Not seat bones front bit!

[Skib]

if you're only on your seatbones then again the horse can't lift AND you have concentrated weight on the seatbones

I was taught to ride like this by a classical instructor. I do have weight on my seat bones and through them can feel and influence the movement of the horse's hind legs. Of course there is a third point of balance at the front, plus your legs, especially if you are using stirrups. However one should surely not be riding with the damp bits in ones crotch open. The only time I have been rubbed is in a lesson when I was asked to ride a lot of sitting trot with no stirrups.

 

[Sossigpoker]

I was taught to ride like this by a classical instructor. I do have weight on my seat bones and through them can feel and influence the movement of the horse's hind legs. Of course there is a third point of balance at the front, plus your legs, especially if you are using stirrups. However one should surely not be riding with the damp bits in ones crotch open. The only time I have been rubbed is in a lesson when I was asked to ride a lot of sitting trot with no stirrups.

I used to get a sore , chaffed minkey when I used to tip my pelvis forward and sit on my fanny. Regardless of saddle. Since I've learned to sit better ,.on my arse , as I keep reminding myself ,.I've not had that problem.

 

[MereChristmas]

I used to get a sore , chaffed minkey when I used to tip my pelvis forward and sit on my fanny. Regardless of saddle. Since I've learned to sit better ,.on my arse , as I keep reminding myself ,.I've not had that problem.

I have ridden since I was 10 years old without trouble. Many of the saddles I have used in years past would be condemned now.

I am now over 70. The problems began about 10 years ago.

 

[teapot]

K&M saddles are the spawn of the devil imho

Also, nice to see you posting again!

 

[Skib]

I am now over 70. The problems began about 10 years ago.

This may not be of any comfort. I started proper riding when I was 61 and am now 83. So my riding life has been the period during which you have had problems. I am sorry to hear that.

I dont think I ride well these days, but equally I dont hurt after riding. Because I started so late, people never expected me to ride well.

I currently hack on a share horse in an unremarkable Fieldhouse GP saddle.
But old age does apply limits. I cant ride cobs or wide horses. I dont ride on 2 consecutive days. And if I am sore I use grease or cream.

 

[thefarsideofthefield]

I was taught to ride like this by a classical instructor. I do have weight on my seat bones and through them can feel and influence the movement of the horse's hind legs. Of course there is a third point of balance at the front, plus your legs, especially if you are using stirrups. However one should surely not be riding with the damp bits in ones crotch open. The only time I have been rubbed is in a lesson when I was asked to ride a lot of sitting trot with no stirrups.

Oh lord , we ladies can be so obtuse when we talk about our anatomy lol ! It's not just about seat bones and pelvic bones and tipping forwards ! We are all built differently and some of us ladies are , shall we say , much fleshier/ less ' tidy ' in the crotch area , and some have bits that protrude and thus are highly prone to rubbing . That's what gives that burning sensation when you go for a wee after riding your horse/ bike - your protruding/ dangly bits are rubbed raw ! Pull on some big , thick , really tight , shiny spandex shaper pants and tuck those little fellas away .

Edited to add - if you've no idea what I'm talking about then you're one of the ' tidy ' ones !

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

I’m another who hates K&M saddles.

Me too

 

[ThreeFurs]

Tucking bits, or as I say before a ride 'flaps up'!

I ride a very wide clydie x in his bespoke Black Country dressage saddle with no probs. But previously on my own big wb I used to get rubbing only while trail riding, when there's lots and lots of walking, strangely enough.
I sent away for one of these - you velcro it to knickers and its like a cushion. It helped a bit, but tbh it has sat in its custom storage wallet for about 2 years now.
https://www.jellypantz.com/
the 'no chafe underwear for women who ride' ! x

 

[Julia0803]

I was reading through the first page thinking exactly what you’ve said @ThreeFurs!

It’s too much walking that gets me! Honestly it’s AWFUL. I ended up with blisters/weepy bloody rubs at the front AND back- big blisters either side of bum crack (god knows how!). Thankfully I don’t get the bum blisters any more!

It was horrific when we were doing rehab a few years ago and we’re told 1.5hours of walk every day, no trot, having built up from 20 min increasing 5/10 min per week… then it was continue with at least 1.5hours walking and add 2 min trot, building up 2 min per week to 20 min (often more walk to get to suitable trotting places). I’d have to peel my undies off as they’d stuck to my skin where it was so sore.

We do a lot of long-ish hacks now, but I absolutely have to mix it up with lots of trot, even if we’re having to do a longer stretch of roadwork for example, 10/20 strides of trot every 5/10 min will alleviate it.

Honestly, the first thing I’d do if I won the lottery would be get on the phone to Sbloom! As it is, I can’t afford a new saddle when his current Ideal fits him well and is checked every 3/4months and he’s happy and his back is good.

