Chair seat while riding

[E_B]

I have a terrible chair seat on everything I ride and I'd like to know if there's anything I can do to help fix it other than doing no stirrups? My position used to be fine but since I've been riding a small pony I really hike my legs forwards and tend to lean forwards as well. I don't think it's to do with her saddle as I'm like this when I ride other people's horses also. My stirrup length doesn't seem to affect it positively or negatively. It feels like I physically can't bring my leg back far enough to be in a straight line with my hips & shoulders without tipping my pelvis and torso forwards but I feel like this is probably just a lack of fitness?
Any tips on exercises or ways to help with this would be greatly appreciated

 

[ycbm]

How wide is the pony? If the pony is too wide for your hips you will have real difficulty getting HSH alignment unless you ride really short.

The saddle can also affect this a lot.
.

 

[E_B]

She's a bit of a chunk lol but honestly not that wide. She's a 13.1 cobby type. I used to ride much taller and wider before I got her. I still ride taller ones both slim & chunky types and have the same issue but not quite so bad.

 

[Glitter is Fun]

Could you have put weight on, or gained leg muscles, maybe?
Just wondering since you say it's the same on different horses. I know I ride really badly if my legs get fatter!

 

[E_B]

Could you have put weight on, or gained leg muscles, maybe?
Just wondering since you say it's the same on different horses. I know I ride really badly if my legs get fatter!

Lol luckily not, I haven't made any effort to get stronger so probably not that either but can I ask how that would affect this? Nothing's changed that I can see or feel, I've just lost my ability to ride

 

[Glitter is Fun]

can I ask how that would affect this?

Far from an expert but I think chunkier thighs push the rider's whole leg outwards making all the angles wrong. Doesn't sound like it applies to you though.
What age are you, could you have grown taller while still using the old stirrup length? Have you bought new boots? Different stirrups? Thicker leathers? Taken up other unrelated sports or exercise?

Anyway main thing is you have identified there's a problem. Now could you book a session with a good instructor who can look at what you're doing and advise? You probably need to make a very small adjustment somewhere but it's best pointed out by someone irl.


Edited to add, I think @sbloom is good at this sort of thing.

 

[ycbm]

She's a bit of a chunk lol but honestly not that wide. She's a 13.1 cobby type. I used to ride much taller and wider before I got her. I still ride taller ones both slim & chunky types and have the same issue but not quite so bad.

How old are you? It sounds as though your ability to rotate your thigh in the hip socket may be reducing, making it much more difficult to achieve HSH alignment on anything but a really narrow horse.

This happened to me as I got older, only the effect it had was that I maintained the alignment but sat with one hip bone further forward than the other. And ended up with pain in the hips too.

I did find the only solution was to ride a horse that was narrow through my knees, but not necessarily narrow in saddle fit.

Hope that helps.
.

 

[MissMay]

Have you rode a horse who stops in jumping? Mine developed through a combination of riding defensive on babies and hunting

 

[Skib]

I did find the only solution was to ride a horse that was narrow through my knees,

I was an older beginner and I too need to ride a narrow horse. The pic of me on my old share definitely shows a chair seat, though not as bad as pre First World War pics of my grandfather and of his groom on his best horse. I hack with my stirrups long and I like to be comfy. I still ride a share horse so at least she gets ridden correctly the rest of the week.

 

[E_B]

How old are you? It sounds as though your ability to rotate your thigh in the hip socket may be reducing, making it much more difficult to achieve HSH alignment on anything but a really narrow horse.

This happened to me as I got older, only the effect it had was that I maintained the alignment but sat with one hip bone further forward than the other. And ended up with pain in the hips too.

I did find the only solution was to ride a horse that was narrow through my knees, but not necessarily narrow in saddle fit.

Hope that helps.
.

19. I have always had a bit of a funny right hip though and I tend to have more issues while riding on my right side Thank you for your insight!

 

[E_B]

Far from an expert but I think chunkier thighs push the rider's whole leg outwards making all the angles wrong. Doesn't sound like it applies to you though.
What age are you, could you have grown taller while still using the old stirrup length? Have you bought new boots? Different stirrups? Thicker leathers? Taken up other unrelated sports or exercise?

Anyway main thing is you have identified there's a problem. Now could you book a session with a good instructor who can look at what you're doing and advise? You probably need to make a very small adjustment somewhere but it's best pointed out by someone irl.


Edited to add, I think @sbloom is good at this sort of thing.

