Riding with a 'Light' seat

3Beasties

3Beasties

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Are some people just naturally lighter in their seat then others or is it something you can work on and improve yourself?

Just looked at a video of me riding taken yesterday and I look blinking awful, in trot I rise to high and then look like I'm bouncing back into the saddle (although it doesn't feel like it as I would have sorted it sooner if it had). I also seem to have some sort of puppet action going on, I rise and so do my hands :o

I have stupidly long legs and do tend to ride quite short so I'm thinking this may have something to do with it, maybe I'm out of balance!?

So is there anything I can do to ride 'lighter'? I did think no stirrups might be a good starting point but I will probably be bounced clean out of the saddle so am open to any other suggestions first!


(Disclaimer - Will start having lesson again by the end of this month but would like to start ironing this issue out now if possible!)
 
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it sounds as if you're out of balance, prob from riding too short for too long a time... this tends to create a 'chair seat'. i'd mix up riding long with short, and also work on your two-point seat as much as you can, strengthening up your back muscles and your quads to help.
the rise/hands things is just about having loose elbows, think of them being heavy, hanging by your sides and opening and closing slightly, and of your hands belonging to the horse as soon as you take up a contact, that usually works ime.
it's weird how the camera highlights things that don't necessarily look terrible to the naked eye though.
 
Thanks Slinky, will have a look at the book :)

Kerilli, a chair seat is exactly what I have :o :o Think it's possibly worse at the moment as the beast has been coming back into work so just doing lots of hacking until recently and I tend to ride shorter when I hack! Will give your ideas a try, thanks :)

This is the length I schooled at yesterday, do you think I need to go longer?
CIMG2038.jpg
 
that looks pretty good tbh, or maybe 1 hole too short. doing your 10 mins of walk warm-up without stirrups (if horse is sane) then taking your stirrups back should make you want your stirrups much longer...
the pic above, i know it's just a moment in time so maybe be misleading, but i'd like to see your knee looser (no grip at all) so that your weight can travel down to your heels more... but you may be doing that 99.9% of the time, i know!
 
Good idea about warming up in walk without stirrups, did try trotting without them today but his trot is way to bouncy so I think I'll have to stick to walk or canter :o

You're right about my knees and heels, they do tend to creep up!
 
I'd agree with Kerilli on the knee gripping - I used to do it and it tipped my upper body forwards and my lower leg back. A new saddle (the seat of my old one was too small for my thigh length) and my instructor shouting "frogs legs" at me helped dramatically!! :D
 
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