I know I have an anterior tilt, not just riding but at all times. I am hyper mobile and have problems with my knees, including subluxation. I briefly had physio a few years ago and she pointed out my default is anterior tilt and locking my knees further back than they should be (can’t remember the official term). I’m sure it’s probably connected. I do try and remember to put myself in neutral, but the default, if I don’t concentrate really hard, is to anterior tilt. Standing with a neutral pelvis with neutral knees feels like I’m hunched over.

 

[ester]

Oh lord , we ladies can be so obtuse when we talk about our anatomy lol ! It's not just about seat bones and pelvic bones and tipping forwards ! We are all built differently and some of us ladies are , shall we say , much fleshier/ less ' tidy ' in the crotch area , and some have bits that protrude and thus are highly prone to rubbing . That's what gives that burning sensation when you go for a wee after riding your horse/ bike - your protruding/ dangly bits are rubbed raw ! Pull on some big , thick , really tight , shiny spandex shaper pants and tuck those little fellas away .

Edited to add - if you've no idea what I'm talking about then you're one of the ' tidy ' ones !

Thanks for saying it

 

[planete]

The way some horses move in walk can also make things very hard on the butt. My Arab who could walk as fast as some horses trot was certainly one of them. No way would I survive riding him nowadays.

 

[ThreeFurs]

I was reading through the first page thinking exactly what you’ve said @ThreeFurs!

It’s too much walking that gets me! Honestly it’s AWFUL. I ended up with blisters/weepy bloody rubs at the front AND back- big blisters either side of bum crack (god knows how!). Thankfully I don’t get the bum blisters any more!

It was horrific when we were doing rehab a few years ago and we’re told 1.5hours of walk every day, no trot, having built up from 20 min increasing 5/10 min per week… then it was continue with at least 1.5hours walking and add 2 min trot, building up 2 min per week to 20 min (often more walk to get to suitable trotting places). I’d have to peel my undies off as they’d stuck to my skin where it was so sore.

We do a lot of long-ish hacks now, but I absolutely have to mix it up with lots of trot, even if we’re having to do a longer stretch of roadwork for example, 10/20 strides of trot every 5/10 min will alleviate it.

Honestly, the first thing I’d do if I won the lottery would be get on the phone to Sbloom! As it is, I can’t afford a new saddle when his current Ideal fits him well and is checked every 3/4months and he’s happy and his back is good.

I know I have an anterior tilt, not just riding but at all times. I am hyper mobile and have problems with my knees, including subluxation. I briefly had physio a few years ago and she pointed out my default is anterior tilt and locking my knees further back than they should be (can’t remember the official term). I’m sure it’s probably connected. I do try and remember to put myself in neutral, but the default, if I don’t concentrate really hard, is to anterior tilt. Standing with a neutral pelvis with neutral knees feels like I’m hunched over.

Its the long gentle hacks at walk! My 'bits' cope fine with the standard 50 minute dressage lesson, with lots of sitting trot, lots of collected canter, lateral movements, stuff that involves both rising and sitting trot, and using my seat in canter, all fine. And I train with an emigre, English, rider biomechanics/Wanless trained coach, so its all about the seat, but I never get sore, its just trail riding. That is, for me, the challenge. x

 

[9tails]

Tucking bits, or as I say before a ride 'flaps up'!

LOL! I have no shame about sticking my hand down my riding tights and rearranging if they've been displaced.

You could buy chamois buttr from Amazon (expensive option), or slather on liquid talc from Home Bargains (baby section).

 

[ThreeFurs]

9tails I'm hanging for the vid! but seriously, once you know 'you know'. So to speak. I'm for pre re-arrangement myself, but circumstances can change. x

 

[Alwaysmoretoknow]

OK so I hate cycling as my bits tend to feel and look like roadkill squirrel afterwards as I'm obviously shite at it. But I think you need a good instructor to correct your position to make sure you're sitting correctly and not bouncing around on your mons pubis with possibly a hollow back.

 

[MereChristmas]

………..a good instructor to correct your position to make sure you're sitting correctly and not bouncing around on your mons pubis with possibly a hollow back.

I have ridden since I was 10 years old without trouble. Many of the saddles I have used in years past would be condemned now.

I am now over 70. The problems began about 10 years ago.

I am sure my instructor would have mentioned this by now. They know of my problem.
…….and walk is the worst

 

[sbloom]

It’s only a 17’’ saddle I have always had 17’’5 and I had a really wide highland no issues. He’s a narrow Hispano Arab! So it’s not the width of horse or too long a saddle that’s the issue.

