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The Seat, The Seat, The Seat Part Two

by Gina G. Krueger

Last month we discussed the three paradoxes of the seat.  They are 1) You must Stand to Sit, 2) You must Walk to Ride, 3) You must Move to be Still.  Now lets look at some specific exercises to promote your ability to employ these three paradoxes. 

You must Stand to Sit.  The longitudinal balance of the rider is critical to his and thus his horses’ performance.  To learn, or improve longitudinal balance the exercise referred to as the Masthead works wonders. 

Stand up in your stirrups in such a way as to place your pubis over the pommel of the saddle.  For those in a Western saddle you won’t be able to go over the horn, but rather just up to it.  Hips in front of the shoulders, lower leg back to center your self.  If you need to hold on to the mane of the horse to get up in to the position that’s fine, but once in position properly it should feel quiet secure and you should not need support from the mane.  To picture the position correctly in your mind think of the scene in the movie Titanic where the heroin and her lover are on the prow of the ship stretched open faced into the wind.   Chin up, chest and hip angle open.  If you need to, stand on your toes in the stirrups, this will help to get your hips up high enough to allow your pelvis to go forward.  First, of course, try this at the stand still.  Then while in the Masthead ask the horse to move on at the walk while you remain in this standing position.  If you should loose your balance be careful not to slam down on your horses’ back.  If you are losing your balance and falling to the rear of the saddle correct your position by moving your feet and lower leg including the knee back towards your horses’ flanks.  If you are losing your balance and falling forward then your feet and legs are too far to the rear.

Now when you are feeling secure at the walk try a few steps at the trot.   Begin by encouraging your horse into the trot while you are already positioned in the Masthead.   When you are able to stay in the Masthead for several strides at the trot without loosing your balance you are ready to go on to the next step.  Now start to alternate between posting trot and the Masthead position at the trot.  Begin with six strides of posting followed by six strides in the masthead position.  If you are unable to perform the exercise correctly at first, don't worry about it, just stay with the count.  Let the repetition of the exercise work for you.  When you are able to do six counts with ease reduce the number to four, then to three and finally to two.  When you are confident with this exercise your longitudinal balance will no longer be problematic in your riding.  You will be able to stay in your correct longitudinal balance with ease, nearly automatically!

The other aspect of the paradox of “You must Stand to Sit” is the lateral balance of the rider.   The Masthead exercise will do a great deal towards correcting any unevenness in the riders’ lateral balance, but it will not completely overcome the problem.  His own as well as his mounts natural sidedness influences the lateral balance of the rider.  We all have one side of our bodies that are more stable as well as one side that is more flexible.  To decipherer your stronger longer side and your shorter more flexible side do this simple exercise.   Think of your self for a moment as a kick boxer.  You will find that you have a preference for either your right of left leg to be your stance leg while the opposite leg is much easier to reach up to kick with.  This type of natural sidedness is also inherent in the horse.  It is the riders responsibility to overcome not only his own, but also his horses sidedness such that he can influence correctly the building of the horses musculature.  

While this aspect of riding is altogether a very complex and intricate subject on its own we are going to address only the basic lateral balance of the rider at this point.    The first exercise is a self- discovery exercise; it is referred to as the Peg Leg exercise.   Walk your horse and take one foot out of the stirrup.  Begin trotting and posting without that stirrup.  Evaluate the ease or lack of ease with which you are posting.  Walk and retake the stirrup on that side.  Now take the other foot out of the stirrup on the other side.  Once again begin trotting and posting without that stirrup and evaluate the ease or lack of ease with which you are posting.  Compare it to the experience you had when posting without the stirrup on the first side.   The degree of difference you feel between the two experiences reflects your degree of crookedness or sidedness.  Many riders when introduced to the Peg Leg exercise are caught by surprise by the vast difference they feel when posting without their left or right stirrup.   The results of this self-discovery exercise outline your goal for correcting your lateral balance as well as assists you in the process. 

A somewhat similar exercise is the Teeter-Totter.  In this exercise you will remain with your feet in the stirrups.   You will simply lighten the contact with one stirrup as you increase the contact on the other stirrup in a specific alternating pattern.  The pattern should be adhered to without fail.   The pattern is as follows; as you rise in the posting trot step into your left stirrup and lighten your right, as you rise with the next stride step into your right stirrup as you lighten the left.  The next two strides step into your left stirrup again and then on the following stride step back into your right.  Now start the pattern over, so it is Left, Right, Left, Left, Right, repeat, Left, Right, Left, Left, Right, etc.  Once you can perform that with ease reverse the patter to Right, Left, Right, Right, Left, repeat.   Now return to the Peg Leg exercise to check your progress.   As you become more centrally balanced laterally the difference that you feel between posting without the right and posting without the left stirrup should decrease considerably.

Next month we will move onto the second paradox “You must Walk to Ride” and discover some exercises to help improve this aspect of your seat.  Until then ……Happy Riding!!!

Copyright Jan. 2002, Garland Farms, Dahlonega Ga.