Mastering the Basics: The Seat Part 1-Position

One of the biggest focuses and challenges in riding is the seat. The principle sounds so simple, but the practice can be anything but. But what is the correct seat? Why is the seat what it is? How do we use it once we attain the position? This part is going to focus on the position and why, and in a later part we will discuss the use of the seat

Position

Many riders have seen diagrams of the different seat alignments. Ear-shoulder-hip-heel, elbow-hand-bit, and side to side balance. This is considered proper alignment of the seat, but there are other layers to this. One of the most important is the alignment of the pelvis. We want the spine to be in a neutral position, which means the pelvis should be neutral as well. It’s relatively easy to see this, as we can see whether the front of the pelvis is upright, tilted forward, or tilted back, but it can be tricky to feel this. Men and women tend to feel this alignment a little differently, but even different individuals within the sexes will feel it differently. The Old Masters talked a lot about the triangle of the seat, but their definitions of that triangle vary. For me, I can feel even weight on my sitz bones and pubic bone. I know women who have a higher pubic bone and tend to feel less pressure there. Men tend to have a higher pubic bone and a longer tailbone, so they tend to feel more even weight in each sitz bone and in the tailbone. Some men tend to have a lower pubic bone, so they may feel more weight there. Since there’s so much variation, to it’s important to look in a mirror (or to make a diamond from your hands and place it over the front of your pelvis and look, though this will earn you some strange looks if someone doesn’t know what you’re doing!). If you find you struggle to maintain your position, it’s worth making sure your saddle is properly balanced, and if it is, you may have to add a seat cover with shims to help make up for the design. If you can afford to, it’s worth buying a saddle that fits both you and your horse so you don’t have to fight the saddle.

From the pelvis, the rest of the seat should fairly easily find where it needs to go. From the low back, the vertebrae stack on each other up to the head. Remember, the spine makes a natural S shape, and we want the areas where the curves connect to be vertically aligned (hence the ear-shoulder-hip alignment). However, that alignment can be thrown off if the shoulder blades are spread too far apart, making the shoulders collapse forward toward the chest. Therefore, the shoulder blades need to be flatter against the upper back and not winging out to ensure the alignment is good (but not so tight that the back arches, which you can figure out by seeing if the pelvis comes out of alignment). The head should sit on top of this stacked spine, and one way to tell if your head is too far forward or back is to make an “L” with your hand and place your thumb in the notch between your collarbones. If your chin goes past it, your head is too far forward; if it doesn’t quite reach it, your head is too far back. This also helps figure out how the head should tilt. Many riders’ eyes get drawn to their hands, which can really throw off your balance. The “L” trick helps with that, but I also tell students to keep their eyes on the horizon.

From the pelvis down, the leg should lie flat against the horse, heavy but relaxed. The kneecaps and toes should point forward as much as possible, turned in from the hip and not from the ankle or knee. However, many women have hips that do not allow for perfectly forward toes, and that’s okay as long as the entire thigh and knee can make contact with the saddle. The stirrups should be long enough to allow the leg to hang but not so long that the rider has to reach for the stirrups. You may even go one hole shorter than you’d think, as this can help prevent the hips from getting locked into their lengthened position. Within the stirrups, the foot should stay level, weight going down the middle two toes. This helps keep the pressure off the ankles and keep the leg more stable. The ankles should be relaxed enough that the heels can softly swing down and back to neutral, which is just slightly below the stirrup.

The upper arm should hang from the shoulder in a straight line, elbows brushing the waist. However, not everyone has a long upper arm, and that’s okay! Everyone has a different body, so a lot of the alignment details will look different from rider to rider. The forearm should make a straight line from the elbow to the bit, and the hands should be parallel to the horse’s shoulder blades. A lot of people try for perfectly upright hands for fear of having the dreaded “piano hands” or “puppy paws,” but this can introduce tension and make it hard to hold a whip. The wrist should softly curve inward a little so that the rider has room to “give” by allowing the wrist to go straight. If the wrists turn out, this adds a lot of pressure and tension in the wrists and forearm and does not allow for easy “giving.”

All of this is attained not through bracing and holding the seat but through careful gymnastics to release and stretch tight muscles and strengthen postural muscles. This position should be relatively easy to maintain throughout the gaits once the body figures out its balance and suppleness, and if it isn’t relatively easy, chances are there’s a compensation somewhere (tight hips, arching back, braced ankles, etc.). The best way to develop a seat is through longe lessons or even lessons on a dummy horse (like an Equicizer or vaulting barrel). When you’re riding on your own, it’s too hard to concentrate on both riding and on fixing your seat to be able to make corrections efficiently and effectively. That’s not to say it’s not possible; it absolutely is possible to fix your seat while just riding, but it will take a lot longer.

