The Mystery Of "Use More Seat" When Horse Riding!

How To Use Your Seat Correctly is the Question?

Training a rider to use their seat is not natural! Why?

Why do riders rely on their reins for balance?DSC 0028websize

Your seat is your buttocks and this is not a body part people focus on or use to move or to function. (Except for the obvious).

People don't think or focus on their seat during their daily lives (as a rule). We use our eyes, our hands and our feet mostly for performing our daily tasks. We sit on our seat.

Our eyes give us a target to go to, our feet take us there and our hands then perform a function. Our seat is just a body part. The seat is a follower of movement, not the leader.

So when a rider is asked to "use more seat" what does this mean? If your seat has only been used to sit on then how does it suddenly become a leader of a movement when riding. The default first movement is usually the hands and hence the reins.

To most, it suggests they should wriggle or vibrate or jump around in the saddle.

To some it means to change the direction of weight through your seat bones, to others it is a pelvic tilt and to many, they have no idea!

Riding Instructors use this term all the time "more seat".

DSC 0101websizeHOW ? is the question?

The seat if a follower of movement and not the leader of a movement. The anchor for the seat is the hands unless it is trained otherwise. This leads to an unbalanced horse and rider which then leads to a horse heavy through the front end and possibly a bridle lameness.

However, you can train it to become the leader and learn HOW to use more seat in the saddle.

The HOW is what riders want to know. It is not an isolated answer or a matter of a few exercises. Like all new skills, it takes an understanding, time and training.

Rider Biomechanics has become popular but many "experts" do not fully understand "Human Movement".

We all have habits, age-related changes, muscle imbalances and scars that affect our body. These do not go away when we ride. The knowledge of clinical reasoning is the missing knowledge of so many rider experts.

The existing body problems riders have needs assessing and dealing with long before a rider can "use more seat".

A rider with a painful, stiff lower back or weak hip muscle will try anything to get their seat to move? This creates more problems, and many are then transferred to the horse. An injury may have created a muscle inhibition resulting in a muscle not firing off when needed.

The core group is the chief to all stability and without it, you cannot use any of your leading points efficiently in or out of the saddle. Your hands (reins) will be used for balance, mostly you will tip forward and your lower leg will swing around. Sound familiar?14934490 horsewoman in uniform at a jumping show

To change HOW you ride is a matter of working through the steps.

Once your core is trained to be used on demand you can then train your lower leg to be solid and stable. This skill will allow you to use your hands and feet for effective reproducible aids. Once you have established this you can then train your seat to follow and become your primary tool for riding.

Pilates will not teach you this. Why? Pilates is a lifestyle routine for strengthening your core in "neutral spine" horse riding requires so much more of your core than sit to stand ect. Riding requires "active flexibility" through the pelvis and spine. The pelvis does not remain neutral!

Applied Posture RidingAnnette WillsonTraining Riders To RideRiding With Your Core 1

Think beyond your instructor, beyond your Pilates Class and beyond your own Physio, each has knowledge of what they do. Do they have knowledge of what you do?

If you want to change the way you ride and the way you train your horse then have a look at my way of training. 

Applied Posture Riding Program.

Contact me with any Questions, I can start your new way of thinking and training now.

Look Good Feel Good Ride Well.