19, definitely haven't grown but I did get new stiffer boots a while ago I rode like this before I got them but it's possible they've made it worse. I will have a chat to my instructor, thank you for your advice

 

[E_B]

Have you rode a horse who stops in jumping? Mine developed through a combination of riding defensive on babies and hunting

Yes, I do ride quite defensively on this main pony She often spooks and refuses but we mainly do flatwork. I definitely ride behind her movement. I'll have a think about this, thank you!

 

[ycbm]

19. I have always had a bit of a funny right hip though and I tend to have more issues while riding on my right side Thank you for your insight!

Please excuse my insult about aging!

I also rode very lop sided when I was your age. What helped me was video of me riding from the rear, can you get some? That and checking constantly that my hip bones were each sitting side by side in the saddle.
.

 

[E_B]

I was an older beginner and I too need to ride a narrow horse. The pic of me on my old share definitely shows a chair seat, though not as bad as pre First World War pics of my grandfather and of his groom on his best horse. I hack with my stirrups long and I like to be comfy. I still ride a share horse so at least she gets ridden correctly the rest of the we

Oh man I can't ride with long stirrups to save my life lol. I'm starting to think maybe I should try riding something slimmer

 

[E_B]

Please excuse my insult about aging!

I also rode very lop sided when I was your age. What helped me was video of me riding from the rear, can you get some? That and checking constantly that my hip bones were each sitting side by side in the saddle.
.

Lol all good, I think that could be my issue. I've always rotated my pelvis to the left slightly. I've looked back at some and it looks like I'm not putting as much weight into my right seatbone as well as my right side is slightly further forward Last time I rode with an instructor she pointed out my left leg wasn't so bad. Think it's just my poor alignment and lack of flexibility lol but at least that's something I can work on

 

[ycbm]

Lol all good, I think that could be my issue. I've always rotated my pelvis to the left slightly. I've looked back at some and it looks like I'm not putting as much weight into my right seatbone as well as my right side is slightly further forward Last time I rode with an instructor she pointed out my left leg wasn't so bad. Think it's just my poor alignment and lack of flexibility lol but at least that's something I can work on

Balls !

Try and find an instructor with some Franklin balls, riding with those will really open your eyes to what your body is doing.
.

 

[sbloom]

Far from an expert but I think chunkier thighs push the rider's whole leg outwards making all the angles wrong. Doesn't sound like it applies to you though.
What age are you, could you have grown taller while still using the old stirrup length? Have you bought new boots? Different stirrups? Thicker leathers? Taken up other unrelated sports or exercise?

Anyway main thing is you have identified there's a problem. Now could you book a session with a good instructor who can look at what you're doing and advise? You probably need to make a very small adjustment somewhere but it's best pointed out by someone irl.


Edited to add, I think @sbloom is good at this sort of thing.

Hopefully!

Horse-saddle-rider interaction is very complicated. I mean the horse changes shape during your ride, hard to believe but it's true - good riders will make them a different shape to less able riders, but they'll change. And their ribcage shape and pitch will affect how you sit, how the saddle sits on them...hopefully this gives you an idea of how complex it really is!

So, if it's sudden onset, and you're riding the same horses in the same saddles, then it's something that's happened to you - it's much less likely that all the horses changed shape (though all might have put weight on, a wider ribcage pushes the knee forwards more!) and/or all the saddles are out of balance.

Sadly most instructors, and even most saddle fitters, don't have a fundamental understanding of how the rider's pelvis, hip and femur interact with the saddle so asking your instructor may yield very little, or worse, might even take you in the wrong direction. Simply applying more effort usually means more tension, which isn't good. Most saddles at a RS will be generic general purpose saddles, and even if the seat shape and bulk under your leg suits you it's highly likely the stirrup bars are also too far ahead of you and so you're fighting them, but they're seldom the sole cause of a chair seat (and larger saddles often make it worse, in trying to find space for the knee you just sit further back, further behind the stirrup bar).

I would suggest getting help off horse, someone like Equimech who has some free content on Youtube but I'd recommend a 1 to 1 assessment online if you possibly can. It's also important to have bodywork yourself if you are restricted and compensating - a good osteo (ie a highly recommended one) may be the place to look.

 

[E_B]

Hopefully!

Horse-saddle-rider interaction is very complicated. I mean the horse changes shape during your ride, hard to believe but it's true - good riders will make them a different shape to less able riders, but they'll change. And their ribcage shape and pitch will affect how you sit, how the saddle sits on them...hopefully this gives you an idea of how complex it really is!

