The Misleading Appeal of the “Perfect” Riding Position
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There’s a trend entrenched in the horse world, fueled by vanity and impatience.
Too many riders today strive for a particular aesthetic in their riding. They’re cosmetically emulating the long, dropped leg position of established riders, but they aren’t profiting from the real thing.
While this look is coveted, it’s crucial to understand that achieving the real version of an “educated seat” requires disciplined, installed looseness that leads to softness through the entire base of support – also referred to as “the triangle of the seat.” This softness is the key feature of: (1) the seat’s function as a delivery instrument for the natural aids, and (2) the horse’s forward, straight (disciplined) uphill way-of-going.
Marketing in today’s commercial horse world is worsening the problem. Too many saddlers are fashioning saddle designs that help riders fake it! These saddles have enormous thigh blocks that push the rider’s thighs far rearward – a position that seems to “lengthen the leg” but is actually anti-riding. The design locks riders’ knees in a super-low position that they have not earned. When the lower body is artificially arranged by the saddle, there’s an inadvertent tilting onto the crotch (for which they need the artificial thigh blocks all the more!).
This faulty position is known as the “fork” or “split-seat.” I’m sad to say that this position is so rampant these days that most horsepeople think it looks correct. A truly educated seat results from a rider’s disciplined looseness arranged by a self-carrying horse’s natural movement – the fake version is just a perceived glamorous riding posture. When the rider settles for an image and the “split seat,” the horse is managed only by compression. The spring-action of coxo-femoral articulation in the haunches is never realized or even initiated. In short, all is lost.
*[Re: coxo-femoral articulation. These references cover the underlying mechanics for those interested: SAUMUR 1912 Section 34 & GYM Systematic Training 4(d).]*
The rider’s hip angle does not magically open through willpower, workouts, rubber bands — or from thigh blocks. The hip angle opens naturally as a rider learns to sit correctly in looseness. Then horses go the right way too: loose, straight, forward, uphill. This opening, resting, lowering seat happens naturally as the horses warm up and go forward on their own. The horse’s haunch angles close; ours opens.
Only the combination of correct, loose riding and the horse’s forward-straight way-of-going opens our hip angle!
The only legitimate way for the hip angle to open is through good riding: a combination of the natural weight of the loose limbs of the body finding their resting place, and the horse’s way-of-going. When a horse is carrying itself properly, it moves uphill. This allows the rider’s leg to dangle naturally, creating the aesthetically pleasing position that proves the athletic effort involved. The loose open seat is being CARRIED by the forward uphill horse.
Here’s an illustration: consider the process of a horse starting its training.
At the beginning, the rider’s seat and hip angle may appear one way, or 'closed', when the horse is traveling in a horizontal trajectory – he’s just out of the box.
As the horse begins to collect and engage behind, the dynamics change. The horse’s uphill movement allows the rider, who remains loose under all conditions, to experience a more natural and effective opening of the hip angle. The legs drop. We could really say the horse himself opens the hip angle.
Will you resist the temptation of mimicking this position? Hip angle genuinely opens over time, through the rider’s looseness and the horse’s self-carriage. The transformation occurs as the horse moves from behind to the front, becoming increasingly uphill and causing natural changes in the rider’s position. This is why the masters say that “we sit the horse onto the bit,” and also why they told us that comfortable sitting marks a well-trained horse.
Don’t forget the criteria and function of the rider’s seat: plumbness, looseness, and its role as a delivery instrument of the natural aids. The looser and more plumb the rider is, the better the weight aligns with gravity, resulting in an increased but pure and soft load for the horse to carry. This looseness allows the rider to “drape” over the horse, enhancing the horse’s uphill movement through contact. *(Another great reference for these ideas is GYMNASIUM, pp. 34 & 35, Gustav Steinbrecht.)*
Creating the rider’s seat is a process that requires patience, practice, and an understanding of correct horse movement – which must always be: loose, forward, straight. Settling for an artificial aesthetic is always wrong. Would you like to know more about the “technical open seat”? What about loose, forward, straight horses? How do we make them? How do the angles of these structures affect each other? Have you considered how your seat connects with the horse’s hindquarters?
“Allow time and the going to shape your seat naturally.” — JCF
Here's a video excerpt from Class 108 that illustrates this even more.
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