Sitting Deep

[Chris]

What is meant by sitting deep? How do you sit deep in the saddle? Is sitting deep like putting more weight on your seat bones?

[Heather]

There are many misinterpretations of 'sitting deep'. It does not mean sitting more heavily, although unfortunately that is the usual misinterpretation. We want the horse to lift his back under us, not sink like a hammock, which is when much damage is done to his ligaments, and why so many old horses end up with sunken, dipped backs.

Sitting deeply, means spreading your weight around as large a surface area of th horse as possible. I.e, you wrap the lower leg around the horse's sides, so that. as the German's say it 'clings like a wet cloth, without gripping'. Now to be able to do this, takes strong calf muscles, not to be able to grip, but to have the necessary control of the lower leg to allow it to drape around the horse.
When the lower leg is draped in this way, it lightens the seat in the saddle, without losing contact with the seat, and makes it so much easier for the horse to carry you. No horse was designed to carry a rider. If you were a horse, which would you prefer, someone dropping their ten, eleven, twelve, perhaps fourteen or fifteen stone down in the middle of your sensitive back, or someone that endeavoured to be responsible for their own weight? I know which I would prefer!

I know some heavier riders who actually sit much more lightly than riders who are several stones less, but plonk their weight down on the back of the horse, usually because some instructor has told them to.

Wrapping the leg around s only part of sitting deeply. Being able to synchronise the movements of your lower back and pelvis exactly with those of the horse so that you move as one unit, is the other very important thing which is never taught. 'Sit deeper' 'relax your lower back' 'go with the movement' is all that you are told. This means nothing to a novice rider. I am just about to write some more pages for New Rider, which will cover this very topic, watch this space!

Heather