So, if it's sudden onset, and you're riding the same horses in the same saddles, then it's something that's happened to you - it's much less likely that all the horses changed shape (though all might have put weight on, a wider ribcage pushes the knee forwards more!) and/or all the saddles are out of balance.

Sadly most instructors, and even most saddle fitters, don't have a fundamental understanding of how the rider's pelvis, hip and femur interact with the saddle so asking your instructor may yield very little, or worse, might even take you in the wrong direction. Simply applying more effort usually means more tension, which isn't good. Most saddles at a RS will be generic general purpose saddles, and even if the seat shape and bulk under your leg suits you it's highly likely the stirrup bars are also too far ahead of you and so you're fighting them, but they're seldom the sole cause of a chair seat (and larger saddles often make it worse, in trying to find space for the knee you just sit further back, further behind the stirrup bar).

I would suggest getting help off horse, someone like Equimech who has some free content on Youtube but I'd recommend a 1 to 1 assessment online if you possibly can. It's also important to have bodywork yourself if you are restricted and compensating - a good osteo (ie a highly recommended one) may be the place to look.

Thank you so much for this! Her saddle is definitely quite long for me and I tend to sit further back than normal. On the riding school side I've honestly never had an issue with their saddles so it's probably a me/other horse's saddle problem. I will look into Equimech, sounds like it would be very helpful for me Thank you so much!

 

[sbloom]

Thank you so much for this! Her saddle is definitely quite long for me and I tend to sit further back than normal. On the riding school side I've honestly never had an issue with their saddles so it's probably a me/other horse's saddle problem. I will look into Equimech, sounds like it would be very helpful for me Thank you so much!

I would consider a seat saver like the Thinline one - Lisa of Equimech could help you, and I'd be happy to help - you can pad out behind you (attaching padding to the underside of the seat saver) to help you sit in the right place, but also try adding some padding (foam ideally not too compressible, folded thick fabric or felt for example) to the rear of the skirts, ie fill the space behind the stirrup bar, and see if that helps at all. It might, it certainly can be very helpful for some, essentially making the rear part of the twist wider and making it more comfortable to sit further forwards. Our pelvis sits us where we're most comfortable as if by magic, but often it can sit us WAY out of balance and/or in the wrong place.

 

[Skib]

I too never had trouble with RS saddles. But I was told by a knowledgeable, older RI that that was because most of the RS saddles were old fashioned GP saddles, so more open than modern ones. Years of riding RS and shared horses, i.e. a lot of different horses and saddles, may have changed me into the average rider.

 

[Kunoichi73]

Balls !

Try and find an instructor with some Franklin balls, riding with those will really open your eyes to what your body is doing.
.

This.

If there's one near you, see about having some lessons on a mechanical horse with an instructor who uses balls and bands. I've recently started doing this and my instructor has picked up a number of postural issues and positional imbalances that we are working on correcting.

 

[Widgeon]

I too never had trouble with RS saddles. But I was told by a knowledgeable, older RI that that was because most of the RS saddles were old fashioned GP saddles, so more open than modern ones. Years of riding RS and shared horses, i.e. a lot of different horses and saddles, may have changed me into the average rider.

Yes! I think this is how I used to cope - all the pony saddles were pancake flat and totally straight cut. It was only as I got older and started riding bigger ponies and horses, that I started to find saddles painful.

 

[Exasperated]

How old are you? It sounds as though your ability to rotate your thigh in the hip socket may be reducing, making it much more difficult to achieve HSH alignment on anything but a really narrow horse.

This happened to me as I got older, only the effect it had was that I maintained the alignment but sat with one hip bone further forward than the other. And ended up with pain in the hips too.

I did find the only solution was to ride a horse that was narrow through my knees, but not necessarily narrow in saddle fit.

Hope that helps.
.

This.
Particularly if heading towards needing a hip replacement.
Check against your age (sorry!), your general flexibility / fitness / mobility (sorry again, for any further embarrassment.....)
Altho will say that within a fairly short time, maybe 10 mins, having got yourself astride a wide-ish animal, there is a very good chance your hips will ‘relax’, you can crack on and ride effectively without the pain of gravity pressure from the ground (witnessed / approved by consultant orthopaedic surgeon, who happens to be a horse riding friend).
Getting off again ain’t necessarily so pretty, but at least you and horse both enjoyed yourselves!