deepening my seat

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Benji1

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Can anyone help me? please!

I've just got back into riding again after not doing much for a year and whilst my seat is good enough for walk, trot and canter, I do often feel it could be deeper. I am only hacking at the moment (making the most of the weather!) could anyone give me any ideas to deepen my seat whilst out hacking?

lots of chocolate/sweeties for you all
 
best way of all is to have lunge lessons where you can relax and think only of your position and not worry about the horse

there are lots of exercises you can do which I would use in a lunge lesson - not sure if you can do them out hacking...... can let you have some if you want to try though!

one of the best things for increasing security in the saddle is hours spent in the saddle - look at cowboys! Hacking is a good thing in that respect - as long as your saddle is comfortable enough!
 
If you could give me ideas that'd be fantastic :)

I've managed to clock up around 12 hours in almost as many days.. woops! :D
 
Take your legs away from the saddle, this will open your hips and start allowing your seat to deepen - you can take them away for a couple of seconds and then replace, building up the time you can manage (careful, you may get cramp!). Also the obvious riding without stirrups, but you must ensure you are not gripping on with your legs - I always ride with no stirrups for the first 5 mins and the last on a hack, concentrating on letting the weight drop down my legs naturally :)
 
thanks for the advice :) Never heard of the 'taking legs away from saddle' thing.. care to explain a little more?

I used to do a lot of riding without stirrups so will definately try that
 
Literally lift both legs away from the saddle, with or without stirrups - don't lift them up but out and away from the saddle, opening the hips. It may hurt ;) but open, fluid hips are very important for a good, deep seat.
 
thanks for explaining that, will definately give it a try - I'm assuming it's done in walk?

I'm hopefully back in the saddle on Tuesday so will let you know how much I hurt after!
 
I would try it at a standstill first LOL! First time I did it I got hideous cramp immediately, but now I find it much easier, although if I don't keep at it I go back to cramping, but I have a knackered pelvis anyway!
 
I'll give it a try in standstill first then :)

Gah, I used to be a confident rider but I'm feeling novicey these days, no doubt that'll change in time aswell :)
 
:) indeed, although I'm surprised I'm not ridiculously sore now, maybe my muscles haven't changed as much as I thought they had.

Is sitting trot a good idea for deepening the seat? I'm fairly comfortable doing sitting trot with or without stirrups
 
depending on where you live have you thought about looking up classical dressage riders who run horse simulator courses? there is heather moffett in devon, and also felicity mann (? correct surname?) not so further down in devon - that's just people i would recommend but i'm sure there are loads more out there.

the term "deepending your seat" to me implies heaviness, leaning back and "driving" whereas all that is basically needed is to relax and allow the action of the horse's pelvis to move your hips in sync with them and retain a still/upright tummy posture.

horse simulator courses are really worth every penny and you get so much out of them and can just concentrate on your posture and any problems you may have without having to worry about a horse as well - you can then put your theory into practice on your own horse.

hope this helps :)
 
I'm in North London :) So Devons a bit of a trek & I'm not on about the riding kind! Does sound like a good idea though.

Sadly, I no longer have my own horse but I'm sure the stables I ride at wouldn't mind me putting theory into practice
 
i'm sure there are loads of places, especially as you are london area - try googling "horse simulator courses".

another (cheaper!) method of "horse simulating" is to buy a peanut shaped exercise ball (think you can get them on the holland and barrett website for about £8-£12) and you wedged it in between two sturdy chairs.

get on board and sit in the middle of the ball (in the dipped part of the "peanut") and start riding lol!

think of the walk pace a small/gentle forwards movement with each hip - so, left hip forward, right hip forward, left hip forward, etc.

sitting trot would be slightly faster and a motion of left hip rise, right hip rise (in turn the left hips drops), left hip rise etc. All the while keeping an upright/tucked in tummy posture.

it's great exercise as well actually - just be sure to draw your living room curtains lol :)
 
haha! Yes, thats not something I'd want my neighbours to see, particularly as theres two boys living opposite, one aged 12 the other 15, so a 20 year old female doing that, would no doubt be of great interest!

Will definately look into that one aswell!
 
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