents muscle aches and muscle fatigue in the horse because everything is always fluid and moving. It helps the horse to develop his topline muscles and abdominals, and it allows the hind legs to engage, flex, and push off vigorously, which leads to freedom of the shoulders.
Thomas Ritter
A note from Shana:
There have been many requests over the years for us to produce a course specifically for the rider to help with seat issues. We know how important this is, but we wanted to make sure we produced something that would be “on par” quality-wise with our other courses, so the project needed time to gestate.
Then in October of 2020 we came up with a concept idea and we started to work on it behind the scenes. However, as happens many times with us, as we worked on it, we kept thinking of more things we wanted to include, and pretty soon this “small course” evolved into a larger course.
See, there are many problems that get riders stuck and prevent them (and their horses) from making progress. But we have found over the years that there are certain issues which completely derail progress, and can become so frustrating to overcome that riders give up. Or… they try to fix them but the “remedies” they come up with cause other (sometimes even worse) problems.
So we wanted to come up with a program that gets to the ROOT of the problems. We aren’t interested in covering up symptoms with band-aids. Sometimes the problem doesn’t originate from where you see the symptoms. For example, a noisy lower leg doesn’t come from the leg, and the common advice to “quiet the leg” by clamping it onto the horse’s side actually causes bigger problems in the end. Then not only are you creating a new problem which causes repercussions in the rider’s body (and in the horse’s body) but you never addressed where the problem originated, which means that problem gets further confirmed and harder to fix. It is like adding layers of paint onto wood that needs to be sanded down and primed first. It might temporarily look okay, but in the big picture it is only causing you more work (and problems) later down the road.
We don’t want that for you. And I am pretty sure you don’t either.
So let me tell you a little bit about what our new course. This is called The Rider Makeover. I was joking with Thomas that us horse people live in our breeches and hair in ponytails and we want it no other way. Most of us would never want one of those fancy makeovers where they re-do your whole wardrobe, hair, and makeup. I mean, it would be fun for one day but is that really practical? The big question is always…. Will this help my riding?!?! (Because… priorities, right?!)
So I was saying to Thomas that this is the makeover that us horse people would actually WANT. It is one that will actually HELP your riding.
So we have put this together as a 10-week course where we will address one “issue” that riders have each week. For instance, one week we cover “Stiff hips”, another week we cover “gripping legs,” and another week we cover “lack of confidence,” just to give you a brief idea of the range of issues we are going to help you overcome.
Within each week, we cover it from all angles. We discuss the “theory” around it for those of you who NEED to understand the “what” and “why” before you can implement the “how” effectively. Then we address the “How”, but we are doing it in a very special way with lessons you can implement off the horse as well as on the horse so that EVEN IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO RIDE RIGHT NOW (because…. Pandemic, right?!) you can do something to help yourself and your riding… right away. Each week we introduce an imagery lesson that you can implement on the horse while you are riding OR use as visualisation when you are not riding. These imagery lessons are INSTRUMENTAL in helping you change the way you THINK about how your seat works. They change you from the “inside out”.
Then, in addition to that, each week you will receive Feldenkrais lessons which are designed to support the imagery lesson for that week and address the limitations that are causing the rider “issue”. Each of these lessons are pre-recorded and can be done at any time that works for you, as many times as you like.
In fact, this is a beta course so we are producing the content week-by-week, but once you have the course content, you can do it in any order you like, as many times as you like, and as many times as you like because you will have unlimited, lifetime access.
Not only that, but we have SIX bonus live trainings that will happen over the span of the 10-week course. We will vary the times of these live trainings, so regardless of your timezone or schedule, hopefully you can attend some of these. There will be a Q&A at the end of each of these live trainings.
Speaking of questions… we know you will have questions and we have a way for you to get the full support through the entire course. You will get full access to the Rider Makeover Beta course Facebook Group where you can ask questions, get help, make friends, have fun, AND give us feedback that we can use to make the course even better (if you want, not required, but we will use any feedback you give us to improve this course and make it the very best it can be). In fact, then you will get full access to this course in its finished version (after we have made any adjustments based on feedback from the beta course participants) and you will receive all future upgrades and improvements to the course… forever.
So what are you waiting for? Join us for the makeover you would actually WANT to do! The course starts officially on Monday, February 15th and we have a spot waiting for you. Just click the button below for the full details.