Going to a smaller seat means it can be wider in the seat for the rider, and you're closer to pommel and cantle, and the K&M I notorious for the cantle tipping riders forwards.

I have K & M Original Jump saddle which has been the best I could find. I haven’t found it hard although it isn’t the softest.

I am finding now that the pony is older that it slips forward on steep downhills. Changing to a narrower gullet makes everything far too high above his withers and I feel perched.
Also if I ride for more than an hour or do lots of walking I get sore.

I hadn’t thought of this but you mention canter. My pony canters in a field but struggles to give and maintain canter in a school.
Food for thought and a saddler visit. I think.

Definitely have your fitter out, being too narrow is the most common reason for a saddle running forwards bu there are many forces and factors involved.

I love my K&M saddle. No one saddle will suit everyone - that goes for every make of saddle.

Absolutely true, bit some brands and models cause problems for more riders than other. And others are designed to genuinely fit human pelvises, most aren't. Trees fit horses, then we do our best shaping seats.

I was taught to ride like this by a classical instructor. I do have weight on my seat bones and through them can feel and influence the movement of the horse's hind legs. Of course there is a third point of balance at the front, plus your legs, especially if you are using stirrups. However one should surely not be riding with the damp bits in ones crotch open. The only time I have been rubbed is in a lesson when I was asked to ride a lot of sitting trot with no stirrups.

I hear you, but riding mainly on the seatbones is an approach they ignores how anatomy, biomechanics and physical forces interact. Sylvia Loch has always takes about the three pint seat, it's just that so many riders can sit in it in comfort as saddles wont let them. You're then acknowledging that you have weight on the crotcj and inner thighs, perhaps we're only arguing about degrees. Sitting in a saddle that is actually the shape of your own pelvis can be the only way of convincing, it was for me.

I used to get a sore , chaffed minkey when I used to tip my pelvis forward and sit on my fanny. Regardless of saddle. Since I've learned to sit better ,.on my arse , as I keep reminding myself ,.I've not had that problem.

I was the same in every saddle, literally everyone. Because all were large seat sizes and where I sat was too narrow. I tipped back to avoid the pain. Actively holding the pelvis in a certai position isn't helpful to horse or rider.

Oh lord , we ladies can be so obtuse when we talk about our anatomy lol ! It's not just about seat bones and pelvic bones and tipping forwards ! We are all built differently and some of us ladies are , shall we say , much fleshier/ less ' tidy ' in the crotch area , and some have bits that protrude and thus are highly prone to rubbing . That's what gives that burning sensation when you go for a wee after riding your horse/ bike - your protruding/ dangly bits are rubbed raw ! Pull on some big , thick , really tight , shiny spandex shaper pants and tuck those little fellas away .

Edited to add - if you've no idea what I'm talking about then you're one of the ' tidy ' ones !

Yes, how fleshy we are can vary things, but ultimately a better shaped seat makes more difference than you can imagine. I fit riders who have been in pain, bleeding in many cases, their whole lives with saddles that they can actually sit in without pain. Every rider is different, and they'll need different approaches, but until all those approaches have a fundamental understanding of what I'm talking about here, women will suffer.

Of course men have issues but they're generally easier to solve, and a male rider is generally either comfortable or not from the go get, and they don't bleed that's for sure.

 

[Skib]

Charles Harris makes the point that saddles were designed for the male pelvis. His book Fundamentals of Riding has a diagram illustrating the difference, male and female. But unfortunately I have never understood nor related it to my own back side.
Harris does say that the centre of gravity in a woman rider is (in general) lower than in a man and the seat of a woman is deeper. `

 

[Burnerbee]

I had to give up riding a horse I shared because I tried everything and there was no way the owner would change the saddle (which was a dressage saddle on a very high withered horse). Sometimes you just have to do what’s best for you (and your noony!)

 

[MereChristmas]

Going to a smaller seat means it can be wider in the seat for the rider, and you're closer to pommel and cantle, and the K&M I notorious for the cantle tipping riders forwards.



Definitely have your fitter out, being too narrow is the most common reason for a saddle running forwards bu there are many forces and factors involved.



Absolutely true, bit some brands and models cause problems for more riders than other. And others are designed to genuinely fit human pelvises, most aren't. Trees fit horses, then we do our best shaping seats.



I hear you, but riding mainly on the seatbones is an approach they ignores how anatomy, biomechanics and physical forces interact. Sylvia Loch has always takes about the three pint seat, it's just that so many riders can sit in it in comfort as saddles wont let them. You're then acknowledging that you have weight on the crotcj and inner thighs, perhaps we're only arguing about degrees. Sitting in a saddle that is actually the shape of your own pelvis can be the only way of convincing, it was for me.



