Avoid the Dreaded Chair Seat

How many of us hear one of the following things from our trainers on a regular basis? 

• Sit up
• Sit back
• Shoulders back
• Bring your leg farther back

Are we all raising our hands?

Image by Skeeze from Pixabay

I hear most if not all of these things on a regular basis from pretty much every trainer I take lessons with. I also say most of these things to my students on a regular basis. 

You will notice there is a common theme of "back". It's all a variety of ways to say, "get back" regarding specific body parts. 

What if I told you the key to moving all your body parts back into proper position was to move one body part forward?

Beware the Chair Seat

Deanna Corby does a great job of explaining what a chair seat is, and why you should avoid it in this 6 minute video borrowed from her YouTube channel: 

 

But the short of it is, if you are sitting behind the motion of the horse, if your legs are very much in front of your hips, if your lower body looks like we could slide a chair under you instead of the horse and that would work out ok, you may be in a chair seat. 

There are different varieties and severity of chair seat but it is pretty common. Just a quick google search for "hunt seat position" yielded both of these photos near the top:

So chair-like!
From https://englishhorsebackriding.wordpress.com/dressage/

A little better, but still not great...
From https://www.horseforum.com/hunters-hunter-seat-equitation/what-kind-headset-466098/

They have nice straight backs and low heels so at first glance this might seem like great equitation. But the positioning of the heel compared to the hip bones will have a negative impact on balance.

Another variation I see somewhat frequently see riders tipping their upper body forward in order to try to regain balance or a sense of security: 

This is a fairly extreme example
From: https://www.bitsandbytesfarm.com/training_notes/trainingnotes2008/training_notes_121408.htm

See how her heels and her shoulders are both forward?
From: https://www.thesprucepets.com/why-does-my-horse-toss-its-head-1886332 

Sometimes it can feel like your shoulders and heels are different ends of a teeter-totter. And in some ways they are! Maybe you try to pull your heels back under you as your trainer has asked but then you find that your shoulders have crept forward to make it happen. 

Or maybe you are pulling your shoulders back to sit up nice and tall but as you have done so, your legs have now swung forward towards the girth. It may feel like a no-win situation, but I promise there is an answer!

The Aha Moment

 I have been talking to a friend lately about position quite a bit. She expresses frustration with certain parts of her riding, how she has trouble getting her horse to do what she needs.

I identified that her legs are too far forward and it's creating a communication and balance disconnect. But no matter how many times I tell her to bring her legs back, it's been very hard for her to get them there, and even harder to hold it.

It takes time to build new habits and muscle memory, but it just seemed like we weren't making much progress.

I was watching an unrelated dressage lesson when we reached the "aha!" moment. She asked the rider to scoot her butt forward in the saddle. She had been sitting too far to the back of the saddle.

The Solution

It's not a huge motion, but moving your pelvis a few inches forward in the saddle changes everything. It changes the angle of your upper thigh to pelvis, which in turn lets your knees, ankles, and heels all come into place.

Likewise on the upper body, your neck, shoulders, and elbows, are all better positioned to hang in balance. Your abs are more able to be strong and useful, your hands more independent.

I made some sub-par horse drawings below to illustrate:

Common chair seat that I see

Corrected position

Red chair seat. Green correct position overlay. 

I would not necessarily describe myself as a having a chair seat very often, but even if that descriptor doesn't apply to you, next time you ride try scooting forward in the saddle and feel the difference!