SEAT AND AIDS OF THE RIDER

Sally and Query

This is not going to be a detailed account of how to sit correctly on a horse. Any rider who seriously wants to sit in harmony with a horse should read books and watch videos by experts on the subject and take regular classical riding lessons from a good instructor. I recommend any rider who wants to improve their seat to read the book or preferably look at the DVD "Balance in Movement" by a former instructor of mine - Susanne von Dietze. See also the Links page which shows books which are worth reading.

A rider should be well-balanced and elastic, sitting deep in the centre of the saddle, smoothly absorbing the movement of the horse with his loins and hips. He should have supple thighs and steady legs which are stretched well down. There should be an imaginary straight vertical line from the shoulder, hip to heel. Learning to sit correctly can only add to the overall ability of the rider to train the horse correctly and to "feel" the horse more. Plus, in training horses on the flat I think it is vital to be able to ride with longer stirrups, not only to be able to sit more deeply, but also to be more able to bend the horse's body with the rider's legs.

Without a classical seat, a rider cannot give the correct aids to the horse and the horse will not understand what is being asked of him. Therefore, the horse will not perform to the best of his ability. Without a good seat and aids, the correct training of the horse cannot be carried out.

A rider who does not sit properly and is using incorrect aids simply cannot follow the training scale to improve a horse's paces or suppleness. He can not apply the correct aids to create the right contact or improve the "schwung". He cannot correct crookedness and make a horse straight and he certainly cannot teach a horse collection. The contact with the horse's mouth should be independent from the rider's seat. The hands should be carried steadily close together, with the thumb as the highest point and a straight line from the supple elbow through the hand to the horse's mouth. The elbows should be close to the body. All of these criteria enable the rider to follow the movements of the horse smoothly and freely.