I was the same in every saddle, literally everyone. Because all were large seat sizes and where I sat was too narrow. I tipped back to avoid the pain. Actively holding the pelvis in a certai position isn't helpful to horse or rider.



Yes, how fleshy we are can vary things, but ultimately a better shaped seat makes more difference than you can imagine. I fit riders who have been in pain, bleeding in many cases, their whole lives with saddles that they can actually sit in without pain. Every rider is different, and they'll need different approaches, but until all those approaches have a fundamental understanding of what I'm talking about here, women will suffer.

Of course men have issues but they're generally easier to solve, and a male rider is generally either comfortable or not from the go get, and they don't bleed that's for sure.

Thanks @sbloom. Now to find some one I trust. The K & M was fitted by someone who I’m pretty sure going by subsequent visits will recommend the narrower gullet.
If only you were closer!

 

[sbloom]

Thanks @sbloom. Now to find some one I trust. The K & M was fitted by someone who I’m pretty sure going by subsequent visits will recommend the narrower gullet.
If only you were closer!

I do cover a massive area, Google me

 

[sbloom]

Charles Harris makes the point that saddles were designed for the male pelvis. His book Fundamentals of Riding has a diagram illustrating the difference, male and female. But unfortunately I have never understood nor related it to my own back side.
Harris does say that the centre of gravity in a woman rider is (in general) lower than in a man and the seat of a woman is deeper. `

In practice, assessing pelvises as I do, when fitting a saddle there is not much difference between the average male and female pelvises (outlet shape, I let us more different). A way back it was a presumption, now it's marketing.

Yes we can have different centres of gravity and other differences but they're highly variable and mostly observable from the outside.

 

[Skib]

A way back it was a presumption, now it's marketing.

But we RS riders and sharers, never get to choose our saddles. I have had favourites over the years, mostly old because RS's tend to economise and hang on to old fashioned GP saddles. But now I am riding in a modern, Fieldhouse gp saddle. It was explained to me that the mare is ridden by beginners and it is less easy to fall off if one is riding in a shaped saddle. But to be honest, having to ride in what one is given by a RS has proved good preparation for happy riding.

 

[sbloom]

But we RS riders and sharers, never get to choose our saddles. I have had favourites over the years, mostly old because RS's tend to economise and hang on to old fashioned GP saddles. But now I am riding in a modern, Fieldhouse gp saddle. It was explained to me that the mare is ridden by beginners and it is less easy to fall off if one is riding in a shaped saddle. But to be honest, having to ride in what one is given by a RS has proved good preparation for happy riding.

Oh of course, but I like to myth bust for those who are buying saddles...

 

[J&S]

For those of you on shared or RS horses, get yourselves a really nice sheepskin saddle cover, it smooths out the bumps and even though you are a tiny bit off the saddle it can help you sit deeper and with more comfort and confidence.

 

[sbloom]

For those of you on shared or RS horses, get yourselves a really nice sheepskin saddle cover, it smooths out the bumps and even though you are a tiny bit off the saddle it can help you sit deeper and with more comfort and confidence.

If the seat/twist is already too wide for a riders pelvis/hips this can make things worse, a bit like putting a sheepskin under a saddle, sure it gives some cushioning but it can also make the fit worse.

 

[Glitter's fun]

Yep another hurting saddle thread! I can’t change it as I’m just a sharer. Padded pants and Heather moffett making it bearable - just! Going to try a gel acavallo next in the hope it might be slightly better. Cycle shorts made it worse! Barrier cream seems to help for the pain and weeing needles afterwards! Argh.

Sorry, no real advice but I feel for you- disliking the tack is a big problem of sharing. I have the opposite problem. My share's saddle seems to tilt me backwards so I get a sore tail bone if I ride for a long time. ( Better since I started using my own stirrups actually- have you tried that?)
Otherwise, how well is this share working? Is it good enough & likely enough to last, for you to have your own tack for him? If not I'd look at other options if it was me. Life is short, your froo froo is important and the up side of sharing is its temporary nature.

 

[Glitter's fun]

Sylvia Loch has always takes about the three pint seat, it's just that so many riders can sit in it in comfort as saddles wont let them. You're then acknowledging that you have weight on the crotcj and inner thighs, perhaps we're only arguing about degrees. Sitting in a saddle that is actually the shape of your own pelvis can be the only way of convincing, it was for me.

Sorry, that made me smile. Mine's definitely a couple of gallons.

 

[Haniki]

@Goldie's mum I think it is a typo. Sylvia Loch talks about a ‘three point seat’.

 

[MereChristmas]

Sorry, that made me smile. Mine's definitely a couple of gallons.

@Goldie's mum I think it is a typo. Sylvia Loch talks about a ‘three point seat’.

I think that was the point ( oops ) of the post!