Sitting comfortably

[Ruftys mum]

This might sound a bit odd but does anyone have any experience of not being able to sit comfortably on their horse. I permanently feel like I have one leg longer than the other and I can't sit straight. Currently saddle hunting and everything feels uncomfortable, I have a long thigh and find blocky saddles make me feel stuck but when I ride in a saddle that's has smaller blocks and a more open seat I've had comments that maybe my legs need more support as they move constantly. Feel like a sack of potatoes to be honest! Can a saddle make that much difference? I also get pins and needles and numbness in my toes if I'm hacking for more than about half an hour (particularlywhen just walking).

I've got no previous injuries etc so no reason to be really wonky. Have a desk job and spend a lot of time sat at a screen or in the car. The Horse is quite wide but not excessively so (wb x) and built slightly downhill. Ridden for over 20 years and feel like I am getting worse not better.

Anyone had any light bulb moments with how to sit properly or saddles for people with v long thighs (although I appreciate ask 100 people you'll get 100 options!).

I had these problems for many years ,sitting lobsided and having pain going down my leg. After an X Ray I found I had severe hip arthritis. I have just had a replacement and already a huge difference in mobility. I should have had it done years ago. Desperate to ride again

 

[Orangehorse]

One year Your Horse Live had some saddle/rider fitting demos, and I watched some people sit on the saddles and was frankly horrified to see how they were twisted, sitting on one side, etc. Do I do that?

Of course it is a combination of rider, saddle AND horse.

 

[sbloom]

One year Your Horse Live had some saddle/rider fitting demos, and I watched some people sit on the saddles and was frankly horrified to see how they were twisted, sitting on one side, etc. Do I do that?

Of course it is a combination of rider, saddle AND horse.

Can you remember who did it out of interest?

 

[ThreeFurs]

Thank you for helping me feel less neurotic. I've had a Wow dressage saddle for nearly 11 years, its been on three different horses I've owned [so tick for adaptability], and they'ved loved it, but I have NEVER felt right in it. I always feel like I'm 'climbing' up towards the pommel. There's only one Wow fitter where I live and I've told her time and time again its NQR. She just used to jack it up in the two back panels with air.

Finally I got a guy out for horse #3 who I was trying to fit an 2nd hand Otto Schumacher to, and that didn't work but he checked my Wow and said the deepest part of the seat, in profile, was too far back behind the stirrup bars, putting me in a permanent chair seat unless I 'hung' my legs about 3 or 4 inches back from the knee blocks.

Sadly we lost horse #3 to ulcerative colitis [IBD] last August, and then I got offered the weekday ride on a friend's Clydie X [she had/has a demanding new job]. He has a bespoke, made to measure Black Country dressage saddle.

Lo and behold! No pommel climbing, no wonk, just great balance, which makes me feel more confident on this very big, very round and somewhat spooky chap. So, don't give up! try lots of saddles, on reasonably well educated horses who are developed equally on both sides. xx

When I have a horse for my Wow, I plan to explore different seat styles, like the 'Academic', [currently have the Extra Deep]. Because I just don't want to go through all this again with a fourth horse. I don't want to leave the system, but I definitely need something that puts me in the proper position.

 

[Skib]

I definitely need something that puts me in the proper position.

I have ridden for 22 years and have never been in the proper position. I am also far from straight. Our highly regarded RI said that very few riders are completely straight, and very few horses either. Both horses and humans may have a dominant side and it is most commonly the right side. My right leg is stronger than my left and the right calf is slightly wider. I tend to sit to the right of the saddle since I am using that right leg more strongly than the left. When one rides Western with the saddle resting on a blanket and a much looser girth, one learns to balance the saddle. Similarly in a very open Podhajsky style saddle.

But as an RS rider one gets no choice of the saddle in which one rides. I currently ride in a saddle which is almost the opposite of what I have used before. It is an imitation leather and suede GP saddle that cradles my bum. Do I notice? No. Unless I am pinned into a dressage saddle, or restricted by jumping knee blocks, I ride blissfully unaware of the saddle I am using.