So why is it important?

Proper seat alignment is important for more than just looks. Just like good posture, proper seat alignment reduces the amount of stress on the horse’s back and on the rider’s joints. It also gives the rider freedom to move in the saddle in a way that helps the horse understand what is happening and be able to accomplish it. When the alignment is off, the horse’s and rider’s job is that much harder to maintain balance. For riders and horses with injuries or physical limitations, a correct seat is absolutely necessary to keep both comfortable and functional.

No two riders have the same appearance in their seat because no two riders are the same. Many things will be similar, but some riders have a slightly different position than others due to their conformation. They are still using the same muscles, but some may have toes that point a little out, and others may have a wider elbow set. Others have scoliosis, resulting in a slight crookedness or rounded back. If the rider is still effective and balanced, it’s okay if they don’t quite look perfect. The function is the important part of the alignment of the seat, not the appearance. A functional seat that allows the horse to move freely while allowing the rider to stay soft and balanced will always look prettier than a tense seat forced into a posture that throws off the horse’s balance.

If you have your basic position and balance formed, what I often refer to as your “neutral position,” using your seat becomes much easier. You always have a place to come back to and to “reset” once this foundation is established, which makes for a much softer and more enjoyable ride.

Absorbing Movement

One of the more challenging parts of riding is “moving to be still.” We have to allow our bodies to move in order to absorb the horse’s movements and to therefore appear still, much as a sailor who is standing on the deck of a ship while drinking a cup of water. If he is rigid, the water will spill, but if he flows with the boat, he’ll successfully get his drink.

So where should the motion be absorbed? This is frequently debated, but if you look at the anatomy, the answers start to become clearer. The hips are made to move. I’m not talking about the pelvis like in belly dancing, but the actual ball and socket joint from the leg into the pelvis. Ball and socket joints are made to move quite a lot and to be very stable as they do so. So, it is reasonable that most of the motion should be absorbed in the hip itself by letting the leg “breathe” and move on the horse. Of course, hip muscles tend to be the tightest muscles in a person’s body, especially if they have desk jobs or drive a lot, so they require a lot of training to help them let go and stretch. They don’t have to be gymnast flexible; just flexible within the natural range of motion of the joint (and this is a whole discussion for another day). I often tell people to have 60-70% of the motion absorbed by the hip.

A lot of people say the low back needs to be loose. No doubt! This helps to keep the pelvis in neutral. However, if you look at the anatomy, the back is made up of thick, pillar-shaped bones that sit on top of each other with a cushion in between. Pillars aren’t meant to sway a lot. Our backs can sway somewhat, but they’re not meant to take up a lot of that motion. If they do, it tends to wear them out. So, the back should take maybe 20-30% of the motion, more at the base and less at the top. Remember, it is entirely possible to ride in a corset comfortably! The armor of the knights were about as restrictive as one (corsets actually were inspired by that original gear, but that’s another story), and they had to be good riders to fight and ride simultaneously. Therefore, the back needs to be supple to avoid throwing the pelvis off, but it doesn’t have to move a ton.

Now what about that last percentage? Believe it or not, the ankles! The Old Masters used to say one couldn’t be a good rider with tight wrists and tight ankles. While that’s a bit harsh sounding, there’s truth to it. Ankles help to allow the rest of the energy from the horse’s movements to flow out and down. It is incredible the difference it makes having loose ankles, and I mean LOOSE. If you watch the riders from the SRS, you’ll see their heels dip way down as they sit the trot. This is not forced; it is pure suppleness. It is amazing to feel how supple the seat feels and how easy it feels to sit various horses’ gaits when you get that suppleness unlocked.

Now, while I’m talking a lot about how good balance and good movement absorption makes things feel easy, remember: it’s still not as easy as sitting on the sofa. You will still feel effort, but it won’t feel nearly as exhausting, and your muscles won’t be nearly as sore as they would be if you were tense or out of balance. Many riders find themselves exhausted after one or two laps around the arena at the trot in the beginning, but once they find their seat, they can suddenly trot for a mile without feeling very tired at all. The muscles still have to work, but it’s mainly postural muscles that don’t take nearly as much energy as the big ones to do their job. This makes for a much more enjoyable experience than it would be if you were having to “muscle” your way through the ride all the time.

In Summary

Good alignment allows for the most efficient and effective way of balancing while riding. It is a matter of letting physics work for you instead of you trying to work against physics. Once you have this alignment, you can allow for enough suppleness in certain areas to allow your seat to absorb the movements of the horse and therefore feel and appear quite still. When you have these pieces in place, it makes for using the seat and riding overall much more enjoyable.

Stay tuned for Part 2, which will address the aids!

-Emily Wright