The Seat
How one sits on a horse greatly affects how one rides a horse. The more stable and relaxed the rider, the more comfortable the ride — both for the rider and for the horse.
Xenophon, a Greek general writing about 400 years before the birth of Christ, stated that a rider should not sit a horse as though seated in a chair but as though standing upright with his legs apart. Others have described the proper seat as similar to straddling a stool. The point is that a rider's feet should be beneath him, not in front of him.
I tell my students to consider what would happen if their horse were to suddenly disappear. Would they land on their face? They would if their feet were behind them. Would they land on their seat? They would if their feet were in front of them. Or, would they land upright on their feet?
By sitting on a horse in this manner, our upper body, also, tends to be more vertical. When we sit “in” a chair, we tend to slouch with our lower back rounding to our hips which are in front of our shoulders. The standard adage of having one's head, hips, and heels in alignment comes more naturally if we think of standing upright or straddling a stool.
You will, also, tend to sit more on your crotch as well as your seat bones. I have heard that there are some instructors who actually tell their students: “Sit on your pockets.” I liken such a position to leaning back on a chair. Remember when your teacher used to yell at you when you did that. The danger was not that the back legs of the chair wouldn't support your weight; it was the fact that you were unstable. If another student put just a little pressure on the back of the chair, you would jerk forward and grab for the desk in front of you so you wouldn't fall backwards.
If you sit on your pockets — just on your seat bones — while on the back of a horse, you are very unstable. If the horse takes off at a trot, you would be thrown backwards and grab for the reins for support. The net effect would be that you would jerk on the horse's mouth to keep from losing your balance. If you are well balanced, you can easily follow the horse's change in movement.
You can gain even more stability if you rotate your hips forward so that more of your inner thigh rests against the side of your horse. This gives you greater contact without having to grip with your knees. Using the analogy of the dance, you may think of this as a gentle embrace rather than a confining grip. A dance partner finds a gentle embrace reassuring while a tight grip is restricting.
Stiffness in riding, just like stiffness in dancing, leads to restricted and awkward movement. A balanced relaxation allows free and fluid movement. Therefore, you should think of balancing the bones of your spine atop one another rather than holding yourself upright. The difference is in the muscular effort necessary to achieve the goal.
It is important to develop a proper seat. This is discussed further in the sections on the various gaits.
(Top)