Exercises to help rider get back on her seat bones?
I've been retired from teaching and training for about 10 years now, and my only "client" is my just-turned 12 year old daughter with her leased show gelding. The horse is extremely sensitive to rider seat and leg position, and I can not get my daughter to consistently sit back on her seat bones. Her legs have gotten stronger and steadier, but she still seems to pitch forward onto her crotch, especially when she gets tense, and when she does this, her legs tip back. The horse requires strong use of legs, and light hands to ride properly, not because he is lazy, but because he is highly trained on leg and seat cues.
In the past, I think I have read some exercises about lifting your legs out away from the horse, and picking up and holding your heel to you hip as a stretch, but a search of YA has not revealed them to me.
I have nagged "sit back, hug him with your legs" at least a million times, but improvement is only minimal, and not consistent. I can not seem to get across the idea of flattening her back with out slumping her upper body, and I can't get too much more specific than this with out attracting unwarranted comments on here :( .She is riding predominately western, and the problem is worse western than hunt seat. I believe good equitation is universal.
Critique, suggest all you want, but rest assured "nasty" comments will be reported.
2012-05-20T12:06:42Z
All the suggestions of no-stirrup work! We haven't done that in years....I took away her stirrups and reins a couple of years ago for an entire summer, but unfortunately, I have the same problem (I blame mine on age and injury), and so without meaning to, she is copying me, she knows its not right.
Prodi Gum, you were right, Zackit had exactly the exercises I was looking for.
zakiit2012-05-20T07:12:16Z
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On the lunge get the rider to quit the stirrups.
She should bring her knees up in front of the saddle - in the UK we call this jockey position! She needs to sit up straight while she is doing this. Not slouch! When she has her knees up like this she will feel her seat bones! Then she needs to take her knees away but up as far apart as she can, remembering to swing her hips and back to keep the horse moving. Then she needs to let her legs hang long and low. Then she should grasp both her ankles and bring her feet up to as near her seat as possible and ride a few circuits like this. This exercise stretches the thigh muscles to lengthen the legs, and also brings the knees back so that when she lets go of her ankles her legs will be in the correct position - straight line from ear, shoulder, hip and heel. And she will still, hopefully be sitting on her seat bones.
A series of short lunge lessons should sort the problem out - it did for me! Practise getting the right position and then transitions up and down without tipping or being thrown back! Also do a lot of exercises with the upper body to help build muscles in her core - abdomen and to generally make her "taller".
When she is warming the horse up in the arena she should do some of these exercises while the horse is walking to get herself back into position and stretch and ease these problems and soon it will be something in the past!
Do take into consideration she might have a slight back and stiffness problem that even she is not aware of it. I had lots of instructors screaming at me and turning the air blue because I could never lift my left shoulder. I failed the second part of my instructors' test but the examiner suggested getting my spine x-rayed and it was discovered that I had a quite pronounced scoliosis and no amount of exercise was going to sort that one out. I took a letter with me to the exam, along with the x-rays and passed next time. I will always bless that examiner who had the sense to realise that perhaps there was something physically wrong! (I also had six crushed vertabrae!)
Is the saddle a good fit for your daughter? Just thinking that the problem is worse with one sort of saddle than the other.
Have you tried videoing your daughter so that you can show her when she is doing it correctly and where the problems are on film? She may 'feel' that she is further back than she really is.
When she is tense is she gripping with her knees too much? If she is then her flexing in her hips will be acted and she will not be able to release them. Suggest no stirrup work on the lunge and off. Work the position consistently in walk first. When correct at walk then go onto trot and then finally onto cantering
Also try bare back riding. Finally having her sit and balance on one of those large inflatable exercise balls will help. If she sits incorrectly she will tip off!
Hi Burdfour, Here's to hoping Zakiit might put in some good advice.
I tell you what... When I was a freshman at riding, my legs would be all over the place. I never had only one position problem. I had very many. And of course my leg position would interfere with my seat, and vice versa.
My instructor would have me stand in the saddle at the walk. Not in a 2 point, mind you, but to stand so that I would find my balance and when I could stand indefinitely, I would lower myself into the saddle and hold that position - which turned out to be a very balanced and correct position. The thing is, when one has the correct position sitting in the saddle, it is very easy to hoist one's self up and be balanced. And, of course, vice versa.
And this little exercise helped me a great deal. I could eventually do it at a trot and at a canter (though cantering was incredibly hard and should not be attempted until one can do it without fault at the trot and walk).
So that is my two cents. And I certainly hope that if you try it, it brings positive results at it has done with myself.
ETA: I should also add that I would copy the position of an idol of mine. I would try to think, act and ride like her. And I still do. You could always request that she tighten her abdominal muscles. Try it and notice the effect it has even when you're sitting on a chair.
Perhaps she should work consistently on her position at the walk until you feel she has pretty much 'got it'. When I first rode, and I had all those positioning problems, putting me into a rising trot would throw me right off, and so I would generally do more sitting trot which helped with my hip flexibility while giving me the 'freedom', you could say, to keep my position in check.
And I would alternate between standing and sitting in the saddle.
I'd rather visit my horses then my boyfriend2012-05-20T06:48:45Z
My mother is getting back into riding as well, and she has that problem where she is constantly pushing herself forward and not keeping her heels down.
It seems like her muscles just won't stretch into the correct positions. When shes on the horse, don't let her have stirrups so she HAS to feel the horse. Do a lot of lunging work so she can find herself on the horse and you don't have to worry about him taking off on the wrong cues.
At home, tell her to do a bunch of squats; this will help her build the leg muscles she needs and to get her balance correct if she does them right, and it will get her abs to shape up along with her lower back muscles, because that is seemingly where the problem is. Another big problem most people have is keeping their heels down, and I think if she gets that then her posture and riding will improve dramatically. Ask her to do hamstring stretches at home; such as grabbing your foot and slowly pulling it back so she can stretch it out. This is what I did and now my heels just go down naturally. If her ankles and hamstrings are not flexible, correct position just will not happen.
Sometimes it can't all be when she's in the saddle; she has to do work on her own at home because lets be honest; Horseback riding is A LOT of exercise, so she may have to do a bit of homework to keep herself in shape for riding.