How do I sit more on my seatbones?

jaynesmith

New Member
Dec 13, 2005
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Worcester
I have realised that I have a really bad habit of sitting on my pubic bone when I ride, I know that this is not right as I am unbalanced and then tip forward, therefore putting the horse on his forehand.

How do I stop this habit? what am I doing wrong please help, I was taught to ride when everyone was taught to grip with knees, I dont think I do this, any tips of how to stay on my seatbones please!!!!!
 
Hi,
I know how you feel-I went from years of hunter/jumper to dressage (and now that I have the dressage seat I am going to a jumping camp for a week:p)

The best metaphor that I have heard from it, is to imagine that you are sitting on your jean pockets.Sit up straight, but do not arch your back. Your back might even feel a little bit roached. But just sit back on those pockets!:D
 
Had a lesson on Wed and my sitting trot was best ever - still not brill tho. My RI said to try and push my pelvis forward, feels odd but pushes you back.

When you feel like you are leaning back too far you are probably in the correct position, with a straight back. Try and let the horse dictate your movement rather than worrying too much about your position. Relax and you'll find your seat bones. I'm always getting told off about concentrating too hard on my position so that i stiffen up and my position is worse!

Hope that helps - still a newbie really so just my opinion. Good luck
 
I have this problem too... always had it.

I just have to remind myself every so often to tilt my pelvis. Also (think I said this somewhere else too!) as a start point, if you sit in the saddle (horse at halt) and draw your knees up to jockey position, find your seat bones and sit on them, relax into it, then let your knees drop back down and keep sitting on your seat bones. I find that helps, also helps me to sit straight as I can really feel my seat bones so can put even weight on both of them.
 
I always got told:

~sit in the saddle
~take your feet out of the stirrups.
(possibly worth having someone to hold your horse whilst you do this!)
~ put your legs over the front of the saddle
~so they are hooked over the knee roll
~this should make you slide on your bum slightly
~put your legs back under you, but don't change how you are sitting
~you should know be sitting on your seat bones.

Its really difficult to explain...and even harder to keep once you have it! I often find that every 10mins I have to stop and readjust my position! I promise once it "clicks" though then you're ok.
 
I have the same problem.

My instructor gets me to sit in the saddle with my legs over the front of my saddle (like feel almost up my mare's neck).

This gets your bottom in the correct position.

Then gentle slide your legs back and into your stirrups but keep your bum in the right place.

That gets you sat in the right position, but staying there is something else :p
 
Rarah...I think you just explained exactly what I was trying to get across, far more clearly and in half the amount of words :D
 
I have the same problem.

My instructor gets me to sit in the saddle with my legs over the front of my saddle (like feel almost up my mare's neck).

This gets your bottom in the correct position.

Then gentle slide your legs back and into your stirrups but keep your bum in the right place.

That gets you sat in the right position, but staying there is something else :p

That's exactly how mine got me to do it. It's then a case of only focussing on that until that feeling becomes the norm and you don't have to think about it any longer and can move onto the next area of improvement :)
 
thing is, there is a second question here which is about how you maintain that position once moving ?

You can use mental "directions" and images (such as sitting on your pockets). Are you just tipping forward or are you curling up as well ? If so, you might find thinking if having a smiley face, or a sun, on your chest that needs to see (or be shone) in the direction you are going will help open up your chest, which in turn will sit you more in balance.

But you also need to think about why it might be happening ? Often people go forward because they are tense - if thats you, try some slow deep full breathing. Check you are not gripping with your legs. And a further question - how good are your abs ? core muscle strength ? sometimes people fall forward simply because they don't have the tone to support themseves ... so some work on core strength would probably help as well ?
 
Sitting on your seat bones is simply sitting.
Like on a chair.
And some schools of thought recommend using the pubic bone as the third point of balance. So not a grave error.
But my teacher uses the base of the spine - not to take a lot of weight, but just as the third point to steady you.
I'd approach it an indirect way. Like asking, what is the point of feeling one's seat (bones) at all when riding?
First, to feel the movement of the horse's hind legs under you. If you think about feeling for the dip and rise of each seat bone in turn? i.e. sensing the movement of the horse, That is more constructive (my view) than just thinking of how you are sitting.
Once you can feel the movement of the horse walking (or trotting) the next thing is to check that you can feel it equally through both seat bones. That ensures that you are sitting straight and balanced on the horse. If it doesn't feel even, adjust the way you are sitting to get your weight even.

Once you get into the habit of riding with your weight on your seat and feeling the horse through your seat, allowing your seat to move with the horse, that should sort out the question of how you are sitting.
 
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My instructor takes away my stirrups and we do lots of sitting trot....

Can be painful if you don't sit on your seat bones.....

Mind you, I had very sore bum cheeks after an entire 45 minute lesson without stirrups.... There are some undies that just don't work with joddies !!!
 
have someone hold your horse (in halt) and lean back bringing your legs up and click your heels together right behind the horse's head... no... i'm not joking... thats what my RI got us to do at one point to get us sitting back a bit :eek:
the image of sitting on your pockets is a really useful one IMO but it doesn't work for everyone. doing the "jockey" position really gets you sitting in the correct place and can be done with one leg at a time, or both legs at the same time. once you are happy doing this you can do it in walk and when you are really happy about where the legs are going (ie... knees together if both legs were to be up or are up) then you can do the "cycling" to get a feel for the horse under you and you should find a rhythm that matches your horse (you'll probably find it subconciously like when more than one person crosses a swing bridge... they all end up walking in time with each other) so you have one knee come up and then it goes down as the second knee comes up. it looks like you are trying to cycle and feels weird but you have to sit up and it gets your seat moving so you can't be too stiff.
 
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