Insecure seat exercises

[Pink Gorilla]

Hi. My daughter, although a neat rider is having problems with an insecure seat. She only really rides riding school horses, as her loan horse has retired and my 2 young horses are too green and sensitive for a novice. Anyway since the riding school was closed for a long time due to covid I’ve noticed she’s much less secure in the saddle these days. All it take is for the horse to trip badly, or take a long stride at a jump and she’s straight off over the front. Are there any exercises she can do just at a steady pace on my youngster that will help her? I don’t want her cantering or jumping him, but she will be fine in trot.

 

[millitiger]

A great one I find is to rise for 2 beats and sit for 1 beat, instead of up down up down, making sure your landing is controlled and light and in the middle of the saddle.
I do this out hacking and it's amazing how much more thigh burn you get and awareness to keep your weight back and controlled.
Really helps me feel more secure then when jumping.

 

[YorksG]

Lots of work without stirrups, including rising trot without them.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Even walking without stirrups will help, especially if you provide cones for bending and poles to walk over and any other obstacles that you can think of, which will require adjustment of position/balance.

 

[Trinket12]

Getting used to actively engaging her core so she can feel it. With my students I ask them to imagine a string from their belly button through to their back and someone is pulling it, so they’re engaging core but not holding their breath.

Another good one is walk and halt with no stirrups, or sitting trot on the lunge and halt transitions.

Standing straight up in stirrups in walk (also do in trot, so a goal to work towards) is one my coach does with me a lot as well as halting using my core and legs and not reins.

 

[sbloom]

Off horse work would benefit her - Rider Reboot, Activate Your Seat - as well as a ridden biomechanics coach. There are so many reasons she might be insecure in her seat it's hard to recommend what might work. Clearly she's ridden a range of horses in a range of saddles but the current saddle may be part of the issue, rider fit is much more involved than perhaps we ever realised. It's not a cure, but the right saddle gives the best base of support to that rider's individual pelvic shape, to help them work on being the best rider they can, without so much effort.